The first rule for surviving an IRS audit is this: don’t freak out.
When you recover from the shakes, dry off your sweaty hand and call your tax advisor – immediately. No one should attend an audit without the back up of a professional and often you can skip attending the audit at all, leaving the whole thing up to the professionals.

Don’t ignore the IRS.
You probably have thirty (30) days to respond to the audit notice. If you don’t respond, the IRS can adjust your tax liability without your input.

Read carefully.
The audit notice gives specifics about the tax year line items that are in question. Often the examiner will just need to look at one or two documents to substantiate your return.

Bring only what you’re asked to bring.
Don’t offer up information that the auditor has not requested. Taking other documents to your audit opens up the risk of having those examined as well. Auditors won’t usually go beyond the initial scope of the audit.

Get prepared.
Review your tax return, organize your records, and run an adding machine tap for checks and invoices. Making the examiners job easier only makes sense.

Be Nice.
Extra, extra nice. Practice some deep breathing and leave the grumpies behind.