Earlier this year I was invited to an event that I have never been a part of before, an IDES audit.
I know that the Illinois Department of Employment Security does audit, but I have never had a client who was audited. Now I have had one.
The client was an unlikely candidate for an IDES audit. They only have one owner on payroll and a part time instructor. The revenue is in the low six figures and most of the revenue goes to salaries and supplies, about 70% or so.
The client was concerned, why was he being audited. I had no insight for him, since I had never been a party to an IDES audit before. We both went over their books and records and nothing unusual came up.
So on the day of the audit, when we sat down with the auditor, I had to ask why this client was chosen. I was informed that the IDES audits one percent of all Illinois businesses with a payroll each and every year. The audit clients are all picked at random. So my client was under the microscope.
After about 45 minutes of questions and review of documents, my client walked out with no findings and no changes.
In 2019 the IDES maximum income contribution limit is $12,960; a low threshold to cross, which is why I was perplexed by the chose to audit my client.