Tax Audit Definition
Is an audit carried out by a tax collecting agency in order to determine if a taxpayer paid the correct amount of tax. Taxpayers are chosen for audits if they have suspiciously high claims for deductions or credits, or if their reported income is suspiciously low, but an audit may be done simply as part of a random sampling. If the auditor finds a tax deficiency, the taxpayer has to pay back-taxes, as well as interest and penalties.