IRS Audit vs. Criminal Tax Investigation: Understanding the Critical Differences
Opening a letter from the IRS. Let's be honest, nobody receives a letter from the Internal Revenue Service and is happy to do so. Whether it's for your personal filing or your business, the initial reaction is generally a brief panic. "Uh, did I do something wrong?" After that moment of apprehension, some people automatically go to the extreme (agents, handcuffs), while others dismiss it as routine bureaucratic procedure. Neither of these reactions are quite right. A tax audit and a criminal tax investigation are not simply different faces of the same tax issue-they are fundamentally different with separate processes, objectives and potential outcomes. The action you take as a result of the issue will greatly depend on which type you are experiencing. In situations like this, many taxpayers find it helpful to speak with an irs lawyer nyc before deciding on next steps, especially when payroll or business filings are involved and a payroll tax lawyer New York can ...