The Auditor's Glossary

01Terms you will hear in the first thirty days

• Innocent Spouse Relief — IRS relief from joint liability for tax understated by a spouse, granted based on knowledge, benefit, and equity.
• Spoliation — destruction or alteration of evidence when litigation is anticipated; can trigger sanctions or an adverse inference.
• Discovery — the formal exchange of information: disclosures, interrogatories, requests for production, subpoenas, depositions.
• Subpoena Duces Tecum — a command to a third party to produce documents.
• Motion to Compel — asking the court to order compliance with a discovery obligation.
• Dissipation of Assets — wasting or transferring marital property, often reimbursed to the wronged spouse at judgment.
• Commingling — mixing separate property with marital property until the separate character is lost.
• Constructive Trust — an equitable remedy placing title where fairness requires, regardless of the recorded name.
• Fraudulent Conveyance — a transfer made to put assets beyond a spouse's or creditor's reach; can be unwound.
• Quitclaim Deed — transfers whatever interest the grantor has, with no warranty of title.
• Deed of Trust / Lien — a recorded security interest in real property; only as real as the loan behind it.
• Shareholder Loan — money taken from a company by its owner, recorded as a receivable rather than income.
• Owner's Draw — an owner's withdrawal of company funds, distinct from salary.
• K-1 — the schedule reporting a partner's or shareholder's share of entity income.
• FBAR / FinCEN 114 — the annual report of foreign financial accounts above the filing threshold.
• FATCA / Form 8938 — reporting of specified foreign financial assets with the tax return.
• Correspondent Bank — the intermediary institution in an international wire, and a rich source of wire detail.
• Cash Surrender Value — the amount payable on cancellation of a permanent life insurance policy.
• Nominee — a person or entity holding title for the benefit of someone else.
• UCC-1 Filing — a public notice of a security interest in personal property or business assets.