Documents from Afar – A Total Team Effort

As Audit Rep Assistants, we are asked to perform many tasks, such as recreating tax returns, completing bank analyses and preparing response packages for the IRS. The time spent on these tasks ranges anywhere from 5 minutes to 5 days, depending on the complexity of the audit.

This case started in January 2013 and involved the 2010 and 2011 tax years. The Audit Rep Assistants were asked to prepare the response package for the member, who was living in Costa Rica. The IRS was examining his income and all of the expenses claimed on his business Schedule C.

We received over 800 documents that the Member had uploaded to our Member Assistance Portal, MAP. This was a total team effort, with all ARAs contributing to the downloading, printing, labeling, indexing, and preparation of those documents. As some of the documents were in Spanish, Perla Melara lent her expertise by translating them to English. After many hours of hard work, the documents were ready to be sent to the IRS.

The IRS responded three months later with an exam report. The results were no additional tax due. What a joy to see the exceptional results of all of our hard work!

*The Members of Team Owl are: Viktoria Artishuk, Perla Melara, Wanda Bourgeois and Karen Thomas-Brandt