{"id":18682,"date":"2013-09-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/causes-irs-audits\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T14:46:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T14:46:56","slug":"causes-irs-audits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/causes-irs-audits\/","title":{"rendered":"More Causes of IRS Audits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Stop losing sleep over your tax situation. I&#039;m Darrin Mish \u2014 a tax attorney in Tampa who&#039;s spent 32 years handling exactly this kind of problem. Here&#039;s what you need to know.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone dreads IRS audits.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/tag\/irs-audit\/\">The best way to deal with IRS audits is to avoid them<\/a>.\u00a0 Stay in the IRS\u2019 good books.\u00a0 Don\u2019t do anything that might raise red flags with Uncle Sam.\u00a0 The bottom line is to prepare an accurate tax return.\u00a0 Here are some simple mistakes people make on their tax returns that are common causes of IRS audits. \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/category\/irs-help\/\">Click here to read or watch more IRS Help resources.<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Not listing all Forms 1099-INT, Interest Income, on Schedule B, in such a way that the computer or unskilled IRS worker could find the interest income on the return.<\/li>\n<li>Not listing all Forms 1099-B, Sale of securities, on Schedule D. \u00a0The most common mistake I\u2019ve seen people commit is the failure to report the transfer of money from one mutual fund to another mutual fund.<\/li>\n<li>Not listing all Forms 1099-DIV, Dividends, at gross dividends on Schedule B and deduct the non-taxable distributions and capital gains distributions.<\/li>\n<li>Not reporting all Forms 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Income, on the appropriate schedule. \u00a0Also, listing non-employee compensation with wages and failing to complete a Schedule SE, Self-employment earnings triggers audits.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Another thing that causes <a href=\"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/7-tips-for-new-taxpayers\/\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"2590\">IRS audits<\/a> is mixing personal and business expenses such as meals, entertainment and travel.\u00a0 \u00a0The IRS presumes all expenses being claimed as tax deductions are personal unless you can prove otherwise with documentary evidence.\u00a0 The same goes with the use of certain assets. \u00a0Many business owners mix use cars, mobile phones, home computers, boats, hunting leases, and vacation homes. \u00a0Each mixed-use asset carries with it stringent, detailed record keeping rules.<\/p>\n<p>When you are audited, the IRS agent will want to see not only canceled checks and paid receipts or invoices, but also copies of insurance policies, contracts, calendars, logs, travel and conference agendas, journals, and diaries. \u00a0Section 280F, 280A, and 274 of the Internal Revenue Code require car logs, logs of vacation home use and who, what, where when and why of all travel, meals and entertainment. \u00a0The IRS will request to see the actual hotel bill and not merely the credit card receipt. \u00a0Credit card statements and canceled checks also need to be further supported by the actual receipts.<\/p>\n<p>Even though you don\u2019t have to have a receipt for an expense under $75, you still have to write down detailed information such as the date, time, place, name, and business purpose of the expenditure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stop losing sleep over your tax situation. I&#039;m Darrin Mish \u2014 a tax attorney in Tampa who&#039;s spent 32 years handling exactly this kind of problem. Here&#039;s what you need to know. Everyone dreads IRS audits.\u00a0 The best way to deal with IRS audits is to avoid them.\u00a0 Stay in the IRS\u2019 good books.\u00a0 Don\u2019t [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[28],"class_list":["post-18682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-irs-help","tag-irs-audit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18682"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28998,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18682\/revisions\/28998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}