If you have finished your 2014 tax return, good news. Not only are you done with this headache for another year, but your chances of getting audited are slim, unless you fall into certain high-risk categories.

In fiscal 2014, the Internal Revenue Service audited just 0.86 percent of individual tax returns, down from 1.11 percent in 2010 and 2011, according to Tax Analysts.

The reason: Congress keeps cutting its budget while heaping more responsibility on the agency. The IRS now has to keep track of people’s health insurance and crack down on unreported foreign income and assets, while battling crime rings that use the Internet to file fake returns and get tax refunds.

The IRS audited about 1.2 million individual tax returns in fiscal 2014, the lowest number since 2005. About one-fourth of these audits involved face-to-face examinations; the rest were by mail. “Audits fell in virtually every individual category and across income levels,” IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said in a February speech.

Who might get hit

That said, some taxpayers are far more likely to get audited than others.

In the 2014 fiscal year, taxpayers reporting $25,000 to $200,000 in adjusted gross income had a below-average (less than 0.9 percent) chance of getting audited.

From there, audit rates rose steadily with income: to 1.75 percent for those making between $200,000 and $500,000 all the way up to 16.22 percent for those making $10 million or more. However, people making more than $200,000 accounted for only 3.6 percent of all tax returns filed in 2013.

People at the opposite end of the income scale also face higher-than-average odds of an audit. The IRS questioned 5.3 percent of returns with no gross income and 0.93 percent of returns with $1 to $25,000. Returns with no gross income is the only category in which audit rates rose between 2011 and 2014.

Adjusted gross income “may be less than zero when a taxpayer reports losses or statutory adjustments that exceed total income,” the IRS said in its 2014 Data Book.

Big red flag

Another red flag: claiming the earned income tax credit. This credit is available to low- and moderate-income working families and can reduce their income taxes below zero, meaning they pay no income tax and get a refund. This credit has a high rate of overpayments due to mistakes (it is highly complex) and fraud. Congress has been pressuring the IRS to bring the error rate down.

Last year, 435,638 returns “were selected for examination on the basis of an Earned Income Tax Credit ... claim,” the IRS said in its Data Book. That accounts for more than one-third of the 1.2 million returns selected for audit.

In 2012, about 19 percent of tax returns claimed the credit. Almost all had less than $50,000 in adjusted gross income, said Roberton Williams, an economist with the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

Aside from these statistics, the IRS does not disclose what triggers an audit. Some are random, but most are selected based on factors that suggest a mistake.

“The most surefire way to get a letter from the IRS is to not report all the information reported to you and the IRS on a Form 1099 or W-2,” said Andy Phillips, a director with the Tax Institute at H&R Block. The IRS has a document-matching program that can spot most discrepancies.

Here are other things that tax-prep experts say might trigger an audit:

•Excessive deductions: “The IRS has a program that compares your itemized deductions (especially charitable donations) with others in your tax bracket to see if it is reasonable,” Phillips said. “That doesn’t mean you don’t want to claim them, just make sure you can back them up.”

An appraisal is needed for any donated items worth more than $5,000.

•Self-employment: People who file Schedule C may face a higher risk of audit, especially cash-intensive businesses, such as salons, lawn-service or any service business.

“The people most likely to be audited are ones that claim excessive business losses,” says Lisa Greene-Lewis, a CPA with TurboTax. If your business fails to turn a profit in at least three out of five years, the IRS may deem it a hobby.

Large travel and entertainment expenses are likely to raise red flags. Greene-Lewis says it is important to keep a separate checking account for your business.

If you get a notice from the IRS questioning your tax return, don’t ignore it. “Time is of the essence,” Phillips said. “You usually have a certain number of days to respond and preserve your rights.”

Kathleen Pender is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Net Worth runs Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. E-mail: kpender@sfchronicle.com Blog: http://blog.sfgate.com/pender Twitter: @kathpender