MW If you're trying to avoid an IRS audit, leave these three things alone on your tax return
By Beth Pinsker
Your tax situation can change every year, but some things could trigger a red flag in the antiquated computer systems at the IRS
Most people want to interact as little as possible with the IRS.
Vickie Kidner has been married almost 45 years, and she has been taking care of the family finances almost that whole time.
When she was a newlywed in the early 1980s, she took a tax course to get some practice filing returns. "We were told to put the man's name first," she said. "I remember questioning it. The instructors said it was standard, and we don't want to confuse the IRS."
Everyone laughed, but Kidner, now 66, wasn't amused. She didn't understand why it mattered or was funny. As long as the IRS was getting both names, who cared which came first? Nevertheless, she went along with it, and now, all these years later, she's stuck with it.
The order of married taxpayers on the 1040 form - where one is the primary taxpayer and the other is the "spouse" - is one of the legacy trip wires of the IRS filing system. Taxpayers spend a lot of time and effort - and sometimes a considerable amount of money on professional financial services - trying to avoid attracting notice from the IRS. The primary goal is to send off your return and get your refund, if one is due, and never hear from the IRS again during the year. But if you end up confusing the computer processing system, then humans have to come into the picture to sort things out. That could mean a letter from the IRS requesting more information - or an audit of some kind.
There are all sorts of urban myths about what prompts the IRS to look more closely at your return, and most of them aren't true. You want to itemize this year when you took the standard deduction last year? Go ahead. You need to change your filing status because of a life change? That's why there are four to choose from. As your circumstances require, you can add a newborn child, change your profession, update your bank-account information, put in a new address or add a business.
"If the taxpayer has adequate documentation, correctly reports income and expense activity and takes defensible positions on the tax return, there is little to worry about," said Matthew Cordes, a tax expert who holds the enrolled agent license administered by the IRS.
There are three specific cases, however, where changing course halfway through does gum up the works, and you're better off leaving things as they are, the experts say. Here's what you can and cannot change each year.
Name order for married couples
The order of names on a tax return makes no difference in how much tax you owe, but it does get attached to your return history. "The joint return is tied to the Social Security number on the return. If you switch it, it can cause problems. The next year will have a different primary [SSN]," said Cordes. "The other issue is that sometimes the IRS misses things that are credited to the second Social Security number, so if you make estimated tax payments and the primary spouse makes them under their [SSN], and the second spouse makes it under their [SSN], they might miss it."
Locking in the order leaves taxpayers like Kidner wondering about the gender power dynamics at play. A study led by Joel Slemrod, a now-retired economics professor at the University of Michigan, found that 88% of heterosexual married couples put the man first on tax returns, whether or not the male spouse is the breadwinner or does the work of filing the taxes. If all things were equal, that number would only be 63%. That 88% figure was based on 2020 data and was down from 97.3% in 1996. Slemrod surmised that by 2030, the number of man-first tax returns might be 3 to 4 percentage points lower, or about 85% of heterosexual married couples.
For those who are rethinking their filing order because it might be based on outdated notions, there is an option to make that change, but it's very difficult. Slemrod said only 1.4% of different-sex joint filers changed the name order in the data he studied, while for same-sex couples it's 2.7%. When clients ask Miklos Ringbauer, a certified public accountant based in California, he said, "I tell them the logistics to switch and how the IRS system is not well-suited for changes, and none of them go through with it."
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Depreciation and carryovers
The accounting method a taxpayer uses when they put equipment into service and then depreciate the asset is much less emotional, but keeping it consistent is equally important. This pertains mostly to business owners, but it also could apply to homeowners or to freelancers who use a car or other equipment. Each different type of asset has a different timeline for depreciation, like three years for some machinery and almost 40 years for commercial property. There are bonus and accelerated options, too.
"Once you have placed an asset in service, you must continue with it going forward," said Thomas Gorczynski, an enrolled agent who runs his own firm and is also a tax educator. The rules for depreciation are complicated, though, so there may be exceptions, he noted. "But as a general rule, once you place it in service, that choice continues forward."
Another multiyear situation to manage is any losses that can carry forward, like rental losses or capital losses. With these, you have to note the initial loss and then deduct from it each year going forward. Problems with this tend to occur more because of user error, rather than being an IRS issue. Gorczynski said he has seen situations where a taxpayer has switched software providers or changed tax preparers and the carry-forward loss gets lost in the process. Then it becomes hard to pick that loss back up in future years.
Multiyear tax accounting like this differs from most other items on a tax return. For instance, if you took the standard deduction last year and itemized your deductions this year, the IRS would not look askance.
"Every year stands by itself, and you can make different decisions for most things," said Gorczynski. "If you're switching preparers, make sure all carry-forwards are captured, or you could lose tax benefit."
Switching dependents
Who gets to claim the kids on their taxes is a complicated question for divorced or unmarried parents, and there can be a lot of money at stake, as the credit in 2026 is $2,200 per qualifying child, and $500 for other dependents. If you have several children, that could add up to significant tax savings. The amounts can go up even higher if the family qualifies for the earned-income tax credit.
In most cases, the ability to claim a child defaults to the person known as the custodial parent, who is the one the children live with the majority of the time. This can be hard to figure out in 50/50 custody arrangements, and so some families revert to the parent who provides the most financial support as a tiebreaker.
But divorcing parents can also work out deals. For instance, in the case of a family with two kids, each parent might claim one. Or sometimes parents will alternate years. Others switch when certain conditions are met, like a child reaching high school.
This is all allowed, but you need paperwork for it, namely IRS form 8332. "It's relatively common," said Gorczynski. "The custodial parent has the right to claim the child. However, they can agree to transfer with the form."
One warning from tax experts: This can turn into a first-come, first-served situation. The first parent to claim the kids usually gets the deduction, because no explanation of custody arrangements is needed on a 1040 tax return. A parent just needs their child's original Social Security card and birth date. That leaves the other parent to contest the matter if they feel wronged, and that could lead to a messy situation with the IRS. And the whole point of having correct, simple paperwork is to avoid dealing with the IRS if you can help it.
Got a question about investing, how it fits into your overall financial plan and what strategies can help you make the most out of your money? You can write to me at beth.pinsker@marketwatch.com. Please put "Fix My Portfolio" in the subject line.
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-Beth Pinsker
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March 23, 2026 15:39 ET (19:39 GMT)
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