A Positive Outcome for a Military Member

In October of 2021, Dale and Lisa received a letter from the IRS. The letter was questioning Employee Business Expenses related to Dale’s career as a military reservist and claimed that he owed an additional $4,300 in taxes.

Dale’s situation was unique as he was not serving as a typical reservist. As a pilot instructor, he often traveled to different bases to conduct training as well as worked from home. It may not be tricky to put it on a tax return – but it can be tricky to prove your claims when the IRS is questioning them. 

However, Dale, knowing that he had a membership with TaxAudit, immediately contacted us to see what his next steps should be. The IRS was asking for dozens of documents, including mileage logs, travel receipts, and odometer readings, as well as a detailed letter from his employer, and he was unsure about where to begin. 

He first spoke with our Customer Service team, who started a case for him and assured him that we would help. They quickly assigned him to one of our Tax Professionals, who immediately began working on the case and scheduled an initial call with Dale to explain why he received this notice, what documentation would be needed to respond, and what the next steps of the case would look like.

Dale and his Tax Professional then began to correspond via our secure portal, where his Tax Professional advised him, step-by-step, what would be needed to respond to the IRS effectively. It took some time and diligence on Dale’s part, but he gathered and sent all the appropriate documentation to his Tax Professional. His Tax Pro took time to review what was sent, develop a strategy and then put together a response to send to the IRS.

At this point, a response was sent to the IRS – and Dale and his Tax Professional could do nothing but wait. Fortunately, it didn’t take the IRS long to respond with a new notice; unfortunately, they continued to disallow some of Dale’s travel expenses. Dale’s Tax Professional advised him on how they would need to proceed – which involved Dale gathering and sending more comprehensive documentation. Upon receiving these documents, Dale’s Tax Professional reviewed them, put together a second response, and shipped it off to the IRS. They crossed their fingers that this second set of documents would be accepted.

This time, it worked! The IRS quickly responded with a “no change” letter, meaning that the IRS agreed that Dale’s documents matched the claims made on his tax return and he would owe no additional tax.

At the end of the case, Dale expressed how happy he was with TaxAudit’s service. Dale’s Tax Professional worked diligently by providing guidance to Dale on what documentation was needed and why – and putting together a comprehensive and compelling response that the IRS would accept. In the end, Dale was able to deduct 11 work trips to provide training to T-45 aircraft and simulators without owing any additional tax – and had the peace of mind knowing that he had the TaxAudit team in his corner to defend him and provide guidance every step of the way.

*Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of the individuals.