An on-site tax audit is usually carried out by the tax authorities at the location of the organization being audited. For its implementation, a decision on the conduct is necessary. This document defines the name of the company in respect of which the audit will be carried out (the name is indicated in full and abbreviated according to the Charter; full name).
In addition, the subject of verification is clearly specified, which consists, as a rule, in the correctness of the calculation and payment of tax fees. The period for which verification and the composition of the inspectors will also be indicated. The decision is made and signed by the head and certified using the seal of the tax authority. The timing of an on-site tax audit will be discussed in this article.
Restrictions
The tax legislation of our country defines the restrictions for tax specialists that are in force in connection with the implementation of field tax audits.
There are several such limiting factors:
1. The audit is carried out at the location of the audited organization. If the taxpayer does not have the opportunity to provide premises to the inspectors, an on-site inspection can be carried out at the location of the tax authority. Also, field tax audits can be carried out at the location of the central office, and not the main production or individual shops of the audited organization.
2. The law prohibits two or more inspections of the same subject for the same period.
3. It is forbidden to conduct an on-site inspection more than twice during a calendar year in the same audited organization. Unless, of course, we are talking about an unusual situation, when a decision is made that there is an objective need to conduct such an audit more than 2 times.
4. It is forbidden to require documents for verification whose statute of limitations exceeds three previous calendar periods.
5. The period during which the audit is carried out may not be longer than two months. However, under certain circumstances, the term for an on-site unscheduled inspection is extended and can reach four months, and in unusual situations, the period can be extended to six months. The provisions, under which circumstances it is possible, are strictly regulated by law and must be respected by the tax authorities.
6. An audit cannot be carried out solely for the purpose of controlling the conformity of the prices applied in controlled transactions to market prices. There are certain procedures and terms for conducting field tax audits.
When conducting inspections, the following restrictions were established with respect to independent inspections at branches or representative offices:
- it is forbidden to go to the branches or representative offices for inspections two or more times in the same subject for the same period;
- Conducting in the same branch or representative office of an organization more than two field inspections, while one calendar period lasts, is prohibited.
Allowed Dates
According to the current rules, on-site inspection of the enterprise cannot be carried out in a period exceeding two months. The first day of calculating this period is considered the day when the tax authority has decided to start a tax audit, and the last day is the date the inspector compiled a certificate of verification.
But by a special decision of the head of the Federal Tax Service in a certain constituent entity of the Russian Federation, the term of on-site inspections can be extended up to four months, and in exceptional situations - up to six months.
Often, tax officials are asked: "Indicate the maximum term for an on-site tax audit." In many cases, this is difficult to do, since there are many factors that can in each case affect its duration.
The list of reasons that allow extending the term of on-site inspections is as follows:
- a large number of documents to be verified;
- the length of the period to be verified;
- a large number of taxes subject to verification;
- untimely provision of documents requested for verification by the audited organization;
- the presence of separate units.
In accordance with the decision of the head of the IFTS, the audit may be suspended in the following cases:
- to request from counterparties and other persons documents or information about the organization that is being tested;
- when conducting an examination, for example, of documents;
- to request information from a foreign state body within the framework of international treaties of the Russian Federation;
- in order to translate verifiable documents into Russian, if they are written in another language.
The procedure and dates for field tax audits in 2016 and this year 2017 were carried out on the basis of the Tax Code of 07.25.2013.
At the time when the inspection is suspended, the inspector does not have the right to require the company to provide documents. And also he can not perform any actions on its territory or in the premises. Documents that were requested by the Federal Tax Service Inspectorate before verification was suspended must be submitted within the time period contained in the request. The tax service may make a decision to suspend a field audit several times. At the same time, the total time for suspension of the on-site inspection, having any grounds, cannot exceed a six-month period. Thus, the deadline for conducting an on-site tax audit of an enterprise, taking into account the terms of extension and suspension, cannot exceed 12 months.
Order of conduct
Inspectors of tax services have in their arsenal two methods of conducting on-site inspections: solid and selective. More often, inspectors use a continuous verification method, since decisions made on the basis of spot checks are often invalidated. When applying the continuous method, inspectors have the right to request all the documents of the organization for the periods covered by the audit: primary documentation, cash book, purchase book, sales book, invoice registration books, income and expense records, etc.
At the same time, they should meet the total deadline for the on-site tax audit.
In particular, the tax authorities check whether the taxpayer keeps records, the availability of documents required by law, the actual submission of reports to the tax authority. When conducting an inspection, the inspector must establish whether the taxation regime is correctly selected in accordance with the type of activity, the actual circumstances associated with the obligation to pay taxes, and whether the taxpayer complies with the requirements of the law on tax fees. The inspector has the right to demand any additional documents and explanations that relate to the subject of inspection. In addition, tax authorities have the right to contact outside organizations and contractors to make requests regarding the audited taxpayer. The inspector examines:
- How correctly the documents are compiled, and also checks for the presence of established information in them.
- Systematic and complete accounting of documents.
- Compliance of the tax base, objects of taxation.
- The sufficiency and accuracy of the calculation of taxes, as well as the timeliness and accuracy of their payment to the relevant budgets.
