Internal Revenue Service

New Vehicle Dealership: IRS Audit Technique Guide (ATG) Internal Revenue Service

In preplanning an examination of an automobile dealership, a review of the return, as is customary, could pose interesting questions to begin the audit. An agent knows there are a variety of internal research tools with which to start. By securing information from the Integrated Data Retrieval System (IDRS), an agent may be able to perform a preliminary comparative analysis of the income and deduction items as well as the balance sheet which would provide initial information useful to the agent. Many dealerships have begun conducting business transactions utilizing e-commerce, or the Internet. Using a search engine to look at a dealership's website may provide some background information on a specific dealership. The return may be a consolidation of two or more entities created for the benefit of the automobile dealer. The separate entities provide the dealership the ability to clarify operations and distinguish activities.