Fiscal Year 2012 Agreed-Upon Procedures: Excise Tax Distributions to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund and the Highway Trust Fund

As requested, this correspondence discusses our findings on 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, 2012, is supported by the underlying records. The Department of Transportation's Inspector General is responsible for the sufficiency of these agreed-upon procedures to meet the inspector’s objectives, and we make no representation in that respect. The procedures we 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 2012, (2) the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) quarterly AATF and HTF excise tax receipt certifications prepared during fiscal year 2012, (3) the U.S. 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 2012, and (4) the amount of net excise taxes to be distributed to the AATF and the HTF during fiscal year 2012.

We were 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 2012. Accordingly, we do not express such an opinion. Had we performed additional procedures, other matters might have come to our attention that we would have reported to you. We completed the agreed-upon procedures on October 25, 2012.

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