HR expert Rob Wilson says small business owners need to be prepared for the IRS crackdown
If you are a business owner, an IRS audit could be headed your way very soon. Last Sunday, Senate Democrats voted unanimously to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, which will allocate billions and billions of dollars to beefing up the IRS department…including the addition of 87,000 new IRS agents.
“Biden’s legislation plans to devote $80 billion to the hiring of 87,000 new IRS auditors,” says Rob Wilson, President of Employco USA and employment trends expert. “The funds which are received from auditing Americans are meant to help curtail costs incurred from new tax legislation. Unfortunately, it’s going to be America’s small businesses who end up feeling the brunt of these measures.”
Wilson says that increased audits will zero in on small- to mid-sized businesses, where audits will do the most harm.
“Even if your books are entirely in order, no one wants to deal with the time and cost of an audit. Businesses are already short-staffed and struggling to find employees, and going through an audit takes so much time and energy. Many business owners will wind up needing to hire more staff or outsourcing to get through the audit. Sadly, these audits could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for businesses who have already been decimated by the pandemic and inflation.”
Wilson says if you’re a business owner, you need to start preparing for possible audits right now.
“It’s not ‘if,’ it’s ‘when.’ Once the IRS manages to find and train these new agents (which will be no small feat), increased audits will eventually find all of us, provided you make over $400,000 annually. So, now is a good time to start ensuring you’re prepared. You have the time to slowly start tackling this mountain instead of waiting for disaster to strike and then trying to pull it all together.”
Wilson says that outsourcing to employment solutions firms like Employco USA can be a good start.
“You need to be able to focus on your business and getting through this economy,” says Wilson. “Companies like Employco can help you navigate getting your financials in order and making sure these incoming audits don’t destroy what you have worked so hard to build.”
For more on this topic, please contact Rob Wilson at rwilson@thewilsoncompanies.com.