Hi everyone and welcome back to the Money Girl Podcast.

I'm Laura Adams, the author of Money Girls, Smart Moves to Grow Rich.

This is the second post in a three-part series. We're calling Tax Boot Camp,

because Uncle Sam wants you, but he also wants your money.

You're probably familiar with the term tax audit.

That's when the IRS picks you as one of the lucky ducks to check up on.

The IRS calls it a quote examination

and they can review an individual's or an organization's

financial information to make sure that what's reported on a tax return is in line with the law.

In this podcast, you'll learn how the IRS selects tax returns to audit, ways to avoid being chosen for an audit, and what to do if the IRS picks you out from

the crowd.

In recent years, less than 2% of all income tax returns have been audited, but the audits done in 2009 alone brought

the IRS close to 50 billion dollars in additional tax revenue.

Though the IRS doesn't reveal their super secret audit selection formula,

there are some things that make you more likely to get audited,

so we'll review those red flags.

The IRS computer program assigns each tax return a score,

and the higher the score, the more likely you are to have underpaid taxes

and therefore to be chosen for an audit.

You can also be selected for examination when the tax return of someone close to you,

like a business partner, is audited.

Or if a whistleblower, like an angry ex-spouse or an employee, turns you in.

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