Nurses targets for IRS?

Nurses General Nursing

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Ok, so I picked up a book at my MIL today. I'm pretty sure it was called Personal Finance for Seniors (she's not that old). Anyway, I was just flipping through and the tax section caught my eye. It said people in certain professions are more likely to be audited by the IRS. Just wondering how true this is and if anybody else has heard this? Maybe since we're nurses we're used to audits, so hey what's one more?:uhoh3:

Obviously I can't speak to the OP's situation but, I've been through three IRS audits and, really, it's not that bad.

If you have documentation and work with the auditor, they're actually pretty reasonable. Some of them even cut me a few breaks.

But if you have no documentation at all and it looks like you're trying to pull something, that's what causes the big problems, IMO.

:typing

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well that makes me feel better. I thought- gosh 1 mistake and hey come and pull your liscense.

That is terrible. To push such power around. And then not be able to support yourself while they are straigtening out their tax paperwork. you m

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Specializes in Case Managemenet.

I went through a small audit about 10 years ago. It was a time that I was trying different areas of nursing and had multiple jobs in one year. I did not recieve a W2 from one one of jobs so I forgot about it and filed. I received a letter saying I owed around $350. They sent me copies of everything I filed and I had to figure out what I did wrong myself. It wasn't a huge deal though I just paid the money owed and went on.

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I don't think that nurses, or any SALARIED position is at risk for audit any more than the general population.

People that work on commission, self employed, restaurant workers, contractors, real estate agents....THOSE professions are huge on the audit list with the IRS because they include massive write-offs.

It's really hard to "fudge" with a W-2.

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I'm still trying to figure this all out myself. Last year I went over the top with the OT and raked in quite a bit of money. I was VERY surprised at how much money my W-2s say I made because I still don't see it. I thought I was paying the appropriate taxes as I went, but I still ended up with a potentially HUGE tax liability at the end of the year. I'm still scraping the bottom of the barrel with my tax guy, going through every receipt and bank statement looking for things to deduct. But so far its looking like I'm going to have to pay the IRS a lot of money :(

I don't understand it at all!

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Wait a minute. I don't think I understand. A mistake on taxes can mean the loss of your NURSING LICENSE? Is that for real? How can the two be connected? Am I understanding this correctly?

All I can think of is my bet friend who can't claim Earned income credit for years becuase when she was married they owned a garage and hubby claimed expenses he was not supposed to. They will be paying what the IRS says they owe for many years and she is a single mom with two little ones now.

Does this mean she can never be a nurse?

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I'm still trying to figure this all out myself. Last year I went over the top with the OT and raked in quite a bit of money. I was VERY surprised at how much money my W-2s say I made because I still don't see it. I thought I was paying the appropriate taxes as I went, but I still ended up with a potentially HUGE tax liability at the end of the year. I'm still scraping the bottom of the barrel with my tax guy, going through every receipt and bank statement looking for things to deduct. But so far its looking like I'm going to have to pay the IRS a lot of money :(

I don't understand it at all!

take your annual then divide by 52 and see if the figures sound right for avg weekly. They could have made a mistake- I have had this happen. Also do you have paystubs to match up to them?

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Hey!

If you can remember who filed your taxes for you then you may have a source to convince IRS even if you no longer have copies of your 1040 or whatever forms you used. Another good idea is to be consistent with one tax service for filling your taxes even if they do a poor job. It will avoid painful research in the future because all tax preparers know how to eat up the IRS!

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Just stay away from Jackson-Hewett tax services (sort of like H & R Block). They've run afoul of the IRS for their "creative" returns. You may be risking an automatic audit if you use them and itemize.

Ayrman

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Specializes in Education, Administration, Magnet.
I wasn't audited, but my license has been suspended for 3 years because they IRS said I didn't file 7 years ago, which I did. So for three years I have been fighting to get my license back. So yes, we are targets.

I thought that we are only supposed to keep the last 4 years of tax documents. I don't know anyone who keeps the last 7 years. I guess I should start now.

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The only way to prove I filed was if I had the copies of the returns. But I could not find them anywhere, plus I moved since then. It was seven years ago for gosh sakes! Federal said they had them, but state did not. The butthead accountant I used only mailed in the federal. But that wasn't good enough for the state. :angryfire

you need a new accountant - mine keeps every yr i have been with him - ive been with him for 20 plus yrs- any accountant that is good should be keeping copies of your taxes - i also keep a 3rd copy that i give to my dad to hold in a file "just in case" - lol im a tad paraniod.

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I hate tax-filing time. Hate hate, hate it. It takes hours to complete the forms, and I have many WTH moments. The forms are difficult to understand sometimes and then you need to possibly add this or that form too. I always get ticked with them. Personally I think since the government requires every single citizen to file, they have a responsibility to make the process easy to use and understand. The penalities for filing wrong can be enormous, and that only adds to the frustation. This year I went to a tax professional, but was not happy that I now have to pay money out of my pocket to complete these tax forms, because the people in Washington can't simplify things. I am all for a flat tax. A flat tax would make it so simple. Everyone pays x% of what they earn, no deductions, etc. Just a simple, across the board set %, that would be fair.[/quote']

actually have a few times did my taxes on my own ( aside from the accountant ) and the 125 bucks he gets usually gets me back a LOT more than i haveto pay him - they are up to date and onj all laws and deductions and if you get audited they are there for you and you have help. he was able to get money we owed reduced - they dropped th epenelties but not the interest - for a forgotten 401k a few yrs back - i am sure if i had called the irs we wouldnt have even been taleked to.

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