“The IRS Is Getting Serious”

NORTH BEND, ORE. – A Certified Public Accountant, who’s not your basic bean counter, told local residents to be ready for IRS tax audits. After years of laying dormant, we’re told the IRS is getting serious.

Local CPA Michael Gordon spoke to community members at Wednesday’s Business Connection luncheon at the Mill Casino.

He says, that since 1997, there have been virtually no audits. But now, both the IRS and the Oregon Department of Revenue are hiring agents, and Gordon says, they aren’t receiving a lot of training.

“As I’ve traveled around the country, I have heard this from a lot of other tax people telling me, ‘I had an audit where this guy just said, it doesn’t smell right to me,’” says Gordon. “Now, where in the entire Internal Revenue Code does it talk about, it has to smell okay, or it has to feel good to the auditor. These are the kind of agents we’re starting to experience.”

Gordon goes onto say that these newly hired agents are coming to work with a new mindset.

He says, they’re being taught that Americans are basically, a non compliant lot, and are treating us as though we are guilty until proven innocent.

“Now, we live in a society where, in all our litigation, in our judicial system, everywhere, we are trained that you’re innocent until proven guilty,” says Gordon. “But that is not the way, and they’re not going to say this to you, that the IRS is coming. It’s not the way it’s gonna happen.”

Lastly, Gordon warned the crowd about some red flag audit items that tend to raise agent’s eyebrows.

Those include, depreciation problems, business meals, travel deductions, automobile deductions and improper use of independent contractors.

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