A desk tax audit is a control measure carried out by tax authorities on the completeness and timeliness of tax liability repayment, regulated by Article 88 of the Tax Code. They are carried out for each taxpayer and at the location of the tax authority.
The main objectives of this audit are:
- Prevention and detection of offenses in the preparation of tax reporting;
- monitoring compliance by payers with legal norms;
- collection of identified tax arrears;
- bringing to administrative responsibility for the offenses committed;
- Formation of lists of taxpayers subject to field documentary audits.
A desk tax audit is carried out by representatives of the tax service without the special permission of their head (corresponding order). It lasts up to three months from the date the taxpayer provides the necessary documents and registers. During such an audit, tax authorities should study and analyze the correctness: filling out declarations and their compliance with applicable laws, tax assessment, as well as the legitimacy of using tax incentives and tax rates.
So, a desk tax audit should be carried out on absolutely all tax reporting that is provided by payers. In this case, tax legislation establishes the frequency of such inspections.
A desk tax audit contains the following steps:
1. Verification of the actual provision of tax reporting;
2. Visual control of the received documents;
3. Monitoring the timeliness of reporting;
4. Identification of arithmetic errors;
5. Verification of the correct use of tax incentives and rates;
6. Verification of the implementation of guidelines for determining the tax base;
7. General assessment of reporting.
The first stage of this check is the receipt of reports directly. Officials authorized to receive reports must accept accounting documents for all taxes and payments. When submitting reports to the tax authority in person, its registration is carried out directly with the payer or his representative. The accuracy of filling in all details is checked visually, compliance with arithmetic rules in the calculations (the so-called formal circumstances), and only then confirmation documents are requested to determine the correct calculation of the tax base. The set of reporting must include all required documents in accordance with applicable law. In the case when there is no report, the reason should be indicated in the cover letter certified by the officials of the enterprise with a mandatory “live” print of the seal.
A desk tax audit provides for the submission of all documents to the tax authority that confirm the amount of accrued taxes, initial accounting documents, and, of course, financial statements.
In accordance with Art. 80 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, tax reporting must be adopted in any case, even when certain documents are missing. And if the taxpayer insists on accepting it, then even with violations in registration, the tax authority is simply obligated to register these documents.
In the event of a large number of violations in the reporting process, due to which the submitted documents are not recognized by the tax authorities as tax reporting, a corresponding notification is sent to the company.
A desk tax audit is able to identify gross violations in reporting, such as:
- the absence of any of the required details in the submitted document, or their fuzzy completion;
- the presence of corrections not certified by the signature of an official of the enterprise;
- providing a document filled in using any other language, but not Russian.