The IRS is likely to flag returns due to: 1) Mismatches between third-party reported income and individual reported income; 2) Large deposits inconsistent with reported income; 3) Disproportionately high expenses relative to revenue from a side hustle; 4) Significant year-over-year fluctuations in income; and 5) Minimal or zero reporting of income from multiple platforms.
"The IRS often is going to get involved because of mismatches and patterns, right? And these are common situations. So, if a third party reported income to you and on your tax return like you don't have the matching amounts, then that's going to be a mismatch and that's going to catch their attention. If you have large deposits that don't fit your reported income, then obviously something's wrong there and they could you're going to be flagged. If you have huge expenses with tiny revenue from your side hustle, then yeah, you're going to be flagged. If you have sudden swings, like one year you have big income and then the next year it drops to close to nothing, like big swings, then yeah, that's going to be picked up. And if you have multiple platforms reporting activity and you just write such a minimal amount or just zero or forget about it, then yeah, that's going to be, you know, detected."
