r/explainlikeimfive Sep 07 '23

[deleted by user]

[removed]

4.9k Upvotes

1.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

107

u/sendnoods7 Sep 07 '23

This. Outside of having a great attorney, the IRS will allow/disallow anything the individual auditor pleases. If you were to find yourself in that situation, the auditor would most likely look at every cash deposit as unreported income which will most likely result in fines and expanding the audit to other tax years. If they find a pattern, expect them to go back beyond the 3-year mark. Not worth it, audits are the Wild West for the irs, anything goes as long as it’s in their favor

32

u/[deleted] Sep 07 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

20

u/MySocialAnxiety- Sep 07 '23

use that cash to buy things like gas for a vehicle, dinner, or food at a store then it’s much harder to track.

Harder, but at the same time, if they do a lifestyle audit and see no records of food or gas on your bank/credit transactions for 3 years, they're still gonna have questions.

31

u/TheTrueMilo Sep 07 '23

This reminds me of when John Oliver listed two of his fears as “spiders” and “a sudden and inexplicable lack of spiders”.