They changed the rules back in the mid eighties IIRC and tightened them since. This audit was right after the first rule change, and while we thought it might have been a little flakey we thought we were fairly safe.
In the end it turned out that an ex employee of the CPA ratted him out to the IRS accusing him of many evil things that he had not done. As a result the IRS audited a whole bunch of his clients. I was caught in the net. As a result, my CPA did not send me a bill for his services during the audit.
My father was audited twice. Good thing he was anal retentive and kept every receipt he’d ever gotten all the way back to the one the doctor gave his mother when he was born.
It was at that time he taught me his moral code: “Son, never cheat. If you only cheat a little, it’s not worth it, and if you cheat a lot, they’ll nail you.”
I’ve never been, but I know a couple hundred folks that have.
I work for my dad. My dad represents people with tax problems before the IRS, you see.