LESS CHANCE OF BEING AUDITED BY IRS.

• Position: Brief Article

Your chances of being audited by the Internal Revenue Service are down, according to Cindy Van Alst, professor of accounting, Ball State University, Muncie, Ind. About 400 IRS auditors are involved in implementing reform laws, leaving the organization short of manpower for auditing millions of tax returns in 1999. The program to reform the IRS should modernize the Federal organization, which is long overdue, she maintains.

"Chances of being audited are less than two percent, but some returns have a higher risk. Returns reporting income greater than $100,000, high deductions, high losses from businesses or investments, home...