In this insightful episode, Tanya Akimenko shares strategies to prepare for IRS audits and simplify business finances. If you fear audits or lack financial clarity, you won’t want to miss it.
You will discover:
– What to do when you receive an IRS audit notice
– Why proactive financial prep prevents audit stress and boosts decisions
– How to choose a trusted tax pro for audit support
Episode Transcript
Scott Ritzheimer
Hello, hello and welcome. Welcome once again to the Start scale and succeed podcast, the only podcast that grows with you through all seven stages of your journey as a founder and today’s topic is one that almost no one talks about, especially before you started your company, but it’s a topic that almost every successful founder has to deal with in one shape or another. And that is that fun little acronym, the IRS specifically IRS audits. They are no fun. They add no revenue. They can take up a huge amount of time and energy and emotion and money, none of which do us busy founders have any to spare. And so it doesn’t have to be that way, though, and here with us today to set it all straight, is the one and only. Tanya Akimenko. Tanya is a business finance and expert. She’s also founder of The Golden Apple agency, Incorporated designed to help entrepreneurs understand the heartbeat of their business finances. With nearly 20 years of experience, she simplifies complex financial topics, empowering business owners to make smarter decisions, stay audit ready and drive profitability. Known for her straightforward approach, Tanya ensures that business owners aren’t just compliant, but confident in their finances, using accounting as a tool for growth. Her passion lies in breaking down barriers to financial clarity, making accounting an asset rather than an obstacle. She’s here with us today. Tanya, so excited to have you on the show. And I can’t believe I’m saying that about audits, but this is really cool. I love you’ve got a great book on the topic, super, super helpful. And I think this is gonna be really awesome. So that said, we’ve got a little work to do. You know, the moment I mentioned audits, about half of the audience is kind of looking for the skip button. They’re trying to find another episode. So before they do that, hold on, everyone. Give us a second. Tony. I’ve got two questions for you to open up. The first one is, why should a founder listening not hit that skip button? And the second is, why do you think we have such a visceral reaction to a topic like IRS audits?
Tanya Akimenko
Hi Scott, thanks for having me. I’m excited to be here. And the first thing is, don’t hit the skip button, because, you know, little things, little information, could save you hundreds of hours and money and time wasted in the in the future. But also, everybody is scared of the IRS. IRS is the most experienced, the most powerful collection agency. I mean, they take away your house, they take away your retirement, they take away your future, even after you die. I know it sounds crazy, so that is why everyone is scared of the IRS, and that’s why, every time someone hears an audit in the IRS, they just make your heart skips a beat for sure.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, wow. So you’ve got a book on this audit proof your business, and in the book, you really stress preparation before an audit. And so starting like well before an audit has actually happened, someone sitting there just going about their business today in like, the chaos of what it means to be a founder. Don’t get me wrong, what are some things that folks listening might not need to start paying attention to now?
Tanya Akimenko
So a lot of times it’s the little things. Like, especially when you’re starting out, you’re driving, you’re looking at things, you’re having business meals. You know, you’re talking to people. A lot of times people don’t even understand that. Hey, in preparation of being a founder, in preparation of starting a business, you having meals and things like that, and driving to places, all of that is tax deductible. It’s your startup cost. So a lot of times, people don’t even realize it. But if, in reality, $75 and under, specifically for like meals or gas receipt or something like that, you can ignore that. But anything over $75 you want to focus on. You want to make sure that you have that receipt, and with the receipts having memory loss, not memory loss, but fading. I call it my memory loss. The receipt lost memory I would recommend just get into the habit of scanning, taking a picture of it, whatever you know, and have it in a digital form.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, yeah. And one of the, one of the things that I think is a natural byproduct of paying attention to some of this is and tell me if I’m wrong, but I think one of the best things that you can do is to actually get your financial world in order. And for a lot of business owners, especially when it’s crazy, there’s so much that you can learn from that, so much you can improve for that that I think you could argue that getting ready for a financial audit, getting those things in place, is actually good for business, whether you get audited or not. Would you agree?
