If a business omits cash receipts, is that a Form 3949-A issue?

Question

AcadiFi · Accepted Answer

Often, yes. If the allegation is that a person or business received cash or other hard-to-trace payments and did not report the income, the Form 3949-A information-referral lane is the natural starting point.

Keep two layers separate:

```mermaid
flowchart TD
  A["Cash receipts omitted"] --> B["Substantive tax issue"]
  A --> C["Reporting-lane issue"]
  B --> D["Receipts may belong in gross income"]
  C --> E{"Who is being reported?"}
  E -->|Business or owner| F["Form 3949-A lane"]
  E -->|Paid preparer conduct| G["Form 14157 lane"]
```

If the taxpayer is your client, the first job is usually to correct the client's own reporting. If the allegation concerns another person or business, the reporting form question is separate from preparing any client's return.

If a business omits cash receipts, is that a Form 3949-A issue?

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