Field tax audit: procedure, deadline, purpose

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-17 18:37

Every entrepreneur faces different tax audits. They can be cameral or field, scheduled or unscheduled. They are carried out exclusively by inspectors working in the Federal Tax Service, and a special commission is appointed to visit the enterprise itself. It is important to understand what an on-site tax audit is, when it is carried out in relation to a particular enterprise, when the planned activities are carried out, and what is the purpose of the conduct.

The essence of the check

Inspectors claim that it is visiting the enterprise and examining its documentation on the spot that is the most effective and reliable way to check the company. The features of the field tax audit include:

• the main goal of this event is the need to make sure that the accountant of the organization correctly determines the amount of tax, and also correctly pays it;
• according to the results of the process, arrears and other problems are revealed;
• if there are serious violations, the companyis held accountable, and it can even be criminal for the management of the company;
• surprise is a significant factor, and especially unscheduled inspections, so inspectors can prevent the destruction or hiding of documentation;
• such an event is held both in relation to different companies and to individual entrepreneurs;
• the basis for the procedure is the order of the head of a certain department of the Federal Tax Service, but in some situations the order may be issued by his deputy.

Verification is performed at the location of the company. If the company has branches in other cities, then the documentation can be studied in these divisions.

What are the restrictions?

Almost all firms are afraid of this event, as almost always inspectors reveal significant violations, which leads to the holding of the firm's management to account. But conducting an on-site tax audit has certain limitations.

These include the fact that it will not be possible to check the company's documentation on a planned basis if the company was opened less than three years ago. It is impossible to study the same papers twice in one period.

What are the deadlines?

The procedure can be performed for a different amount of time, as this is influenced by various factors. The standard term for an on-site tax audit is two months, and this time period is clearly indicated in the Tax Code.

If there are difficulties or too many documents, then it is allowed to increase the process up to four months. If the company under studycloses, the on-site tax audit may take up to six months.

Six months is the maximum period during which the company's documents can be checked by inspectors in its office, unless this process is suspended for various reasons.

Types of inspections

The procedure may be different, as it differs according to various criteria.

Verification criteria	Views
According to the method of conducting	Solid. Such an on-site tax audit involves the study of all available documents and reports. This allows you to find various documentation that is considered suspicious by inspectors.
	Custom. Documents relating only to a particular tax or period are studied. Additionally, papers that arouse suspicion among inspectors may be subjected to research.
According to the object of study	Studying the direct taxpayer.
	Verification of branch office.
	Research on a group of taxpayers.
For taxes	Thematic. Conducting an on-site tax audit of this type consists in the fact that any one type of tax is being studied.
	Complex. Assumes that documents on all tax deductions are studied.
By organization method	Planned. Such on-site tax auditsauthorities are carried out only after prior notification of the taxpayer about the visit of inspectors.
	Unscheduled. Performed after receiving a specific complaint against a firm or evidence of serious wrongdoing, so inspectors visit the plant unannounced to take management and workers by surprise.

It is unscheduled inspections that are considered the toughest and scariest for all companies. This is due to the fact that employees cannot prepare for the visit of the inspectors, so they often get lost and frightened. Such studies are rarely carried out, since inspectors must have suspicions that if the employees of the company are notified, they can destroy important documentation. The basis is complaints or direct evidence of serious violations committed by employees of the company during the operation of the company.

Preliminary stage

The verification process consists of the implementation of several stages, since the taxpayers who will be visited by the inspectors are initially selected. At the end of the study, a decision is made by specialists based on the information received. Each stage requires certain complex actions.

The preparatory stage involves the formation of a plan for field tax audits. It contains information about which enterprises will be investigated, how much time will be spent approximately on each participant, and also when a particular company will be visited. Additional actions are performed:

• identify inspectors who will participate in on-site inspections of tax authorities;
• data on all taxpayers included in the plan are being studied;
• risks of violations are identified;
• determining exactly which taxes will be studied, which period will be affected, and what activities will be carried out to obtain the necessary information;
• calculate how much time and effort will be needed to complete the process;
• the received quarterly plan is being coordinated.

When selecting firms to be involved in the audit, the Federal Tax Service uses its own data sources, and also takes into account various complaints and other data about enterprises.

After collecting the necessary data on all companies, a special dossier is created for each taxpayer.

How are participants chosen?

The process of selecting companies for which the on-site inspection will be carried out is divided into several successive stages. These include:

• 1st stage. It lies in the fact that it is determined how many companies can be checked in a certain period of time, usually represented by a quarter. Based on this information, a plan is drawn up. The workload of each employee of the enterprise over the past two years is taken into account.
• 2nd stage. A list of all companies that must be checked is formed, so they are included in the plan.
• 3rd stage. A conclusion is drawn up by an employee of the Federal Tax Service,which analyzes the financial performance of enterprises, which allows you to identify which firms should be audited in a given quarter.
• 4th stage. Taxpayers are identified who are included in the plan in the first place and are a priority. For this, the results of previous desk audits are taken into account. It also decides which firms need to be visited again to make sure that they comply with the instructions of the previous inspection commission.
• 5th stage. An annual list of taxpayers is being formed, which must be subject to research. The document is confidential, therefore it is not allowed for employees of the Federal Tax Service to disclose information.

