Tax Compliance & IRS Representation

When it comes to the IRS, precision matters. AE Tax Advisors provides meticulous tax return preparation, audit defense, and resolution services for individuals and businesses with complex tax situations. Our compliance work is backed by the same deep planning expertise that drives our advisory practice.

3-Year Tax Lookback: Find What Your Prior CPA Missed

Our 3-Year Tax Lookback regularly uncovers significant errors from prior preparers. Common issues include: consulting income classified as "Other Income" instead of Schedule C (missing SE tax implications and S-Corp opportunity), missed depreciation on rental properties, failure to claim home office or vehicle deductions, and overlooked education or retirement credits. Most business owners assume their returns were filed correctly. In our experience, the majority of new clients have at least one material error in their prior three years of returns.

Amended Returns and Refund Recovery

We have recovered $30,000-$50,000 for individual clients through amended returns, and our Form 3115 filings for missed depreciation have generated single-year catch-up deductions exceeding $300,000. Amended returns can be filed for any open tax year (generally 3 years from the original filing date), and the refund claim process is straightforward when properly documented. If you have rental properties that never had cost segregation, business expenses that were never deducted, or income that was misclassified, there is likely money sitting with the IRS that belongs to you.

Income Misclassification: A Costly and Common Error

Income misclassification is more common than most business owners realize. We have seen consulting income reported as "Other Income" on Line 8 of Schedule 1 instead of Schedule C, which not only causes SE tax miscalculation but also prevents the client from considering an S-Corp election that could save $20,000-$40,000 per year in self-employment tax. We have also seen rental income reported on the wrong schedules, capital gains mischaracterized as ordinary income, and K-1 income allocated incorrectly. Each of these errors compounds over time and creates both overpayment risk and audit exposure. Our lookback process catches these issues and corrects them through properly documented amended returns.