OK, the so-called Millennial demographic follows the Generation X crowd, which is on the heels of the baby boomers, which was preceded by …
There is a reason for such references in a tax blog, and it connects to money. Namely, the older a generation is, the more members that generation has that command considerable incomes and assets.
And that only makes sense, of course, given that people who have been in their careers for a few decades have had more time to amass wealth than is the case for just-starting-out college graduates.
With more wealth comes a comparatively higher tax audit risk from the IRS, states a recent media article discussing that generally less than popular subject. As an author cited in that article notes, a person’s chance of being targeted for an audit jump exponentially if he or she makes more than $100,000 a year.
Conversely, does that mean that a young and newly minted worker (that Millennial referred to above) has virtually no chance of being audited?
Tread carefully, same some tax experts who note that, despite the generally lower audit odds faced by cherubic 20-somethings, Millennials should be just as painstaking in their efforts to be accurate as filers from any other age group.
The reason: If you’re messing around, states Forbes, “it will catch up with you eventually.”
The IRS is undermanned and inefficient. But a red flag is a red flag, and persistent errors over time in returns can certainly garner an audit.
It is true, of course, that many filers also submit inaccurate returns that owe simply to mistakes, not purposely illegal conduct. That can also bring an audit. So, too, can errors committed by IRS agents, which, owing to the stress the agency is under, are far from rare occurrences.
Questions or concerns regarding audits can be directed to an experienced tax attorney.
