Everyone talks about IRS red flags but too few have a problem when one actually pops up.

What do you think it does to your audit-potential score when you start putting five-digit negative numbers on the "other income" line?  And who do you think is reading your explanation, whether in a digital e-file or on a paper return?

If you must do something before sunset (for no good reason), then don't put the excluded income on Line 7 in the first place.  This might raise another red flag, though, if there is tax withheld and no income to show as a possible source. 

(The original red flags were those attached to IRS employee returns, when they were processed in local district offices and all of them were audited.)