The essence of an on-site tax audit is not only to identify various violations, but also to prevent their consequences, therefore, if, based on the results of a desk study of documentation, there are suspicions that a company systematically violates the rules for calculating various taxes, then it will definitely be checked for location.

Which firms are at risk of being included in the plan?

When determining which taxpayers will be included in this list, inspectors take into account different parameters. But at the same time, the firms themselves can determine whether an on-site tax audit will be carried out in relation to them. The most frequently included firms in the list are those with the following characteristics:

• Expenditures barely exceed income;
• Several deductions were issued for one tax period;
• spending regularly exceeds cash receipts;
• availableinconsistencies in economic indicators that are revealed in the process of studying documentation in the Federal Tax Service;
• service employees received information that various documents were damaged or deliberately destroyed in the company;
• a complaint was written to the Federal Tax Service containing information that the company uses various illegal methods to evade paying taxes, therefore the tax base is unreasonably reduced;
• indicators in size are close to the limit values that allow using the simplified regime;
• the organization has entered into agreements with a huge number of counterparties that do not bring any benefit;
• if inconsistencies are revealed during the desk audit, then the employees of the Federal Tax Service require taxpayers to provide explanations, and if they are absent, then the company is included in the list of field events.

The enterprises themselves must analyze the risks of including them in the inspection plan. Directly on the website of the Federal Tax Service, provisions are laid out on the basis of which the organization of an on-site tax audit is carried out. This also includes the criteria by which firms are included in the plan.

What do inspectors check?

Documentation related to various tax collections or other payments is subject to verification. It is allowed that not only taxes are checked. An on-site tax audit involves the study of papers that allow you to identify various inconsistencies and arrears.

Inspectors can request documentation:

• book of income and expenses;
• different payment documents,checks, invoices or other similar papers;
• receipts received as a result of paying taxes;
• cash or bank papers;
• work licenses, Charter and other constituent documents;
• various primary household papers;
• invoices;
• charts of accounts;
• accounting documents;
• tax reports;
• waybills, transfer and acceptance certificates and other papers.

The term for conducting an on-site tax audit in most cases depends on how many documents specialists will have to study.

How do firms find out about the review?

The notification process depends on whether the study is scheduled or unscheduled. In the first case, an on-site audit of the tax inspectorate is carried out after prior notification of the taxpayer. To do this, a letter is usually sent to the address of the company.

If the surprise effect is an important point of the study, then the company's employees are not notified in any way about the planned process. This applies to unscheduled inspections.

The plan is a confidential document, therefore, if the employees of the Federal Tax Service disclose information from it, they will be held accountable. Therefore, an unscheduled field tax audit is carried out without notifying the taxpayer.

How are firms notified?

If a planned study is being carried out, then initially all taxpayers included in the list are notified of the plannedevent. Usually, the following methods are used for this:

• personal delivery of a notice to a company representative;
• sending a registered letter, and notice of delivery must be paid;
• sending notification electronically via TCS.

Next, a representative of the company must come to the FTS office to receive a copy of the inspection decision. A copy of the institution must be signed.

When is an unscheduled inspection carried out?

To conduct this study, you do not have to wait until permission is received from the leadership of the Federal Tax Service, and the taxpayer is not notified about this event. However, there must be good reasons for such verification. These usually include:

• company during work damages the he alth of citizens;
• violating the integrity of the country's cultural heritage;
• harming the environment;
• the enterprise does not eliminate violations identified during a desk or last field audit;
• there is a requirement of the prosecutor's office in relation to a particular enterprise, on the basis of which an unscheduled examination of documentation is required.

There are certain situations where it is necessary to promptly and quickly carry out an inspection. To do this, employees of the Federal Tax Service must send a special notice to the prosecutor's office, after which the investigation of the company begins the next day.

Process steps

The research procedure of any institution involves the implementationconsecutive stages. The procedure for conducting an on-site tax audit is to perform the following actions:

• a decision is made to conduct a study;
• inspectors arrive at the company, after which they hand over the decision to the head of the company;
• allocated to inspectors in a separate room where they will be comfortable doing their work;
• demand inspectors the necessary documentation for the study;
• they can inspect the premises and the area adjacent to the building;
• they have the right to take a full inventory;
• samples of documents may be subject to examination;
• if serious violations are detected, papers in full can be seized;
• minimum inspectors are in the company for two months, but this period can be significantly increased, and the law also allows you to suspend the study if necessary;
• if there is a review suspension, the process can take up to 15 months;
• At the end of the process, a decision is made that is binding on the enterprise.

If, after the audit, various significant violations are revealed, then the company will have to pay fines, and often even officials are held criminally or administratively liable. That is why the heads of enterprises do not want to be subjected to an on-site tax audit. The document review period is usually no longer than two years, but it is possible to request documents for past tax periods to identify arrears or other problems.

How are documents seized?

