http://bit.ly/TYJ4Y2
"Making too much money" is the enviable topper to a Kiplinger list of a dozen "audit red flags." If an overly fat paycheck is not your problem, there are plenty of other issues that can trip you up, including off-the-wall deductions for money you spent on a hobby, or simply running a cash business.
http://bit.ly/e2OMvi
The IRS hosts something called the Taxpayer Advocate Service, which might sound like a case of the fox watching the henhouse. Still, the service, which reports independently to Congress, was set up as a place to turn when individuals feel they've hit brick walls with the tax-collection agency. You can go to this site for links on how to ask for help or to report what you might think is a systemic problem at the IRS.
www.irs.gov/advocate
Here, in a pdf file, is the most recent taxpayer-advocate report to Congress. It warns that late-year tax-law changes may delay tax filings in 2013, and that the IRS needs to beef up its assistance of the victims of identity theft, among many findings:
http://1.usa.gov/L1PCDV
Tax-law expert Dean Zerbe posted this Forbes item on avoiding audits. He cites a taxpayer advocate's report to say good records are, bottom line, the best way to be sure you are paying what you owe and can defend your figures if it comes to that. "It is not a helpful story if the taxpayer points to an empty shoe box as holding the justification for the position taken on a return," Zerbe notes.
http://onforb.es/VGbVxe
Contact Reid Kanaley at 215-854-5114, rkanaley@phillynews.com or @ReidKan on Twitter.
