I recently completed assisting one of my clients with an IRS audit of their small business.  The clients worked with the auditor for several months before engaging me.  At the time I was engaged the IRS was proposing an assessment of close to $90,000 for the tax year 2014, including penalties and interest.

The IRS tried to tax them on their total deposits and disallowed most of their expenses because of a lack of documentation and receipts.  Unfortunately, the clients moved subsequent to 2014 and many of the receipts were lost or missing.

It took several months of going back and forth between myself and the auditor before we were both in agreement as to the correct amount of taxable income.  I was ultimately able to reduce the assessment to $3,000, saving my clients almost $87,000 in Federal taxes, and about $4,000 in state taxes!  

I think I can attribute much of this success to my experience, knowledge, reference sources, and maturity.  Dealing with the IRS can be as much of an art form as it is anything else and knowing when to push forward and when to fall back is critical.  And, of course, I had wonderful clients who cooperated with me on all of my requests.