Protect Yourself From a Tax Audit

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If you’re spending the next week or so working on your taxes, you might find some relief in knowing that the chances of being audited are the lowest in years.

According to a recent IRS report, the agency says it is auditing individual taxpayers at a rate of 1 in 160. That’s down significantly from 2010, when it audited 1 in every 90 individuals.

If you earn less than $200,000 per year, you’re even less likely to hear from the IRS. If you earn more, the probability increases. Those with incomes of more than $1 million have a 1 in 23 chance of being audited.

You can blame—or applaud—lower appropriations from Congress for the drop. In response to reduced funding, the IRS has shrunk its full-time work force by nearly 15 percent since 2012.

“We’re trying to use our resources more efficiently, but there is no question that the end result is fewer audits than in the past,” says Eric Smith, an IRS spokesman.

While that may be of some comfort to you, it’s still a good idea to avoid raising red flags. Key triggers for a tax probe focus around certain itemized deductions, particularly for home businesses and rental properties. Here are steps you can take to avoid a showdown.

Be Cautious With Business Expenses

Home-business owners using Schedule C and employees claiming unreimbursed expenses on IRS Form 2106 should scrupulously record telephone, travel, meal, and entertainment expenses for business.

Avoid deductions that can be personal in nature. They’re the first ones the IRS will scrutinize in a tax audit. If you’re just starting a business, for instance, don’t expense research trips. Unless you can claim some income periodically, writing off a $1,400 Nikon lens for the photography hobby you hope will some day pay off is a bad idea, especially if you get a W-2 from another job.

Also, be careful about how you determine the size of your home office. Applying too much of your home’s square footage could set off alarm bells. And your home office should look like an office and be used exclusively for business.  

Track Charitable Donations Carefully

Sums that stand out can raise suspicion. For example, deducting a large charitable contribution—say, $20,000—if your adjusted gross income is $40,000 is permissible by the IRS but might appear out of place.

Keep dated receipts for cash gifts of $250 or more and for noncash items you donate, such as furniture and clothes. If you give an item worth more than $500, you’ll need to fill out IRS Form 8283 (PDF). Donations worth more than $5,000 require a written appraisal. Check IRS Publication 561, “Determining the Value of Donated Property,” for details. 

Rental Income: Active Involvement Matters

If you own rental property, take care completing Schedule E for supplemental income and loss. How much you can deduct for expenses and losses depends on how actively involved you are in managing your property and whether you can prove it.

Other tips to prevent a tax audit:

Know how to depreciate equipment. Thanks to the new tax law, depreciating equipment—“tangible personal property,” in tax lingo—gets complicated on your 2017 return. If you bought and put into service a piece of equipment for your rental property on or after Sept. 28, 2017, you can use the new law’s more generous “bonus” depreciation rule, which allows for 100 percent depreciation in the first year. You can even use bonus depreciation for items you buy used.

The old law applies to equipment purchased and put into service before Sept. 28, 2017. It requires depreciation over multiple years; taxpayers can depreciate qualified items by 50 percent in the first year if they purchased the equipment new.

IRS Form 4562 (PDF), on which taxpayers report depreciation and amortization, doesn’t break out the two periods of time—before and after Sept. 28—so taxpayers will have to work out which depreciation method or treatment applies to each piece of equipment they purchased in 2017. “You have to have an accountant, or be pretty astute about the rules yourself,” notes Diane Nienow, CPA senior manager of tax at Smith & Gesteland, an accounting and consulting firm based in Madison, Wis. 

You’ll also need to understand what can be depreciated. Improvements that extend a property’s life or add to its value must be depreciated but generally don’t qualify for bonus depreciation. A new stove or washing machine would qualify. But a furnace would be considered part of the building and would not be eligible for the special accelerated depreciation, Nienow says. 

Document personal use. To fully deduct the expenses related to a vacation rental, for example, you and family members can’t use the home for more than 14 days, or 10 percent of the days the unit is rented at the market price, whichever is greater. If you own a second home that doubles as a rental, hold on to credit card bills and travel documents in case you have to prove in a tax audit that you and your relatives stayed only for the allotted period. 

No matter what you’re deducting, always keep or scan original receipts. Your credit card bill alone won’t necessarily identify the item or services purchased. And hold on to your records for at least seven years.