Most IRS audits never involve a room at all — those run by mail (the correspondence audit). The two in-person tracks do. In an office audit, you go to the IRS: an interview at an IRS office, normally limited to the items listed in your appointment letter. In a field audit, the IRS comes to you — your home, your place of business, or your representative’s office — and the examination can range wider. The examiner is different, the setting is different, and the ways the case can grow are different. This page runs both tracks as parallel playbooks: the same skeleton, with different risk at different steps.
General information, not tax or legal advice. Field audits of businesses and any exam raising unreported income are high-stakes: most taxpayers in that position hire an attorney, CPA or enrolled agent before the first meeting.
The letter invites; it does not schedule. The opening letter asks you (or your representative) to call and set the appointment. If the proposed time or place is unreasonable, you may ask for a different one — by law the examination must be held at a time and place reasonable under the circumstances (§7605(a); Publication 3498 describes the same scheduling process).
One exam per year, normally. The IRS generally may not inspect your books for the same tax year twice. A second inspection of the same year’s books requires the IRS to notify you in writing that an additional examination is necessary (§7605(b)).
You don’t have to face the room alone — or at all. An attorney, CPA or enrolled agent may represent you, and with a Form 2848 on file your representative can attend meetings in your place; you generally need not appear yourself unless the IRS formally summons you.
Bring only what was asked for. The IRS requests specific documents in writing, and the law expects you to keep the records used to prepare your return for at least three years from filing. Bring those records, organized to the request — and nothing extra; unrequested documents invite unrequested questions. Copies, never originals, in-person exams included. Assembling proof to the standard each issue requires is the record-keeping checklist; anything you put in writing follows the discipline in how to respond to an IRS audit letter.
Both tracks end the same way. Agreed items settle at the table. Unagreed issues are written up on Form 4549 with the examiner’s reasons on Form 886-A, delivered under a 30-day letter — for in-person exams that letter is Letter 915 (Letter 525 is the correspondence-exam counterpart). Reading that package and working the agree-or-appeal fork belongs to the Letter 525 guide; if the meeting ends unagreed, the exit is Appeals.
Who you meet: a Tax Compliance Officer — an IRS employee who works a set list of issues from an appointment letter.
How it runs:
The risk profile: narrow, but documentary. Office exams are won and lost on whether the paper you bring proves the item as filed.
Who you meet: a Revenue Agent — a more senior examiner, typically assigned to businesses, self-employed taxpayers and more complex returns.
How it runs:
The risk profile: scope. A field exam can expand to additional issues and additional years when the agent finds material discrepancies, and expansion beyond the original scope involves the agent’s manager. What opens as one year’s business return can grow into several years and your personal accounts — which is why field-audit preparation starts with a contained first IDR response.
| Office audit | Field audit | |
|---|---|---|
| Examiner | Tax Compliance Officer | Revenue Agent |
| Where | IRS office | Your home, business, or representative’s office |
| Opens with | Appointment letter listing items | Form 4564 IDR + opening conference |
| Typical scope | The items in the letter | Can expand to more issues and years |
| Signature risk | Missing proof for a listed item | Income probing — bank-deposit analysis |
Both tracks sit inside the same overall sequence — selection, contact letter, exam, report, 30-day letter, then Appeals or a Notice of Deficiency — mapped in IRS audit help.
What should I bring to an IRS office audit? Exactly what the appointment letter lists, item by item: the records the IRS requested for each issue under examination, organized so each document is matched to the item it proves. Bring copies, not originals, and nothing the letter did not ask for — extra records invite extra questions. Keep the underlying records for at least three years from filing; that is the period the IRS expects them to exist.
What happens during an IRS field audit? A Revenue Agent works at your home, place of business or representative’s office. Expect written document requests on Form 4564, an opening conference covering the issues and the expected timeline, and — as standard field practice — a tour of the business premises and questions about how the business operates. If your records do not adequately account for your income, the agent may reconstruct it using indirect methods such as bank-deposit analysis (IRM 4.10.4).
Can someone represent me at the audit instead of attending myself? Yes. An attorney, CPA or enrolled agent can represent you, and with Form 2848 (power of attorney) on file, the representative can attend meetings in your place — you generally do not have to appear personally unless the IRS formally summons you. Many field-audit taxpayers use exactly this arrangement, so that everything reaches the agent through one channel.
Will the IRS come to my home or business for an audit? It can. That is the field audit, one of the two in-person examination types the IRS describes, held at the taxpayer’s home, place of business, or representative’s office. The IRS notifies you by mail first; the meeting is then arranged by phone, at a time and place reasonable under the circumstances (§7605(a)). An agent does not simply appear unannounced to begin an audit.
Sources: IRS.gov — “IRS audits”; IRS Publication 3498 (Rev. 5-2025) and Publication 3498-A; IRC §7605(a)–(b); IRM 4.10.4 (indirect methods, bank-deposit analysis). Currency verified 2026-10-23.