The actions that change your outcome— retirement contributions, entity elections, income timing, and expense tracking— have hard deadlines that you need to account for before December 31st.

An IRS audit is a review of a person's or organization's books, accounts, and financial records to make sure the information and amount reported on a tax return are correct. Just because you receive a tax refund, it doesn’t mean you're safe from audit selection, and amending your tax return doesn't remove the original one from the selection pool.

While some IRS audits can be random, there are plenty that stem from the same handful of red flags. There's no reason why you shouldn't take steps to avoid committing these faux pas.