The home office deduction is one of the most common deductions for a filer to claim. It allows the filer to take the proportion of the house devoted to the office, subtract that portion from rent or mortgage payment, and deduct that from their income. So if your office took up half of your house, you could deduct half of your house payment from your income. But it easily raises suspicion, because it can call into question and cast doubt on many other aspects of a return. For example, say the house payment is $500/month and the filer has claimed four dependent children. On top of his children, he claims half of the house as an office. Since $500/month is a really low amount for a mortgage, an IRS agent will assume it’s a small house, and if it’s a small house, then where are all these kids staying—in the office? But then it isn’t an office, it’s a bedroom with file cabinets. If the filer needs that much office space, and he doesn’t he seem to make much money from office-related work, he could be underreporting that income.
 It’s also common for people to claim mileage in a car as a business expense. It’s a permissible deduction, but also one that’s easily open to abuse, so it’s scrutinized pretty carefully. To satisfy any suspicions, put a mileage log in the car and update it every time you take a trip.For instance, if the “business vehicle” is the person’s only vehicle, it’s really hard to tell when business stops and pleasure begins, so they’ll want to investigate it—which can trigger an audit.
 When travel, entertainment, and meals are for business purposes, they are deductible, but this is another area which is open to abuse, and therefore scrutinized heavily. If you claim more than $1000 per year in entertainment, you need to be very diligent about keeping track of the receipts and records. , The IRS actually has statistical models of charitable giving divided up into income brackets, so they would know about how much a typical single man making $40,000 per year would donate to charity. So if you donate much more than your usual amount, or much more than the amount a typical person of your situation would give, that’s going to invite a closer look.In order to protect yourself, make sure you make your charitable contributions via check and not cash.
 If you claim more than a third of your income in itemized deductions, be prepared for an audit. It's an IRS red flag. Very few people could legitimately claim that amount of deductions, but even if they were all legitimate, it indicates a great degree of calculation on the part of the tax preparer. The level of calculation that allows a person to claim half of their income in itemized deductions invites suspicion.
Keep your home office in good working order.
Buy a mileage log and keep it in your car.
Be conservative about meal and entertainment deductions.
Make your charitable contributions by check.
Don’t go overboard with itemized deductions.
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