What This Letter Means

Letter 3573-A is the SB/SE Office Exam Appointment Confirmation Letter for Forms 1120, 1120-S and 1065. Your corporation or partnership return is under an office audit. This letter confirms the date and time of the first appointment you set up with the IRS Tax Compliance Officer.

It usually follows a phone call. That call may have been your response to a call-back letter, or the examiner may have called you after the call-back period ran out. Individuals get a similar letter, Letter 3573.

What Was Covered on the Call

On that first call the examiner identifies the returns and tax periods under audit, discusses the issues, and explains what records should be available. Expect the audit to possibly expand beyond the issues first listed. The examiner also asks how your books are kept, including any accounting software.

The initial contact package includes a document request tailored to your return. That list is your preparation checklist for the first meeting.

What to Do

  • Put the appointment on your calendar. Check the date, time and office location.
  • Gather every item on the document request. Bring copies, not originals.
  • Decide who will attend. For a corporation that is usually the officer who signed the return or another officer. For a partnership, the partner who signed.
  • If you want a representative to handle the audit, sign Form 2848 and get it to the examiner before the appointment.

If You Need to Reschedule

Call the number on your letter as soon as you know. Don't wait until the day of the appointment.

If You Don't Show

The audit does not go away. The IRS follows up by phone and then by certified mail. It can send Letter 2295, which warns that your tax will be changed based on the information the IRS already has, or that a summons may be issued. An audit decided without your records rarely goes well.

If your business is facing an IRS office audit, call us at (813) 229-7100.