According to tax attorney and CPA Donald Williamson, the IRS focuses on small businesses for audits rather than larger companies, even though they can gain more money for the government auditing larger companies. It seems rather bizarre and random as to why the IRS does this. Williamson suggests that this is actually done on purpose because the agency believes that small businesses may not be accurately reporting income. Some small businesses operate on a cash basis, whereas a large corporation must record all its profits and losses in order to keep track of everything. This way, it is assumed that larger companies can accurately file their taxes when it comes to that time of year.

This unfair treatment puts small businesses at risk for shutting their doors permanently. Due to the time, stress and high costs of dealing with the IRS, most small businesses can’t afford hiring a tax attorney, CPA or a legal counsel to protect them. Additionally, small business owners are not knowledgeable in tax law and they can’t meet the high demands of the IRS. If they choose to pursue the outside help, any small document the IRS needs must be addressed to the tax attorney. This means that any minor review can lead to substantial costs for the small business owner.

Previous employees at IRS have addressed how the process and management of small business audits compared to large business audits shouldn’t be looked at in the same perspective. This is a conflicting issue because the two types of businesses have different needs, resources and interests. Still, the agency chooses to audit small businesses at a higher scale and this causes high costs for the small business owners. Ultimately, if the IRS continues targeting small businesses, it will hinder the business owner’s ability to effectively run their business and possibly being forced to go out of business. It is time for the IRS to open their eyes and realize that they are failing to serve the very people who have created tens of thousands of jobs for people.