Does Your Political Affiliation Make You More Likely to Be Audited?

Note: The Oxford Club strategists are not certified tax experts. Before you make any changes to improve your tax return or minimize your risk of being audited, please speak with a trusted tax advisor. We recommend Pillar One Advisor Jack Cohen of Campbell Jones Cohen CPAs. To reach him, please call 702.369.2504 or email jack@yournevadacpa.com.

Here’s a funny slap award for the retirement belt from a retired tax attorney.

Bill spent 40 years as a tax attorney and has some great stories about the crazy things his clients tried to do to get their tax bills down. Most involve deductions they took before he was managing their taxes.

One of his best stories is about a guy whose in-laws were at his house so often – and ate so many meals there – that he deducted them as dependents!

The feds weren’t amused by that one at all.

He says the toughest part of his job was politely getting his new clients to stop taking creative write-offs.

At a recent neighborhood party, he dropped a real stunner about tax audits that most had trouble believing…

Bill has been involved in hundreds of audits; he jokingly says he even won a few. And the only thing he has found in his 40 years of fighting for his clients that has successfully reduced the chance of being audited is… registering as a Democrat.

I swear I am not making this up. He claims Republicans are audited much more often than Democrats. In fact, in his experience, Democrats were rarely audited.

He can’t explain it, but he does joke that maybe the feds assume Democrats don’t have enough money, so why bother?

So if you’re someone who works backward from how much you want to get back in your refund to figure your taxes – or if you have a few not-so-legit numbers on your past returns – you may want to change your party affiliation. It doesn’t cost anything… and 40 years of experience says it works.

Good investing,

Steve