Where To Go For Help:
Note: Many taxpayers can get free help from IRS sponsored programs at community centers, libraries, schools shopping malls and other sites during the filing season. The IRS itself provides free tax help in several ways. Here's a rundown:
- VITA: The IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program offers help to taxpayers with incomes of $39,000 or less. To find a VITA site near you, call 800-829-1040.
- TCE: Tax Counseling for the Elderly helps people age 60 and older, many of the volunteer counselors come from the AARP's Tax Aide program. To find one near you, call 888-227-7669, or visit www.aarp.org/money/taxaide.
- Military Personnel: Military service members and spouses can get help here and abroad through a program overseen by the Armed Forces Tax Council. The IRS provides tax software and tax preperation training. For more information, see IRS Publication 3, "Armed Forces' Tax Guide," available at www.irs.gov, or order a free copy by calling 800-829-3676.
- The IRS Web site: irs.gov
, has information on any tax topic, publication, instructions or forms. You can research tax question, order forms and publications, view IRS bulletins and use interactive tools for making certain the correct calculations.
- Phone assistance: The IRS has several toll-free numbers to call for tax help. For individuals, call 800-829-1040; for businesses, call 8008294933. People with hearing impairments, call 800-829-4059.
- IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers: Here help is provided in person at walk-in-sites. Go to www.irs.gov/localcontacts and click on your state to view the centers there. To find the site nearest you, you can also enter your five-digit zip code in the "Walk-In-Site" search box.
- Taxpayer Advocate: This independent office within the IRS doesn't help you file your tax return, but it does help with unresolved tax issues or problems with the IRS. Call the Taxpayer Advocate toll-free at 877-777-4778
Audits of taxpayers with incomes above $100,000 were up 18 percent from 2005, the highest figure in more than a decade. Audits of certain businesses especially "S" corporations and partnerships, increased by 34 percent, though audits of larger corporations with assets over $10 million were slightly down. The overall audits of individual taxpayers were up by 6 percent in 2006; 1.3 million individual returns were audited, for an average individual the audit risk was about 1 in 100 filings.
About 1 in 16 taxpayers with an income of $1 million and higher were audited last year a 33 percent increase from the previous year. Taxpayers do have the right to appeal IRS findings and, if the dispute can't be settled, can take their cases to the Taxpayer Advocate Service, which is part of the IRS, but operates independently and will help taxpayers resolve problems. The IRS will also work out payment plans for those who owe unpaid taxes, interest or penalties. The Congress set three years as the deadline, or statute of limitations, during which the IRS can go back and make additional tax assessments. That time can be extended if the IRS suspects serious underreporting of income. There is no statute of limitations for failure to file a return or when tax fraud is suspected. The IRS reported it had a conviction rate last year of 91.5 percent
Note: Not every audit means a "field" audit, a face-to-face meeting with an IRS agent. Some are correspondence audits which is essentially is a letter from the IRS to clear up discrepancies or apparent inaccuracies.
