File Those Taxes, But Don't Worry Too Much About Getting Audited

April 14, 2014— -- The weeks leading up the official tax deadline -- April 15 -- can be stressful, but new information from the IRS about auditing may put taxpayers at ease.

The chances you'll be audited turn out to be quite slim, according IRS data.

Only about one percent of taxpayers was audited last year, and this year the number is expected to be lower due to budget cuts at the IRS, Commissioner John Koskinen told the Associated Press this week.

Koskinen said that the IRS will have fewer agents auditing returns this year than at any times since the 1980s. The Internal Revenue Service has also been too short-staffed to answer all of the taxpayer questions that come in by phone during tax season, he said. A little more than 60 percent of callers actually received help last year.

Koskinen said that the agency's technology can usually catch major mistakes, like if your employer reports that you make a certain salary and you claim a different number on your taxes. But for the self-employed or those who are paid in cash, it may be easier to get away with fraud.

"We keep going after the people who look like the worst of the bad guys," IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told the AP. "But there are going to be some people that we should catch, either in terms of collecting the revenue from them or prosecuting them, that we're not going to catch."

The agency is also more likely to target high earners than those that make under $200,000, he said.

The deadline for filing taxes is midnight on April 15.