IRS audits coming — and everyone’s a suspect
January 22, 2010 by Christian SchappelPosted in: Employment law, In this week's e-newsletter - benefits, Latest News & Views, Money, Pay and benefits
The feds are gearing up for a round of audits to uncover unpaid business and payroll taxes — and there’s nothing you can do to reduce your chances of being chosen.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) says it’ll finally launch its National Research Program (NRP) in February — three months after it was originally scheduled to begin.
The NPR is an intense audit process, where examiners will go line-by-line through tax returns to gather info on the impact of employment tax noncompliance on the tax gap.
How many employers will be hit? Nearly 2,000 will be randomly selected for audits each of the next three years, according to the IRS.
Should your company be one of the unlucky ones chosen for an audit, here are some of the typical targets you’ll have to provide records for:
- fringe benefits
- company officers’ compensation
- expense reimbursements, and
- worker classification.
Tags: audit, fringe benefits, internal revenue service, IRS, National Research Program, NRP
January 26th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
These IRS audits are only the start…There will be referrals out to the Department of Labor and Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE). I-9 forms will be audited, missing dates, missing signatures and a whole host of technical violations will generate thousands of dollars of fines.
We are seeing issues with employers who classified someone as a 10-99 subcontractor, and that person is really a W-2 employee. The IRS wants the payroll taxes and ICE wants the I-9 form….The nightmare is just begining!