The IRS has a magic number–$200,000.  Americans making less than that each year have only the slimmest chance of having their tax returns audited, it was revealed yesterday.

Of the 133 million returns with income less than $200,000 filed in the 2009 fiscal year,  just 0.96 percent were audited, IRS records show.

In contrast, returns of those reporting over $1 million in income had a 6.42 percent chance of getting audited.

Tax returns reporting between $200,000 and $1 million had a 2.9 percent chance of an audit.  The IRS data also revealed that audits of millionaires spiked by a dramatic 30 percent over the past year and 120 percent since 2005.

There were 28,349 audits of returns that reported more than $1 million in income in fiscal year 2009, up from 21,874 the previous year and 12,835 in 2005.  More complex returns are going to be looked at because that is where there are most likely to find opportunities for non-compliance, said IRS spokesman Anthony Burke.  More than half of those millionaire audits, some 15,730 this past fiscal year that ended Sept 30, required grueling in person sessions with the IRS field agents.

The vast majority of people with incomes less than $200,000 got away with a correspondence audit–generally an impersonal exchange of letters.

But everyone should be on their toes, tax pros warned.

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