Once the practitioner has identified the taxpayer's issues and understands the nature of the Service's inquiry and what it expects to receive from the taxpayer, the practitioner should:

thoroughly review the client's tax returns for the year under audit.

perform an overall review of the return not looking at specific items of income and deduction to save time.

review the taxpayer's returns for all years that are open to assessment.

explain to the taxpayer his or her obligation to maintain books and records that are adequate to support reported taxable income and deductions, and to that end, ask the taxpayer to review items of income and deduction as reported to determine that they are supported by his or her books and records.