- Timeliness and reliability of reports submitted to the tax authorities.
Analysis and comparison of documents is carried out, including with those documents that were requested from third-party organizations and contractors. Inspectors compare the entries in the primary documents with the entries in the accounting and tax reporting. Thus, they make a conclusion about the presence or absence of tax violations. If it is revealed that the law has been violated, the event and the composition of the violation are established, the evidence base is formed, interest is charged. During this event, as a rule, documents are taken for verification selectively, in order to identify systematic violations. The choice of audit methodology directly depends on the period to be verified, taxes being audited, the number of auditors and the volume of the enterprise.
The procedure and timing of field tax audits must be followed.
Types of Checks
There are not many types of inspections; they are complex and thematic, as well as planned and unscheduled. Thematic check is needed to analyze documents for one tax. Integrated, respectively, for several types of taxes. Both comprehensive and thematic verification is carried out using a continuous or selective method. What are the deadlines for conducting field tax audits of each type, depends, first of all, on the size of the enterprise and the amount of documentation that needs to be reviewed. For small enterprises, it can be 5 working days, for large - from 15 working days. The reason for unscheduled on-site inspections may be the identification of a taxpayer violation of the legislation regarding monetary transactions, a court order, and the company declaring bankruptcy. It is important to know that any are carried out on the basis of an approved decision of the tax service and with the obligatory drawing up of an act upon its completion.
Writing a certificate of verification
On the final day, the inspector prepares a certificate of this inspection, which reflects the timing of the inspection and its subject. The inspector shall present a copy of the certificate to the taxpayer or his representative. The actual completion of the tax audit is verified using this certificate. The date of the certificate should coincide with the actual end of the audit. But the date of delivery of the certificate to the representative of the organization being verified may differ from the day it was drawn up, which does not cancel the end date of the audit. The certificate is signed by all authorized persons. After the certificate of verification is drawn up and signed, all activities on it are terminated. You can check with the tax authorities what are the deadlines for conducting field tax audits.
Reporting Results
The Tax Code establishes the rules by which the results of on-site inspections should be issued. The fact of establishing a tax offense is not enough, it must be properly registered. Inspector after 2 months. from drawing up the certificate, he must provide a tax audit report in which he records all the data on it (this also applies to identified violations and the situation when no such information was found). If the audit was carried out in a specific group of taxpayers, the act must be submitted after 3 months. The general term for the suspension of the on-site tax audit was discussed above.
Act content
The act, like any document of this kind, has its own form established by law, it must be drawn up in accordance with it. There are several requirements for the design of this document. First of all, it should be compiled in documentary form, in Russian with continuous pagination. The act should not have blots, corrections or erasures.The use of abbreviations and acronyms in the preparation of the act is allowed only with decoding at first use in the text. The act should reflect in a systematic way all detected and documented factual violations of tax legislation, as well as other circumstances (or their absence) found during the verification process. It is also important to comply with the Tax Code the timing of the on-site tax audit.
The document should have links to articles of the tax code that provide for liability for discovered violations. The act also reflects the findings and suggestions of the inspector related to the elimination of violations. The act should not reflect the subjective assumptions and opinions of officials who do not have sufficient grounds. The act always contains three parts: introductory, descriptive and final. An integral part of the act are applications. At the discretion of the inspector, the application may be executed as an explanation of the text of the act. They may reflect calculations of various kinds and detailed data for each violation. Applications are an integral part of the act, and they are signed along with it. Without fail, the inspector attaches to the act documents confirming the violations found (copies of documents, witness interview protocols, counterparty responses, etc.).
Act signing
Upon completion of the act, the act is signed by the persons responsible for the audit, and by the person in respect of whom this audit was carried out (this may be his representative). During the audit of a group of companies, the act is signed by representatives of all taxpayers. Recall that the maximum period specified by law for an on-site tax audit is 12 months.
Presentation of the act
A duly executed and signed verification certificate is transferred against receipt within five days from the date of preparation. The act can be sent by mail (which most often happens) with a notification. If the consolidated group was checked, the act must be presented to each responsible representative of this group within ten days.
In this case, the maximum term for the on-site tax audit is necessarily taken into account.
Actions verified upon receipt of the act
If the taxpayer has objections to the conclusions set forth in the act, does not agree with the measures of influence applied to him, he has the right to submit his objections in writing to the tax authority that was involved in the audit within two weeks from the date of receipt of the act. At the same time, he has the right to confirm his objections with documents, attaching the relevant documents and certificates to the application. If taxpayers of the consolidated group have such objections, then they have the right to submit them to the tax authority within a month from the moment the act is received. After all, the term of an on-site tax audit is two months.
Final decision
As a result of the audit and review of its materials, the head makes a decision. The decision may contain provisions on holding a taxpayer or several persons liable for a violation. If no offenses were found, the decision contains a refusal to hold liable, accordingly, there is no penalty in such a document, however, taxes and penalties may be charged. The decision on the results of the audit is signed by the head who was directly involved in the examination materials.
We reviewed the on-site tax audit.