San Diego IRS Audit Attorney

The three kinds of audit, and what each one wants

Correspondence audits

The most common and the most underestimated. The IRS computer matched your return against W-2s, 1099s, and broker statements, found a gap, and mailed a CP2000 or a CP2501 proposing a change. A CP2000 is a proposal, not a bill. Many people pay it because the letter looks final. We read the discrepancy, figure out what the IRS is actually missing, and answer with documents and, where it helps, the legal reason the proposal is wrong. Our CP2000 page walks through the letter line by line.

Office examinations

You are asked to bring records to the IRS office for one or two specific issues: a Schedule C loss, a home office, a charitable deduction, a rental. The agent is examining a narrow set of items and the goal is to resolve them there, at the lowest adjustment, without the scope growing. With representation you generally do not attend.

Field examinations

A revenue agent comes to the business and examines the books, often across several years and several issues at once. Field exams are where self-employed taxpayers, S corporation owners, and cash businesses get hurt. The Information Document Request process is the whole case: what gets produced, in what format, and what the agent never gets a reason to ask about. Volunteering material beyond the IDR is the single most common mistake we see from people who started the audit on their own.

Eggshell audits

A civil audit where the facts already contain criminal exposure: unexplained deposits, a second set of books, an offshore account. The job is to close it as a civil case without a referral to IRS Criminal Investigation. One wrong document or one careless explanation given directly to the agent can convert the matter. If this sounds like yours, read San Diego criminal tax attorney before you answer anything.

What an IRS audit attorney does that you cannot do yourself

• Control the scope. An audit opened on one year and one issue expands when the agent finds a reason. We keep the file to the years and items under examination and assert the repetitive audit rule under IRC section 7605(b) when a prior no-change audit covers the same issue.
• Run the IDR process. We answer each request completely and narrowly, on our timeline where the rules allow, and we never let a client hand an agent a box of records.
• Handle the interview. Agents ask open questions. Clients answer them generously. With a power of attorney on file, the interview happens through counsel or not at all.
• Negotiate the report. The agent’s proposed adjustments are a starting point. Most audits are narrowed at this stage by documentation and by legal argument the agent did not consider.
• Take it to Appeals. When we cannot agree, the disputed items go to the IRS Independent Office of Appeals, which settles on the hazards of litigation, and, if it comes to that, to the U.S. Tax Court, which hears San Diego cases downtown.
• Protect the privilege. Your CPA can be compelled to testify about what you said. Your attorney cannot. In an audit with any risk, that has to be in place from the first response, not after.

Who gets audited in San Diego

Our audit clients are mostly business owners and the businesses themselves: contractors, restaurant groups, medical and dental practices, real estate investors, and companies caught in the ERC enforcement wave. San Diego adds a cross-border layer that most cities do not have. Owners with operations in Tijuana, people who live on one side of the border and earn on the other, and families with Mexican bank accounts run into FBAR filings, foreign income reporting, and the question of which country gets to tax what. The IRS treats a missed FBAR as a separate penalty problem, and a willful one as a criminal problem. We handle both sides of that line.

The firm has represented 400+ clients in audits since December 2013 and eliminated more than $100 million in tax penalties and interest. That is not a promised outcome. It is pattern recognition: after hundreds of examinations you know what the agent is likely to do next and which arguments hold.

What an audit attorney costs

We quote the fee before we start. Straightforward audits are often a one-time flat fee starting at $3,500. Field examinations and multi-year matters are usually a monthly flat fee starting at $3,500 a month, priced for the whole engagement and paused while the IRS is doing its part. Hourly rates of $350 to $675 apply to litigation. The pricing page has the detail. Whether the fee makes sense depends on the number: a $3,000 CP2000 you can answer yourself, and we will tell you so on the free call.

If the letter just arrived

Do not call the agent. Do not send records. Read the notice, note the response date, and book a free 15-minute call: (619) 378-3138, or the scheduler below. We will tell you what kind of audit it is, what the agent is likely looking for, and whether you need us. If you do, the first thing we file is the power of attorney, and from then on the IRS calls us. Our office is at 12636 High Bluff Drive, Suite 300, in Del Mar Heights, and yes, you can come in.

Frequently asked questions

How far back can the IRS audit me?

Three years from the date you filed, in the ordinary case. Six years if the return omitted more than 25 percent of gross income, and there is no limit for a fraudulent return or a return that was never filed. Most audits cover one year and expand only if the agent finds a reason.

Do I have to meet with the IRS agent?

Not if you are represented. With Form 2848 on file the agent deals with counsel, and in most audits the taxpayer never speaks with the IRS at all. Occasionally a factual question is best answered by the client, and we prepare for that when it happens.

What is the difference between an IRS audit attorney and a CPA for an audit?

A CPA can represent you in the audit and is often the right choice when the only question is whether the numbers add up. An attorney is the right choice when there is a dispute about the law, a proposed penalty, multiple years, or any fact that could make the audit criminal, because only the attorney gives you privilege and only the attorney can take the case to court.

Can an audit turn into a criminal case?

Yes. A revenue agent who sees badges of fraud can refer the file to IRS Criminal Investigation, and the civil audit goes quiet while CI evaluates it. If your audit involves cash, unreported income, or records you cannot produce, it should be handled from the start as if that referral is possible.

What happens if I ignore an audit notice?

The IRS closes the audit on its own numbers, issues a notice of deficiency, and assesses the tax after 90 days if you do not petition the Tax Court. Then collections begins. Silence does not make an audit go away. It just takes away your chance to shape it.