On December 6, 2021, Brent opened his mailbox to see that he had received a piece of mail from the IRS. He anxiously opened the letter and peeked at what was inside: a CP2000 notice from the IRS informing him that he owed almost $20,000 in taxes for his 2019 return!
He started to panic and wondered what he might’ve done to receive such a notice – but then he remembered that he had signed up for TaxAudit's Audit Defense while filing his taxes through TurboTax.
Although he was nervous, Brent quickly reached out to TaxAudit’s Customer Service Team. After they verified his information and opened a case for him, Brent was immediately assigned to a Case Coordinator. She started by helping him get set up in our secure message portal and let him know that they needed a copy of the IRS notice and his tax return so that she could move his case forward. During this initial introduction, Brent’s Case Coordinator was also able to ease some of his anxiety by explaining the audit process and assuring him that they were prepared to help him along the way, which lifted a giant weight off his shoulders.
After sending in his IRS notice and the corresponding tax return, Brent’s case was then assigned to his Tax Professional, Sheila, to handle the case with the IRS. She reviewed his documentation and quickly realized what the problem was: Brent had been unsure of what a Schedule C form was and how they worked –so he had not filed one and, in turn, had not reported any of his income properly. This resulted in him being audited.
Sheila quickly got to work and started by helping Brent request an extension for his case. After securing the extension, she explained that he needed to prepare a Schedule C to show his corrected auto, truck, meal, and lease expenses – which he had plenty of as a truck driver. He also needed to supply supporting documentation to confirm the claims he would make on his Schedule C.
Brent was diligent and was able to gather and submit the proper paperwork for Sheila to review. After examining his documents and verifying they were correct, Sheila drafted a response letter to the IRS, explaining the member’s situation and sharing that, instead of owing $20,000, she believed he owed only $1,900.
After Sheila submitted this paperwork to the IRS, she informed him that all he could do now was wait to hear a response. Due to the backlog at the IRS as a result of the recent pandemic, Sheila could not guarantee how soon they would hear back from the IRS and informed Brent that it could be months before they received a response. However, in April 2022, just four months after receiving his first letter from the IRS and two months after the response was sent, Sheila finally reached out to Brent with the good news. Her estimate was correct, and he would only have to pay $1,900 to the IRS instead of the nearly $20,000 that he had previously owed!
At the closing of his case, Brent expressed his gratitude for Sheila’s assistance on his case, stating: “I’ve never received this kind of awesome support from anyone.”
As always – we are happy to help!
*Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of the individuals.
