Best-in-class audit support 
Built to the IRS's own standard
The IRS Audit Technique Guide names 13 elements of a quality cost segregation study and tells examiners which shortcuts to question. Our reports are built to the elements, so your CPA can check our work against the guide before an examiner does.
Contents
Audit-ready documentation "A quality study and report will expedite the exam process and ultimately minimize audit burden."
IRS Cost Segregation Audit Technique Guide, Chapter 4
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Engineered, not estimated
A US-based team of engineers itemizes every component with its quantity, unit cost and replacement cost new, from named industry cost sources.
Common trap from other providers: Rule-of-thumb studies that apply a fixed percentage of project cost from "industry averages". The guide tells examiners to view them with caution.
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Every number cites its source
Cost sources, photographs and the inventory of source records are cross-referenced to each asset, so a third party can re-derive the result.
Common trap from other providers: DIY, AI, or foreign-contractor reports that hand an examiner a summary with no per-asset source, no photographs and no record inventory.
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The legal analysis is written in
Permanence and functional factors, Rev. Proc. 87-56 and Treasury Regulation citations for each class, so the classification defends itself on the page.
Common trap from other providers: Classifications with no engineering or legal reasoning behind them. The guide rates a study by a construction engineer as more reliable than one without.
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Reconciled to the cent
A dedicated reconciliation section ties the schedule to the total actual cost, with contractor overhead and sales tax stated per cost source.
Common trap from other providers: Allocations that do not tie to total actual cost, which the guide calls indicative of inaccuracies in the study.
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The methodology is spelled out
RCNLD formulas, cost-source selection rules and the classification framework are written into the report, in the guide's common nomenclature and a standard numbering system.
Common trap from other providers: A report that cannot explain how it reached its numbers, leaving the examiner nothing to accept.
What happens during an audit
We make sure your CPA never walks in without an answer.
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Day one
Your CPA reviews the study first
Give your CPA or representative the study as delivered. It documents every number, so it is built to answer the examiner's questions on the page.
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When a notice arrives
You forward the notice
If the examiner asks for more, send us the IRS letter or information request within 30 days of receiving it. That starts Audit Support.
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Our 3-business-day standard
We answer in writing
A written response to the questions the study does not already answer: how we built it, why an asset is classified the way it is, how a figure was calculated. Our standard is 3 business days.1 Your CPA sends it to the examiner alongside the study.
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Until the examination closes
We stay on the line
We join calls with your CPA or representative, answer follow-up questions, and can be available as a fact witness on how the study was built, for as long as the examination of the study continues.1
What Audit Support covers
Specific enough to read before you buy. Every line is defined in the policy.
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The study is the documentation
Each asset's classification, cost source and quantity. The photographs each asset cross-references. Every disclosed adjustment factor with its reference. The inventory of source records reviewed. Built for the examiner's desk on the day we delivered it.
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Support for the life of your return1
Every return that carries the study's figures, for as long as the IRS can still ask about it.
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A written response to a 3-business-day standard1
To the examiner's questions that go beyond what the study documents: methodology, classifications and conclusions.
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Calls with your CPA or representative1
Throughout the examination of the study. Not a single check-in.
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Fact-witness availability1
On how the study was prepared, on request.
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Our correction commitment1
If the examination surfaces an error that is ours, or a classification we cannot substantiate on the record we relied on, we correct and re-issue the study at no charge.
Without audit support
What happens when you buy a cost segregation study without audit support
The notice arrives, and the report has nobody behind it. Your CPA cannot explain an engineer's classifications, and the provider who sold you the study is not obliged to.
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You source engineering support after the fact
Someone has to itemize the assets retroactively, support each classification with cost sources and photographs, and be willing to testify to the work. That is an engineering engagement, and it often runs $7,000 or more, on top of what you already paid for the study.
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Or the numbers go undefended
If the classifications cannot be supported, or the study does not meet the quality elements the guide describes, the examiner is not required to accept the deductions it produced.
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And the deduction may unwind
Disallowed depreciation may mean tax due on the amount you deducted, interest from the original due date, and an accuracy-related penalty. Your CPA can tell you what applies to your return.
Don't let this happen to you. Get peace of mind with Audit Support included with every study we deliver.
Audit Support questions
Does cost segregation raise my audit risk?
The IRS publishes its own Audit Technique Guide for cost segregation. It names 13 elements of a quality study. Our reports are built to them, so you can check our work against the IRS's own criteria.
Who talks to the IRS?
Your CPA or representative does. Under IRS Circular 230, only a CPA, enrolled agent or attorney may represent a taxpayer before the IRS, so an engineering firm like ours cannot, and no cost segregation provider can. We supply the written answers your representative sends, and we join their calls.
How long does Audit Support last?
For the life of your return. Every federal return that carries the study's figures is covered for as long as the IRS can still assess tax on it.
What do I have to do?
Give your CPA the study as delivered. If the examiner asks for more, forward the notice within 30 days and share what arrives after it. We write the answers.
What if you got something wrong?
We correct and re-issue the study at no charge. We never pay tax, penalties, interest or professional fees; Audit Support is a service we perform, not insurance.
1 Audit Support is a service we perform for the study we delivered. It is not insurance, a warranty, or a guarantee of any tax outcome, and we never pay tax, penalties, interest or professional fees. We do not represent taxpayers before the IRS: under Circular 230, only a CPA, enrolled agent or attorney may. The response standard is a target, not a promise. Conditions apply; see the Audit Support Policy (scope §3, services §4, your obligations §6, duration §7, remedy §8).
Order the study your CPA
wants to see on audit day.
Engineering-based, every number sourced, Audit Support built in.