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Independent Auditor's Report on Applying Agreed-Upon Procedures: Fiscal Year 2015 Excise Tax Distributions to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund and the Highway Trust Fund

GAO-16-109R Published: Nov 05, 2015. Publicly Released: Nov 05, 2015.
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Highlights

What GAO Found

GAO performed the procedures contained in the enclosures to this report, which it agreed to perform solely to assist the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General in ascertaining whether the net excise tax revenue distributed to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF) and the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015, is supported by underlying records.GAO was not engaged to perform, and did not perform, an examination, the objective of which would have been to express an opinion on the amount of net excise taxes distributed to the AATF and the HTF during fiscal year 2015. Accordingly, GAO does not express such an opinion. This report is solely for the use of the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Transportation and should not be used by those who have not agreed to the procedures or have not taken responsibility for the sufficiency of the procedures for their purposes.

Why GAO Did This Study

GAO performed agreed-upon procedures to assist the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General in ascertaining whether the net excise tax revenue distributed to the AATF and the HTF for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015, is supported by underlying records. The Department of Transportation’s Inspector General is responsible for the sufficiency of these agreed-upon procedures to meet the Inspector General’s objectives, and GAO makes no representation in that respect. The procedures GAO agreed to perform were related to (1) transactions that represent the underlying basis of amounts distributed from the General Fund to the AATF and the HTF during fiscal year 2015, (2) the Internal Revenue Service’s quarterly AATF and HTF excise tax receipt certifications prepared during fiscal year 2015, (3) the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Tax Analysis’s (OTA) estimates of excise tax amounts to be distributed to the AATF and the HTF for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2015, and (4) the amount of net excise taxes to be distributed to the AATF and the HTF during fiscal year 2015. In commenting on a draft of this report, IRS and OTA agreed with the results and findings related to the procedures performed concerning excise tax distributions to the AATF and the HTF during fiscal year 2015.

For more information, contact Cheryl E. Clark at (202) 512-9377 or clarkce@gao.gov.

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Air transportationDocumentationExcise taxesGasolineKerosenePetroleum productsPublic roads or highwaysTax returnsTransportationTrust fundsAgreed-upon procedures