For the event, it is required to obtain the necessary documents for the inspectors. The procedure for an on-site tax audit implies the possibility of seizing documentation for different periods. When this process is completed, employees of the enterprise, witnesses who do not work in the Federal Tax Service and in the organization being checked, as well as the inspectors themselves, must be present.

Before the documents are seized, the inspector passes the relevant resolution to the head of the company, and also explains what rights and obligations a citizen has. Initially, it is proposed to voluntarily hand over the documents, and if the inspectors refuse such a request, they forcibly withdraw the papers.

The research procedure is carried out only during the daytime, but it may exceed the operating time of the enterprise. Documents are not checked from 22:00 to 06:00.

How is the end of the check done?

As soon as all researches in relation to the documentation of the enterprise are carried out, the check ends. It is issued by drawing up a special certificate in the prescribed form. It is represented by Appendix No. 7 to the Order of the Federal Tax Service No. ММВ-7-2/189.

It does not contain the results of the on-site tax audit, as it is only necessary to notify the company's management that the procedure has been completed. It contains information:

• formation date, represented by the check end date;
• details of the decision on the basis of which thestudy;
• information about the taxpayer, which includes his full name, KPP, TIN and other data, depending on whether he is an individual entrepreneur or a company;
• gives all taxes and periods that were affected by the study;
• if during the procedure it became necessary to suspend or extend the verification period, this fact is indicated in the certificate;
• signed at the end by the inspection official.

If the document is personally transferred to the head of the enterprise, then he must put a signature on the copy with a transcript. After the certificate is drawn up, it is considered that the inspection has been completed, therefore, inspectors are not allowed to request any additional documents or even be in the company at all.

Nuances of drawing up an act

The main purpose of the audit is to identify various violations related to the payment of various taxes or other payments. Therefore, a decision is always made based on the results of an on-site tax audit. For this, a special act is being formed.

A field tax audit report is formed within two months after the end of the study. The countdown is from the moment when the taxpayer received a certificate of completion of the audit.

In art. 100 of the Tax Code and the Order of the Federal Tax Service No. MMV-7-2 / 189 contain the basic requirements for the form and content of this document. The main rules for the formation of an act include:

• an act of exit is being drawn uptax audit even in the absence of violations;
• it is allowed to generate a document in electronic or paper form;
• you can fill it out on a computer or manually;
• sheets must be numbered and stitched;
• each application is certified by the signature of the head of a particular department of the Federal Tax Service;
• it is not allowed to have various corrections or corrections in the text;
• document consists of three parts;
• at the end are the results presented by the identified violations or their absence;
• all violations must be documented, and references to various regulations are also required;
• in the water part, the date of formation of the act, information about the company being audited, the list of documents under investigation, the list of taxes and periods under study, the start and end dates of the study, and also indicate whether control measures or other actions were carried out by the tax authorities;
• the descriptive part contains all the violations identified by the inspectors, and if they are absent, then the corresponding mark is put, and various aggravating or mitigating circumstances are additionally introduced here;
• the final part contains the conclusions of the inspectors, proposals to eliminate the consequences of violations, as well as information about the inspectors.

The act must be signed by the management of a trusted company and the Federal Tax Service. One copy is transferred to the taxpayer within 5 days after the preparation of the document. If the employees of the enterprise refuse to accept the act, then it is sent by registered mail.

Rules of conduct of the company's management during the audit

Research of company records is an embarrassing moment for every enterprise. Often, employees and company managers get lost, do not want to hand over documents to inspectors, or behave incorrectly. Therefore, it is advisable to take into account several valuable recommendations:

• checkers should be asked for a list of questions they have about the work of the company, as entrepreneurs have the right to get acquainted with this information;
• it is advisable to immediately give explanations for all the nuances so that various incomprehensible data are not perceived by inspectors as a violation;
• if inspectors make different demands, they should be treated carefully to determine what the possible consequences of not meeting them are;
• when minor shortcomings are identified, they must be corrected promptly, if possible;
• if the inspectors themselves during the study make violations and errors, then they must be recorded, since due to them it is possible to challenge the results of the inspection in the future;
• it is important to be calm and confident, and even more so it is not allowed to insult or threaten the inspectors.

Considering the above recommendations, it is guaranteed that the company's management will not have problems when communicating with inspectors.

Nuances of checking when closing a company

Companies may close for various reasons, as there may be no profit or the opening goal is reachedenterprises. The process can be not only voluntary, but also compulsory.

Some firms are subject to inspections by the Federal Tax Service during liquidation. To do this, inspectors come to the office of the company. The inspection staff determines whether the company has debts, whether they can be repaid, and other significant factors are also identified. That is why, if the management decides to close the company, then the Federal Tax Service must be promptly notified about this.

With such a check, it is necessary to allocate a separate office for the inspectors. They can request documents for three years of the firm's operation. The head of the enterprise may be present during the study.

Thus, on-site inspections are an effective way of control by the Federal Tax Service. They can be planned or unscheduled. Carried out in the correct sequence of actions. Each head of the company should be well versed in what rights and obligations inspectors have, what documents they can request, and how they should draw up the end of the inspection. In this case, you can protect and defend your rights if they are violated by employees of the Federal Tax Service.