Lower Your IRS Audit Risk Before Filing Your Tax Return With These Tips

You've seen headlines claiming you can avoid a tax audit. Those headlines are wrong. No one can promise you that you will never be audited. That's because while most tax audits are targeted, a percentage—granted, a tiny percentage—of audits are random.

The good news is that means that most audits aren't random. Keeping in mind that there may be some dumb luck involved in being selected for an audit, some specific factors can boost your chances of having your return pulled. Sometimes, a few adjustments are all you need to avoid being in the audit pile.

Here are a few ways to lower the odds of getting audited this tax season:

1. Check your numbers. Math errors are common, and also easy to catch. An advantage of using a tax professional or tax software is that you don't have to do the math on your own. However, here’s a quick caution: numbers and tax pros can only do so much—the data that you provide must be accurate. So, do yourself a favor and check all your numbers, including those on information forms and self-prepared spreadsheets. Twice.
2. Don't skip forms. The IRS does a lot of forms-matching, which is exactly what it sounds like: comparing numbers on an information return reported by a third party such as a Form W-2 or Form 1099 to what you reported on your tax return. If you forget to include income, such as money from a side hustle (Form 1099-NEC), it may prompt a review. Make sure that you have all of your forms before you file—if you're missing a form, you may need to contact the issuer or take other steps. Special rules may apply to Forms 1099-K that don’t properly reflect taxable income (you may need to make an adjustment).
3. Be as normal as possible. My mom used to tell me that it was okay to be different. That might be true in high school, but not when it comes to tax returns. When it comes to returns that might attract attention, the IRS is looking for data patterns outside the norm. It's rare, for example, that you could claim that you gave away more in charitable donations than you reported in taxable income or that the size of your home office changes from year to year. One easy way for businesses to catch numbers that might be “off,” says Jenny Groberg, CEO of BookSmarts Accounting and Bookkeeping, is to run a profit and loss statement for three years and check for outliers. Another quick check? Pull out last year’s tax return and compare numbers—make sure you can account for any obvious differences.
4. Double-check Social Security Numbers (SSNs). Transposing numbers can be as simple as typing faster than you think. While a missed number feels like a small error, it can result in big problems since bogus tax ID numbers are often linked to fraud. Taxpayers generally have to provide SSNs for their children to claim certain credits, like the child tax credit, but some in Congress are worried that breaks may be extended to those who don’t qualify—resulting in additional scrutiny. For example, to gain support for the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024, House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) stressed that the expansion of the child tax credit would maintain the SSN requirement.
5. Call home. Every year, I get emails from first-time filers—usually college students—who are confused about how to file or have been contacted by the IRS because a duplicate claim has been filed (where a student files on their own when their parents have already claimed them as dependents). This creates issues and can result in not only your return being pulled but can also cause the IRS to pull your parents' return. This is an easy problem to fix. Call home. Ask. Not only can you easily get the answer to your question, but you'll also make your parents happy.
6. Be thoughtful about credits and deductions. The credits and deductions available to taxpayers can be overwhelming. Sometimes, a credit or deduction may appear appropriate when, in fact, you're phased out due to your income. You may have already claimed the tuition and fees deduction for the same expenses you are attempting to apply to the American Opportunity Tax Credit, or you're not allowed to claim a specific tax break because of your filing status. Refundable tax credits, in particular, often get a second look. While the IRS has vowed to “substantially” reduce the number of correspondence audits for certain tax credits, including the Earned Income Tax Credit, that isn't a free pass to skip your due diligence. If you aren't sure about whether you are eligible for a credit or deduction, check the instructions or ask your tax professional.
7. Make money. You have to eat. And the IRS knows that you have to eat. That’s especially true when it comes to businesses. Statistically, many businesses spend more than they make when they're just getting started. To the extent that you lose money, as a taxpayer, you want to be able to use those losses to offset your income when you make money in the future but eventually, you do need to make money. When you report a loss in your business each year or if your deductions regularly outstrip your income, it may signal to the IRS that something is out of the ordinary. The same is true for taxpayers—claiming significant home mortgage interest, for example, while reporting very little income could raise eyebrows.
8. Don't make too much money. My mom would say this is a case of “you can't win for losing.” If you make too little money (see #7), you might attract attention from the IRS. But if you make a lot of money? Same result. In fact, in recent years, IRS has audited taxpayers with incomes below $25,000 and those with incomes of $500,000 or more at higher-than-average rates, according to a 2022 Government Accountability Office report. Moving forward, households with higher incomes risk being audited by the IRS, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act. Since making less money isn’t a realistic solution, if you are a high-net-income taxpayer, it's important that you engage in tax planning and pay attention to filing requirements.
9. Don't make up numbers. I once defended a client at audit who had very little in the way of records. Her numbers, however, were beautiful: rows and rows of neat numbers ending in zero. Office supplies? $500. Utilities? $1000. Mileage? $2500. She told me they were guesses. That's precisely what it looked like to the IRS, too. Remember, the folks who work at the IRS shop in stores and pay bills just like you and me. They understand that occasionally, you hit that perfect number at Target TGT , but more often than not, your office supplies total $446, not $500. You can round numbers on a tax return, but round to the nearest dollar, not to the nearest hundred or thousand dollars. And keep receipts for expenses claimed on a return –even if you don't think you need them.
10. Don't be greedy—or stupid. If you click through tax tips on TikTok and other social media, you might get the idea that you can deduct everything. Put your home in an LLC? You can write off the mortgage, they say (no). Buy a car to drive to work? You can deduct the payments (also no). But when a tax strategy sounds too good to be true, it should give you pause even if—or perhaps especially if—a post, reel, or clip is circulated widely. Going viral doesn't mean it's any more valuable. Sometimes, the advice doesn't even make good financial sense—buying a pumpkin farm to deduct fall decorations? Keep in mind that for every $100 in deductions, you are likely knocking off between $20-30 of tax, depending on your tax bracket. Don't overstate your deductions, and don't overspend to boost deductions.
11. Fix your mistakes. I don't know why people hate filing amended returns. Yes, it stinks to admit an error, but fixing it now is far better than answering for a flawed return later. And, despite what you’ve heard, amending a return does not increase your odds of an audit.