8 things that could increase your chances of being audited, and how to avoid them

If you are an independent contractor, you will get a form 1099-MISC from clients who paid you $600 or more. If you worked for one or two large clients, your 1099s won't be an audit trigger, Weston said; it's when you have lots of small clients that the IRS suspects you might not have reported everything.

Report all your income, whether you got a 1099 or not, and keep good records, Weston advised. "The very first thing they will ask for when they audit you is your bank statements," she said. Keeping a separate account for your business income and expenses will help you in an audit.

There are two opposite issues with self-employment income, according to Weston. First are those who work in the gig economy and have never filed a Schedule C, or "profit or loss from business" form, before.

"I think there's a lot of people that don't know they're in business," Weston said. Many gig workers don't keep the business records they need to defend an audit.

On the flip side are those who deduct expenses from a business the IRS would consider a hobby. "Usually, on a Schedule C, they're looking for deductions that you're not entitled to because you're not a business," Weston said. One example: a retiree who occasionally drives for Uber for fun, not for the money. If your business isn't making a profit, and you're claiming a deduction on it, that's a red flag.

The IRS has strict rules on charitable contribution deductions, especially when you donate property rather than cash. "You have to have [a receipt] now for anything over $250," Weston said, as well as "something to substantiate the value and the condition."

If you don't have photos or other documentation to prove the desk you gave to charity was a mint condition zinc Eames, the IRS might let you deduct only the much lower yard-sale price.

If you drive your own vehicle for work or business, you might be entitled to deduct a per-mile amount ($0.545 in 2018) to cover driving expenses. If you drive a lot for charity, moving, or medical reasons, you can also take a small deduction for every mile you drive.

The mileage deduction is "a high area of abuse and it is a highly audited area," according to Weston. But don't worry. "The beauty of technology is that you can use your GPS history as an audit support," she said. You can recreate your mileage from your business records. "That's not fraud," Weston said. "Making things up is fraud but creating a log after the fact is not."

Rental income, especially if you also have a 9-to-5 job, will increase your score on the IRS's audit scale. "That is a very highly audited area because of the limits on how much you can take as a loss," Weston said.

If you have a rental property, make sure you understand all the rules.

"The higher your income is, the more likely you are to be audited," Weston said. The IRS stands to gain more if they catch a wealthy person in a mistake.

Low-income earners aren't exempt from audits though, especially if they claim a refundable credit, such as the earned income tax credit.

"Any time on your return that there are even numbers, that's a red flag," Weston said. If your office supplies came to exactly $500 or your mileage is a round number, the IRS will be suspicious.

"There are certain cases when, if you can't create the numbers, the IRS allows you to estimate," Weston said. If you estimate, you should disclose this to the IRS. She added: "If you are estimating, then you should use a round number. But if you have a real number, use the real number."

To protect yourself against a possible audit: "Don't run the risk of losing your receipts. Have your receipts digitized," Weston said. Save six years of receipts because, under some circumstances, the IRS can look back that far. "If they believe there's fraud," she added, "they can go back to the day you filed your first tax return."