DONNA KELLEY: Even though the deadline to file your federal income taxes is still a couple of months away, now is the time to get your paperwork in order so that you can avoid the dreaded audit. CNN Jan Rogers (ph) has some tips for you.</s>JAN ROGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a kinder, gentler IRS after some serious reform in 1998. They're still collecting your tax dollars, but those dreaded audits are down. In 1999, less than 1 percent of individual tax returns were audited, down from nearly 1.7 percent in 1995. While avoiding an audit is not an exact science, there are things you can do to reduce your chances.</s>GARY SCHATSKY, INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL COUNSELORS: One of the things you should do to avoid getting audited is make sure you declare all of your income. That's probably the largest cause of people hearing from the IRS after they've filed their tax return.</s>ROGERS: Other pitfalls: miscalculating the child tax credit, a home office deduction, or a large charitable deduction.</s>STUART KOTLER, DAVID BERDON & CO.: Charity is another big area where it's important for you to go through the year's receipts that you might have had, go through canceled checks -- a big item that always can cause some problems.</s>ROGERS: Certain professions are actually prime audit targets: the self-employed; also doctors, waiters, even taxi drivers. All are eyed by the IRS because they're often paid in cash. Regardless of your occupation, accountants say many audits are triggered by just plain sloppiness.</s>SCHATSKY: You want to make sure that your paperwork is clean and you have documentation for every deduction you take.</s>ROGERS: One common mistake easy to avoid: not filling in all the blanks. For more on this and other tax stories, check out CNNFN.com's special section, "Tax Time." That's "Your Money"; Jan Rogers, CNN financial news, New York.
How Can You Avoid an IRS Audit?