James Triplett isn’t like most taxpayers who get audited and take care not to draw Internal Revenue Service scrutiny to future tax returns.

Having been audited once and fined $10,000 for filing a false return, the Ohio businessman claimed a $10,000 deduction the following year for professional and legal expenses he couldn’t document.

On further investigation, the IRS charged him with trying to write off the fine, and the U.S. tax court agreed, ordering Triplett to pay up and hitting him with a negligence penalty for flouting the tax code.

With April 15 just around the corner, most taxpayers will take care not to follow Triplett’s example. They will avoid calling attention to themselves and their tax returns, perhaps even denying themselves legitimate deductions that could flag IRS interest.

The number of tax returns audited by the IRS has been cut in half since 1997, when 1.2 million individual returns got audited. Now, only about a half of 1 percent are being audited, the IRS reports.

Given the declining likelihood of being detected, it’s not surprising that a new poll done for the federal government finds that more Americans say it’s OK to cheat on taxes: 76 percent said cheating was wrong, down from 87 percent just two years ago.

However, IRS Commissioner Charles Rossotti has announced stepped-up use of random audits for 2001 tax returns due by April 15 atop stepped-up individual audits.

Unlike past efforts, Rossotti says that 50,000 tax returns will be picked this year in an effort to improve targeting of taxpayers for future audits when one in four audits now results in no change in what a taxpayer owes.

Also, few of the people picked at random will be subjected to intense, face-to-face questioning like the time-consuming line-by-line random audit of 1988 that drew congressional fire.

“The program should be no more burdensome than it needs to be and be fair to everybody,” Rossotti says.

What you need

If you’re one of the 50,000 chosen at random, there’s no way to avoid it, but tax expert Jim Southward says the burden can be eased with an audit preparation file.

Southward, who heads licensed tax planners and preparers with the California Society of Enrolled Agents in Sacramento, likens the file to “insurance: You hope you never need it, but it’s nice to know it’s there.” He says audit preparation files should include:

l Documentation for all deductions but especially documentation for questionable or unusually large amounts for medical expenses or charitable contributions.

Charities should supply letters of acknowledgement for any gift of $250 or more that should be kept in the audit preparation file, too.

l Tax records going back for five years  “just to be safe”  even though the IRS has three years from the filing date to audit returns.

Also, if you give non-cash donations to charity, keep a good paper trail to document large write-offs. For new items, you usually can deduct what you paid. For used items, write off what they would sell for at a thrift shop. New or used, get a receipt.

The Web site www.itsdeductible.com has software to help you value used or new clothing and also offers a book, “Cash for Your Used Clothing.”

If you donate an old car, claim only the fair market value, given mileage, accessories and general condition, and make sure the charity is legitimate. Beware if the charity promises you can write off Blue Book value; that’s an invitation to a tax audit. Deduct $500 or more, and add IRS Form 8283 and the charity’s receipt to your tax return; write off $5,000 or more and get an independent appraisal from a garage or car dealer, too.

You’re chances

If you’re one of the nation’s 7 million small business owners or 33 million taxpayers who are self-employed full or part-time, your chance to be audited is 1.55 percent, or three times more likely than rank-and-file taxpayers.

The reason, suggests small business tax expert Paul Gada of tax publisher CCH Inc., Chicago, is that these taxpayers contribute more than $900 billion a year in federal tax collections “so it’s little wonder that the IRS pays particular attention to ensuring compliance by small business owners.”