Posted by Molly Nelson - The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has forums every other month for its small
business stakeholders, like the NASE. I attended the second forum of 2009
earlier this week, and learned a couple of things that I hope will be
helpful!
The recent stimulus legislation, the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act,
included a much-discussed net operating loss carryback provision. There is
still time to take advantage of this provision even if you’ve already filed your
2008 return and waived the carryback, if you filed your 2008 return and didn’t
waive the carryback, or if you haven’t filed your 2008 return yet. However,
there is not a lot of time left to take advantage of the carryback provisions -
many of these forms are due by April 17, 2009! Check out IRS.gov for more detailed information and filing
instructions.
If you’ve been lucky enough to get first-hand tax advice from Keith Hall at
one of our TaxTalk Seminars, you’ll remember that he makes a point to say not to
run your business like you’re going to get audited. I almost laughed at this
IRS forum when one of the topics presented was about the audit process. We were
reminded that returns are randomly selected for audits, and if you file
electronically you are no more likely to be selected for an audit than if you do
a paper return. Also, audits aren’t necessarily bad! It’s more likely than not
that if you are audited, your return will have no change or you might even get a
refund. Like Keith says, don’t run your business (or live you life) expecting
to get audited, but remember that everyone needs to keep adequate books and
records, and the more organized you are the easier it is if you are audited!