Tanya Akimenko
That is so true? That is the truth a lot of people don’t like, especially starting out they put accounting, bookkeeping on the back burner, and it’s like, I’ll get. Later, because I got to focus on this. I got to focus on the startup. I got to focus on the scale. I got to focus on this. But if you don’t have your accounting, your bookkeeping information, you’re not going to be able to make a good business decision when it does come to scale, when it does come to growth and things like that. And again, that helps, whether you are going to get an audit or not?
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, yeah. So let’s say, let’s fast forward a little bit. Let’s say someone’s they’re going 100 miles an hour. They, they, they try to do everything right. Whether they did or not, we’re not quite sure, and that’s what the IRS wants to figure out. What does that process look like? How does it start? When should we freak out? Walk us through?
Tanya Akimenko
Well, I don’t think freaking out is ever a good idea, because it clouds your judgment. You can’t make a decision. So the most important thing is, if you are freaking out, give yourself a little bit of time to calm down to actually make decisions. But also, there’s a lot of IRS scams because people are so afraid of it, the IRS won’t call you. They won’t demand money right away. You know, they will send you multiple letters to respond by a lot of time by mail, and then, if you don’t respond by mail, they honestly they could show up. They’ll show up before they’ll call you, believe it or not, but the process is basically whatever you reported on your tax return. When you get audited, the IRS is like prove it. Give me all your receipts, give me all of your income, give me all of your invoices that you collected and things like that. And then it becomes like a prove it thing. So you provide the information, the IRS audits it, and then they could pick expenses and say, Hey, this is not a business expense. This is you trying to pass it as a personal expense, and then it’s kind of like a back and forth. No, this is a business expense. This is how I use it, and things like that. Yeah.
Scott Ritzheimer
Now, one of the things that that shocked me, first time I learned about is we’re used in the US to being innocent until proven guilty. But to some extent, that’s not quite how the IRS works. So walk us through a little bit, because I think a lot of folks coming into an audit space would would think, you know, you know, I’m innocent until proven guilty. Is that the way they work?
Tanya Akimenko
You gotta look at it from the IRS agent perspective, you know, a lot of time you just think about, oh, the IRS a big monster, you know, but in reality, there’s people working there. There’s a human being with a family and things like that. And to them, it’s just a job. To you as your it’s your business, it’s your livelihood. But to them, it’s just a job and they’re they have heard all of the excuses. They have heard all anything you can imagine. They have heard it all. They’ve been lied to. They’ve been, you know, they’ve almost lost their jobs, some of them because they trusted a taxpayer. So yes, when they’re coming into an audit because of their already past experiences with other taxpayers and things like that, you’re absolutely right. It’s not always like, innocent until proven guilty. It’s like, Yo, no, you’re kind of guilty. Prove it to me, your innocence attitude.
Scott Ritzheimer
So someone sitting there, they’re going through their junk mail, tossing it all out, and they get one says IRS on the outside, open it up. What? What should the you know outside of not freaking out? What should the next step be there? Should you respond to them directly? Should you call in extra help? What’s the best approach?
Tanya Akimenko
I always recommend because, and I’ll tell you why, but I always recommend to actually work with somebody else have that middle person between you and the IRS. And there’s a couple of reasons. First of all, the IRS law is so ginormous, it’s so big, and there’s so much gray area. Someone who’s like experienced in audits and understands it can understand the gray area way better than you can the other thing is, people don’t. A lot of times people don’t realize that. But financials and your money, especially when money, your personal money, is tied into it, is extremely emotional. And so when you’re dealing with an audit, you are an emotional person, versus having that third person that’s in between you, they’re they’re not emotionally attached to your case. They’re focused on the facts. They’re focused on proving the facts to the IRS. You’re emotional, and because you’re so emotional, you can’t even put, you know, sometimes put two words together. I’ve been through a lot of audits, sat with a lot of clients. I’ve seen it happen, you know, and when you have that third person, like, I’ve stopped clients from talking too much from telling too much information, you know, because they want to focus on the fact, on the current tax audit, they want to focus on the facts. And we’re so emotional and we like, remember why we got hit to this point we’re bringing up other tax years. I’m like, no, no, no. We’re focused on this one. Nothing about the other one. So it’s. Very, very emotional. And I highly recommend that you do get yourself a third person involved, for that auditor to be on your side, to be the middle person, to actually protect your interest more and to get to the facts faster.
