Many tax practitioners think they are prohibited from discussing with a taxpayer the probability or likelihood that a tax return, tax position or a form (e.g., IRS Form 8854, Initial and Annual Expatriation Statement) will be audited by the IRS.
Many practitioners think such a statement is somehow taboo – and cannot be answered when a client asks the question: “Will my tax return get audited?”
Someone who has become a “covered expatriate” might want to know – whether the IRS audit of expatriate tax returns is high or low? What if I do not even have a social security number (e.g., as a U.S. citizen born outside the U.S.) from my date of birth, and I have lived outside the U.S. almost all of my life? Will that impact the chances of tax audit? Can answers be provided to these logical questions raised by taxpayers?
First, no one ever knows whether any tax return or position will get audited. The answer necessarily requires the ability to peer into the future.
