Why Do I Feel Like Somebody’s Watching Me?
Because maybe there is somebody watching me. And that somebody is Uncle Sam.
Yep, fresh off our firm’s annual unemployment compensation audit (we’ve been chosen almost every year in a random audit – luckily, no worries), I read today that IRS released a report that more than 1.2 million individual federal income tax returns (forms 1040) were audited in fiscal year 2005, a more than 20% increase from 2004. In 2004, the IRS had noted a nearly 20% increase in audits. Are you getting a picture here?
On the corporate side, it’s no secret that the IRS is targeting s corporations for audits.
However, on the personal side, it appears that the IRS might be gunning for individuals with an income of more than $100,000. Almost 20% of the individual audits this year focused on that tax bracket, the highest figure in ten years. Ironically, there were just as many audits for those reporting under $25,000… Somewhere, the middle class just might be breathing a sigh of relief (and this is perhaps the only tax “relief” granted to the middle class this year!).
