# Got my tax return back today



## thesedays (Feb 25, 2011)

In short, I am one of the "47%" who pays no income tax because mine was below any limits where I would have to pay. (My income is almost entirely from interest, and my home-based business still isn't turning a profit. I'm living on money invested from the days when I had a "Real Job".) Anyway, what are the chances that I would be audited? That's a concern of mine.


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## JillyG (Jan 6, 2014)

I have been audited many times. 
Worked at home, single mom with a child.
I got the earned income credit and like you I did not make enough to pay any taxes.
I do however keep good records. I keep every receipts for everything from gas in the car to the purchase of a stamp.
I also keep a bound book of my sales and income. 
During an audit I would photo copy every thing i was claiming, income and expenses and send it off. 
I always got exactly what I claimed.


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## thesedays (Feb 25, 2011)

Did you designate part of your home as an office? THAT'S a big red flag for an audit. 

I know that a lot of people these days (or any time, for that matter) are part of a cash or underground economy, especially on this website.


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## DEKE01 (Jul 17, 2013)

there is a very low chance you will be audited. The IRS focuses on cases where if they find error or fraud, the gov't will profit. If you have income less than $40K a year or so, the best they are going to be able to capture as tax is something like $10K. That usually is not enough to get the auditors excited about spending bunches of time on your case. 

There are red flag issues, like home offices as mentioned before. If you itemized and deducted lots of unusual expenses, your odds of audit to go up. But only roughly 1% of all returns are ever audited.


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## thesedays (Feb 25, 2011)

I can only think of one person who was audited (that I know of). We were roommates during our senior year of college, and were both in our late 20s at the time. Before she went back to school, she worked at a restaurant that committed some financial fraud, and all the waitstaff were audited. She ended up owing a lot of money, too.


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## JillyG (Jan 6, 2014)

Yes I did claim part of my house. Doubt it was that, it was the fact that I got money back every year.And I did my taxes myself.


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## slingshot (Jun 25, 2014)

JillyG said:


> Yes I did claim part of my house. Doubt it was that, it was the fact that I got money back every year.And I did my taxes myself.



Nope it was the house deduction....

Every single tax document that has a home deduction get separated for further review. Doesn't mean anything bad as long as you are on the up and up, people get crazy though and they are the ones that are audited.


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## dashingjames (Jul 15, 2014)

slingshot said:


> people get crazy though and they are the ones that are audited.


True. The house is always separated from the tax being paid. But it' not bad to be crazy sometimes.


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