What do you do when the IRS contacts you? Panic, Procrastination, Belligerence and Ignorance are big mistakes! This webinar delves into what to (and not to) do when you receive communications from the IRS and what to do when doing business with other federal, state and local regulatory agencies and lawmaking bodies.  The IRS takes a variety of steps to combat perceived employment tax non-compliance, with the upshot being significant criminal penalties and convictions resulting in incarceration, heavy fines, or usually both. Whether or not there is a violation, and many times there is not, all those steps begin with written and oral communication to the entities involved. Proper courtesy goes a long way to make your experience easier but more than that is needed to ensure successful communication.

Remember it isn’t just the IRS that conducts employer audits.  The federal Department of Labor as well as the state counterparts to the IRS and DOL also conduct audits to ensure compliance.  Handling notifications promptly and accurately for all agencies goes a long way to stemming off a full-blown audit over what might be otherwise a simple misunderstanding or common error.

But what if you are audited by the IRS or another government agency, how should you prepare for and deal with this type of audit? There are tips that can assist in preparing for that audit you know is coming. They start with preparation and end with cooperation. But in-between you will need to make sure you plan your audit out completely from your perspective so you can meet the audit head-on fully prepared.

The best way to avoid an external audit is by conducting an internal one first.  By conducting a full audit of your department, you can identify problem areas where compliance is an issue and deal with them before they become the topic of an IRS or Department of Labor audit or notice.

Why Should You Attend?

Employers have more chances to be audited than ever before. And although most of us think of IRS when the word audit is mentioned they are not the only ones who audit.  Wage and hour audits on the federal level are on the increase. In fact, the IRS and the DOL are working together with the counterparts in almost every state to ensure compliance by employers using audits. It is not a matter of “if” but “when” the notice arrives. Make sure you know what to do and how to do it when the inevitable happens!

How about conducting an Internal Audit? Wouldn’t it be easier, not to mention cheaper in the long run, to find your own compliance issues without the stress of an external auditor’s penalty calculator looming over you?  Also, what about fraud? The payroll department is not immune! In this webinar we also discuss how conducting an internal audit can discover whether you have been subject to fraud plus help you to prevent internal fraud in the future.

Learning Objectives:

• How to determine what is—and is not—an IRS notice
• Step by step instructions on how to respond to an IRS notice
• Dos and don’ts of corresponding with the IRS or any government agency
• Tips on preparing for an audit
• Best practices for payroll departments to avoid audits
• How to beat them to it—strategies to conduct your own internal audit
• Learn the best practices for payroll departments to avoid audits
• Auditing for internal fraud: what to look out for including phantom employees and reverse deductions
• Auditing for Wage and Hour law compliance on both the federal and state level
• Auditing for tax law compliance on both the state and federal level
• What to audit for: sample lists to get you started on your own audit
• How to get management to buy into the idea of an “internal audit”
• What to do if a compliance issue does arise during an internal audit
• When to conduct the internal audit
• New areas of audits on the horizon

Who Will Benefit:

• Payroll Executives, Managers, Administrators, and Professionals
• Payroll Specialists and Practitioners
• Human Resources Executives and Managers
• HR Administrators and Professionals
• Accounting and Finance Professionals
• Business Owners and Executive Officers
• Operations and Department Managers
• Attorneys and Legal Professionals
• Professionals responsible for payroll compliance and regulatory requirements