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GAO-05-29R 1 (2004-11-05)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptaqqd0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 



  SGAO

       Accountability * Integrity  Reliability
United States Government Accountability Office
Washington, DC 20548


         November 5, 2004


         The Honorable Kenneth M. Mead
         Inspector General
         Department of Transportation
         Subject: Applying Agreed-Upon Procedures: Airport and Airway Trust Fund
                   Excise Taxes

         Dear Mr. Mead:

         We have performed the procedures contained in the enclosure to this report, which
         we agreed to perform and with which you concurred, solely to assist your office in
         ascertaining whether the net excise tax revenue distributed to the Airport and Airway
         Trust Fund (AATF) for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2004, is supported by the
         underlying records. As agreed with your office, we evaluated fiscal year 2004 activity
         affecting distributions to the AATF.

         In performing the agreed-upon procedures, we conducted our work in accordance
         with U.S. generally accepted government auditing standards, which incorporate
         financial audit and attestation standards established by the American Institute of
         Certified Public Accountants. These standards also provide guidance for performing
         and reporting the results of agreed-upon procedures.

         The adequacy of the procedures to meet your objectives is your responsibility, and
         we make no representation in that respect. The procedures we agreed to perform
         were (1) detailed tests of transactions that represent the underlying basis of amounts
         distributed to the AATF, (2) review of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) quarterly
         AATF certifications, (3) review of the Department of the Treasury's Financial
         Management Service adjustments to the AATF for fiscal year 2004, (4) review of IRS's
         precertification' of receipts for the second and third quarters of fiscal year 2004,
         (5) review of certain procedures of the Department of the Treasury's Office of Tax
         Analysis' (OTA) estimation procedures affecting excise tax distributions to the AATF
         for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2004, and other procedures including
         (6) compiling and reporting the net amount of fiscal year 2004 excise taxes
         distributed to the AATF, (7) detailed tests of transactions that represent total IRS tax

         'To accommodate the Department of Transportation's accelerated reporting date for fiscal year 2004,
         IRS performed precertifications of excise tax collections. The data are for information purposes only,
         and the precertification does not constitute an official certification.


GAO-05-29R Airport and Airway Trust Fund Excise Tax Procedures