IRS audits jump by 11 percent; wealthiest targeted ASHINGTON â The Internal Revenue Service is making it a bit riskier to cheat on your taxes. The tax agency increased the number of returns it audited by nearly 11 percent this year, statistics released Wednesday show. Wealthy taxpayers and big businesses were most likely to be targeted. â Wed Dec 15, 3:51 pm ET The IRS also stepped up audits of charities and other tax-exempt organizations. In all, the IRS examined more than 1.58 million individual returns in the budget year that ended in September, up from 1.43 million the year before. "We saw individual audits increase, reaching the highest rate in the past decade," said Steve Miller, IRS deputy commissioner for services and enforcement. "The bottom line shows enforcement revenue topped $57 billion, up almost 18 percent from last year." http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101215...jA3luX21vc3RfcG9wdWxhcgRzbGsDaXJzYXVkaXRzanVt