What are My Rights as a Taxpayer? Taxpayers Bill of Rights
People have rights as Taxpayers in the US
With all the rules and regulations on taxes and paying taxes, sometimes it is good to know what your rights are. The Internal Revenue Service has to follow rules as well that they have to follow if they are going to question your tax return. It is often referred to as the Taxpayers Bill of Rights. Officially, it is "Your Rights as a Taxpayer," and is found in IRS Publication 1.
Congress requires any taxpayer, should they be questioned about their tax return, to know of their rights if any tax investigation be seen as necessary. It also imposes some limits onto the agency. For example, you can't be up for a promotion due to a large amount of of money an auditor collects from investigations, as a reason for a promotion. It cant enter in to the evaluation process.
Taxpayer's "Bill of Rights"
So you have rights as a taxpayer in disputes or appeals with the IRS. These include the right to ask for an explanation(s), the right to have representation at an IRS hearing, and the right to produce only the documents the IRS asks you for. You have the right to end an interview, if you want to consult a tax professional, or even just to take more time to prepare. You have the right to appeal the findings of a given audit, and tax liens. You have the right to record an interview, and the right to propose installment payments.
So as unpleasant as it sounds to get a tax audit, at least you have some rights. Hopefully your taxes will never need flagging or to be questioned at all, but if they ever are, you now know there are rights you are to be made aware of.
So what are your chances of getting audited?
Your chances for ever getting audited go way down if you are doing your taxes legally and correctly, but that should go without saying. Some years, it is about just one percent of people that get audited. The chances of it happening in your life time go up drastically and can be as high as 50 percent, especially if you make over 50,000 dollars a year. The biggest tip is to get it done early, and plan ahead so that if any problems arise, you can get help as needed long before the due dates come around.