Scott Ritzheimer
How do we find the right person? Because I know there have been a couple of very high profile case, you know, there, there’s the, we won’t name names or channels, but very prominent news channels have very prominent advertisers, will say. And there’s, there’s a lot of folks who will take advantage of people who are going through that experience. How do you find the right person that you can trust?
Tanya Akimenko
Unfortunately, you know, one bad person sets a bad example for the whole industry. I totally understand that, but I want to say the goal is to have a relationship before you have an audit. So if you’re having a business, you should really work with an accountant who who can also represent you in an audit, because then you’ll have a foundation, they’ll already know your business and things like that. When you’re being audited and you’re looking for someone to help you, that’s a higher chance, and unfortunately, unless you interview them, know which questions to ask things like that. Because even what I noticed, you can’t even really rely on the five star reviews, because a lot of reviews sometimes could be bought, you know, right? So I think the goal is, if you have a business, if you’re, you know, a successful entrepreneur is to have a already an established relationship. And again, that that comes before the audit.
Scott Ritzheimer
And, and who tends to do that? So for someone, this is, you know, first time they’ve really ever thought through don’t have a strategy for it. Their niece does their accounting on the weekend. Right? She’s probably not the best one to help support them through an audit. Who are the right people? Are there specific titles? Are there? What are the what are the right kind of credentials that you’d be looking for.
Tanya Akimenko
So even if, like your niece does the bookkeeping on the side and things like that, you should still have a tax preparer, like a CPA, EA or even the tax attorney, attorneys who specialize in taxes, CPAs, who specializes in taxes as well. And EAS are the Enrolled Agents. They only specialize in taxes, really. So you should have one of those people, even, like, when it’s not during the tax season, contact them during the summer, when it’s a slower period, and say, Hey, can you review my taxes? Can I have a consultation? You know, start to build a relationship like that.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah. Yeah. Very good, very good. So going back to some of the stress that can be created in this when it comes to communicating with the IRS through that, let’s say they’re doing it themselves, or there’s something they have to respond to directly. What would you recommend? Let me say this another way, IRS agents speak a certain language, and it is not founder, and so one of the just as someone who sits between those two parties, how do you see yourself translating founder speak into into IRS agents speak to be more clear.
Tanya Akimenko
So like for me, I have a meeting before the IRS agent. Is usually, if there’s an audit, they want to interview the taxpayer, and I’m usually there. So for me personally, I have a meeting before the IRS, meeting with the like, founder, Owner, business owner, and I basically go through it, and we talk about, what are things we need to focus on? What are things we can’t say? What are the things we shouldn’t draw attention to, like other years that are not being considered and things like that. So the most important thing is like, because there is the language, different is really just preparation for it. If you are doing it yourself, one thing I do recommend is never talk just on the phone, because once you’re in a communication with an agent or in person, but if you do follow up with an email and get them to acknowledge it, because just like with any anything else, you should have a chain of events, like a proof of a conversation. If you talk to an agent and the agent is like, yeah, give this to me, and I won’t, I won’t assign any penalties or interest. That’s not true. They just might be wanting to get the information. Again, everybody’s you know, person I’ve seen, I worked with great agents who, you know, went by the book, and I went I and I worked with some not so great. Again, everybody’s human. So if you’re doing it yourself, definitely have a chain of events, like a written thing, because once the audit is completed, and if you’re not satisfied with the audit, you can appeal the audit. But if you don’t have those supporting documents, hey, like, we had a conversation over the phone, well, there’s no record of it, but if you had a conversation over the phone, and then you follow. It up with an email. Hey, I just wanted to confirm. Please confirm. This is what we had the conversation about. They’ll email you back. Then there’s your proof.
