Found an issue on this page? Let us know and we will look into it as soon as possible.
Does IRS pay attention to the "Occupation" field of tax form?
Anonymous5 views1 answers
I was filing a tax form for my mother. But, just because English is my second language; I put "house keeper" as occupation instead of "house wife". And I clearly didn't know the difference at the time. She has zero income. Does it increase the chance that she gets audited on her tax? Do they really pay attention to the occupation field? What is the purpose of it?
It's possible that this will trigger an audit, but not likely. Usually, the I.R.S. uses the occupation classification to determine if income and deductions are within certain thresholds. For example, the I.R.S. has statistics concerning what your average construction worker makes and what average expenses are usually itemized. If a return is filed and there are significantly more claimed expenses than your average construction worker, and these claimed expenses result in a net loss or significant reduction in taxable income, then this may trigger the audit for a return.
In your situation, it is doubtful that an audit will occur. If your mother is unemployed and has zero income, then there will be no Forms W-2 or 1099 reported to the I.R.S., and so they will have no reason to believe that the return is inaccurate. Even if an audit does occur, you can simply explain that putting "house keeper" on the return was a mistake, and I don't think the I.R.S. will have any reason to disbelieve this.
