Do you think you are more likely to be audited if you are doing your own taxes?

Question

I used taxact last year to do our taxes, we are both self employed. Before last year we had always used H&R block. My husband wants us to go back to H&R block because he says we are more likely to get audited if they see that we did our own taxes. But they charge us about $380.00 to do our taxes. What do you think we should do?

Answer 1

Honestly..whether or not you use H&R block doesnt mean you'll get audited. Not to mention..what's there to worry...an audit really only gets you in trouble if you really tried to "screw the IRS"..people make mistakes sometimes, they understand that, and you probably only have to pay the difference if you messed up on something small. Unless you intentially tried to commit fraud. Also it depends on your income. Audits are expensive for the IRS...they will still audit people with lower income to keep people in check. but they tend to focus on people with bigger incomes 100,000+, and huge corporations especially..because much more taxes are involved. If H&r block charges you $400..and you think you can do just about a good enough job at home with Taxcut or Taxpro..i say do it at a home..but if you're worried...nothing wrong with spending extra money..especially if ur return makes up for it.

Answer 2

Audits are triggered by Red Flags that occur when something you claim is outside the norm or if you do not report a W-2 or 1099 that is also sent to the IRS. Once triggered, it may be more likely that you would get audited by doing your own taxes, but if everything on the forms (W-2, 1099, 1098) is reported on your return and you aren't claiming huge deductions against little or no income you are unlikely to be audited. There are bookkeeping companies apart from H&R Block that charge less. I am a partner in one and we do alot of taxes for people who were tired of paying so much.

Answer 3

You are no more likely to be audited if you do your own taxes than if you use a paid preparer. Some of the storefront companies have some preparers who aren't well trained and are more likely to make mistakes, so they might INCREASE your chances of being audited - you probably wouldn't run into this with a CPA.

If you happen to choose a paid preparer who has a bad track record with the IRS, that could increase your chances of being audited.

Doing it yourself, as long as you know enough to do it correctly, won't increase your chance of being audited.

Answer 4

Tax prepairers are not required to be licensed. The majority of people doing taxes for places like H&R Block are seasonal tax preparers, sitting infront of a tax program you can buy from the store, asking you questions. Most are lucky to even have had a roudimentary tax preperation class.

Unless you actually have a personal accountant, you probably could do just as good of job as H&R Block would. Buy a tax program and do it yourself.


For the moron a couple below me-

I was offered a job as a tax preparer for H&R Block, without a day of tax preparation classes. Jackson Hewitt frequently churns out tax preparers after a couple week course. I speak from experience, not assumption, *** wipe.

Answer 5

Probably not, unless by doing it yourself you really do some bad or weird stuff. If you know what you're doing, shouldn't make a difference in terms of auditing. HR Block ok for basic returns, if you have something very complex go to an accountant. Taxcut software is essentially the same as hr block uses in their offices,
I'm sure you've seen all the articles about the huge variation in results by different preparers, so I do mine myself with their software

Answer 6

It doesn't make a difference. Taxpayers who have home business expenses are three times as likely to get audited, just so you know.

FYI: for the ASSumer before me: I work for H&R Block and have for five years. Every year we have three months of additional classes and recertification. Don't assume things, you only make yourself look stupid.