The Internal Revenue Service has released a
The memorandum provides guidance on when to request accounting software backup files from a small business taxpayer during an examination, and the restrictions placed on examiners when reviewing the software data and safeguarding the records.
“Generally, backup files contain transactional data for tax years prior to and beyond the year(s) under examination because many of the software products do not provide for an option to create a backup for only a specified time period,” said the memorandum from IRS Small Business/Self-Employed Division examination director Shenita L. Hicks. “Examiners should only review data relevant to the year(s) under examination. An exception may be reviewing transactions for the month prior to and the month after the tax year or the tax periods before and after the ones under examination, if the transactions in those timeframes are relevant to the data sought. Examiners may also review any transactional data created or changed during the tax year under examination.”
In addition, the IRS has posted new information on a
The IRS met with the American Institute of CPAs and several accounting software vendors last Thursday, according to the
According to the IRS guidance, examiners are only supposed to review data relevant to the year or years under examination. However, they can make an exception when reviewing transactions for the month prior to and the month after the tax year or the tax periods before and after the ones under examination, if the transactions in those timeframes are relevant to the data they are seeking. Examiners can also review any of the transactional data that has been created or changed during the tax year under examination.