IRS Audit Representation & Appeals
An audit is a negotiation with rules, and the rules favor whoever knows them. IRS audit representation means the examiner deals with us instead of with you — through the examination, the correspondence and the appeal.
The single most expensive thing a taxpayer does in an audit is answer questions nobody asked. Examiners are trained to expand scope when the record invites it, and casual explanations open years and issues that were never on the table.
IRS Trouble Solvers™ steps in as your representative under a Power of Attorney. You stop taking the calls. We control what is produced, when, and in what form — and if the result is wrong, we take it to Appeals.
Where We Represent You
Audit Representation
Audits arrive in three forms. Correspondence audits question one or two line items by mail and are the most common. Office audits bring you to an IRS location for a broader look. Field audits send a revenue agent to your home or business and are the most serious, typically reserved for businesses and complex returns. Each has a different tempo and a different risk of scope expansion. Knowing which one you are in shapes everything about how it should be handled, and how long it runs depends heavily on how completely the first document request is answered.
IRS Appeals
If you disagree with the examiner, the case does not end there. The IRS Independent Office of Appeals is a separate function with a different mandate: it weighs the hazards of litigation, which gives it latitude an examiner does not have. Many cases resolve better at Appeals than at examination for exactly this reason. Deadlines are strict — a 30-day letter opens a window that, once closed, pushes the case toward Tax Court.
Notice of Deficiency (90-Day Letter)
A Notice of Deficiency is the IRS formally proposing additional tax. It carries a hard 90-day deadline to petition the United States Tax Court, and that deadline cannot be extended. Petitioning preserves your right to dispute the liability before paying it. Let the 90 days lapse and the tax is assessed, at which point the argument shifts from whether you owe it to how you will pay it.
Audit Defense and What It Is Worth
Representation costs money, and it is fair to ask whether it pays. The answer depends on what is at stake and how clean the records are. The economics shift decisively toward representation when a business return, multiple years, or an unagreed adjustment is involved — and less so for a single mismatched 1099.
How Far Back the IRS Can Go
The examination window is not open-ended, and knowing where it closes is often the whole case:
- Three years from the filing date is the general statute of limitations on assessment.
- Six years when more than 25% of gross income was omitted.
- No limit where a return was never filed, or where fraud is alleged.
Which window applies determines whether an examiner can reach a year at all. Examiners sometimes request an extension of the statute on Form 872; agreeing to that is a decision with consequences and should not be automatic.
What Draws an Audit
Most returns are selected by scoring algorithms, not by suspicion. The recurring patterns that raise scores are worth knowing whether or not you are currently under examination: large deductions relative to reported income, consistent Schedule C losses, unreported 1099 or K-1 income, heavy cash businesses, aggressive vehicle or home-office positions, and cryptocurrency activity. Newer categories draw attention too — content and influencer income has become its own cluster of adjustments. None of these is wrong to claim. They simply need substantiation, and the time to assemble it is before the letter arrives.
How We Handle an Examination
- We become the contact. Form 2848 is filed and the examiner communicates with us. You do not attend interviews we can handle.
- We audit the audit. What year, what issues, what statute, what has already been produced — before anything else is sent.
- We control production. Documents are organized and responsive. Nothing extra goes in the box, because extra material invites new questions.
- We argue the law, not the sympathy. Adjustments are met with authority and substantiation.
- We appeal when the answer is wrong. Appeals, and where warranted a Tax Court petition, stay on the table.
- We address what the audit creates. An assessment you cannot pay becomes a collection matter — see IRS Tax Debt Relief and IRS Collection Defense.
Common Questions
Does an audit mean the IRS thinks I cheated?
Usually not. The large majority of examinations come from automated scoring or a document mismatch, not from an allegation. How it is handled from the first response, though, does influence whether it stays routine.
Should I just send them what they ask for?
Send what is responsive, organized, and no more. Volunteering additional years or unrequested records is the most common way a narrow audit becomes a wide one.
Can I bring my regular accountant?
Only Enrolled Agents, CPAs and attorneys hold unlimited representation rights before the IRS. The distinction matters — and the person who prepared the return under examination is not always the right person to defend it.
What happens if I lose?
You receive a proposed adjustment. You can agree, go to Appeals, or petition Tax Court after a Notice of Deficiency. Losing at examination is not the end of the process.
How long will this take?
Correspondence audits often resolve in a few months. Office and field audits routinely run a year or more, and the timeline stretches every time a document request comes back incomplete.
STOP THE IRS IN ITS TRACKS
If a letter from the IRS is sitting on your desk, the response window is already running. Let us read it before you answer it.