Scott Ritzheimer
Got it, got it. So that takes us forward. Let’s say that the audit concludes. Tell us a little bit about how audits conclude. Is it that you win or lose? Is there something in between? What does that ending process usually look like?
Tanya Akimenko
So there’s always a financial difference. The whole goal of an audit is to prove that you did it. Ron, basically. So the ending is they basically give you your paperwork and say, Hey, this is the financial difference. It’s always, it always ties into money. So you will have, usually you have an amount due. There are a few cases I’ve had them personally will where the IRS will even refund you money. But usually the whole goal of the IRS is to have an amount due. Your whole point, your whole goal is when you get audited, you want to get that audit done, completed fast and as little financial difference as possible. You want it to look like to the IRS that you’re not worth their time to audit, because if you are, they will automatically open up two more years next. You know, as soon as you can, I’ve seen this happen over and over again. But basically, once you have the financial you either agree or you disagree. If you disagree, then it goes into appeals. And like I said, You need to have the proof of of the conversations and everything you had to make it go a little bit your way. But once you agree on an amount of the audit, you either have to pay that, can set up a payment plan and things like that, or again, if you don’t agree, it would see appeals process.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah. So, Tanya, I’ve got a question here, and I asked this of all my guests, I’m interested to see what you had have to say. But for any founder listening today, what would you say is the biggest secret that you wish wasn’t a secret at all. What’s that one thing you wish everyone watching and listening today knew?
Tanya Akimenko
People think finances are logical, like this is my numbers in and out. These are the loans. But it’s really emotional. Money is emotional. Money is like a fingerprint. Even taxes is like a fingerprint. They all look similar, but just because one founder is okay with getting a million dollar loan, the other founder is having a heart attack getting $100,000 loan. And I think this the biggest secret is everyone needs to understand their emotional and their emotions towards their finances. And once you understand that it becomes easier to deal with in your business and just in general, going forward.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, yeah. So true. Tanya, there are folks listening, and they they’re just, you know, serendipitously, if you can call it that, got a letter recently and would like some help, or, more likely, they’re sitting here middle of the year, not tax season, but they realize, hey, this is something that they have to give a little bit of attention to. Now, where can they get a copy of your book? Where can they find more out about the work that you do?
Tanya Akimenko
Yeah, so just on our website, goldenappleagencyinc.com, and I am an IRS Enrolled Agent. That means we do work with all the states. So it’s not specific. We’re located in Jacksonville, Florida, but it’s not specific to just Florida. We work all across the US. So basically just my website. It has all the information there and everything.
Scott Ritzheimer
Fantastic, fantastic. Well, that is GoldenAppleagencyinc.com, we’ll get that in the show notes for anyone who’d like to do it. You can check out. Can check out her book audit proof your business. It’s available just about anywhere you get your books. Tanya, thanks for being on the show today. Just a privilege and honor having you here, and for those of you watching and listening, you know your time and attention mean the world to us. I hope you got as much out of this conversation as I know I did, and I cannot wait to see you next time. Take care.
Contact Tanya Akimenko
Tanya Akimenko is a business finance expert and founder of Golden Apple Agency Inc., dedicated to helping entrepreneurs understand the heartbeat of their business—finances. With nearly 20 years of experience, she simplifies complex financial topics, empowering business owners to make smarter decisions, stay audit-ready, and drive profitability. Known for her straightforward approach, Tanya ensures that business owners aren’t just compliant but confident in their finances, using accounting as a tool for growth. Her passion lies in breaking down barriers to financial clarity, making accounting an asset rather than an obstacle.
Want to learn more about Tanya Akimenko’s work at Golden Apple Agency Inc? Check out her website at https://www.goldenappleagencyinc.com/