16) Report: IRS audits focus less on big corporations
Concord Monitor
"The tax audit rates of the largest companies are less than half what
they were 20 years ago while more small and mid-size businesses are
coming under scrutiny, according to an organization that monitors the
Internal Revenue Service. The Syracuse University-based Transactional
Records Access Clearinghouse described what it said was a 'historic
collapse' in audits for corporations holding assets of $250 million or
more." (04/14/08)
http://tinyurl.com/5thrxz
This is for the same reason that lower- and middle-class individuals get
audited more often: computers.
The IRS uses computers to flag discrepancies for review. It is a lot
easier to detect a mismatch between stated earnings and a filed W-2, a
math error, or a suspiciously high ratio of deductions to earnings, than
it is to decipher a complicated capital gains statement or multinational
return. So perversely, the more complicated your return and the more
likely an honest error is, the less likely they are to review it.
Yet another reason the system is horribly broken; even among people who
want the fedgov to have tax-based revenue, there is a growing sense that
this system is hopeless. One reason I like the idea of switching to a
national 30% sales tax is that it will be visible and painful every day,
instead of hidden and/or painful once a year (or even a cause for
celebration once a year!). As Reagan said, paying taxes *should* be
painful.
~Chris