Book excerpt: For anyone who has had to endure an IRS audit-or hopes they never will-Beating the IRS Tax Squeeze is the story of one woman's journey through an IRS tax audit that lasted five years. Qian Yi began to chronicle her interactions with the Internal Revenue Service soon after her third office audit on December 5, 2002, shortly after she had returned from Shanghai with her husband. By that point, the audit on their 2000 tax return had been going on for twenty months, with eight intimidating IRS CP notices and three office audits-the tax assessment on her and her husband's joint 2000 tax return having escalated from approximately $9,000 to a whopping $78,000. All the while, from the very beginning, Qian arduously negotiated with the IRS and hoped for a quick resolution, but it was everything but quick. Never could Qian have foreseen that their 2000 tax return audit could drag on for five years and that while it was still pending for a resolution, all their tax returns for years 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and even 2005 would all come under IRS's unrelenting and unremitting scrutiny. In this smart, worldly, and candid book, Qian adheres to the facts of her dealings with the IRS as she recounts her many telephone calls, multiple correspondence audits, and five office audits. Her uplifting tale of survival proves that perseverance is the key-only if you believe you are right-to success with IRS audits and, perhaps, in all aspects of life.