Tax audit: how to get the most out of it. What does a tax audit give and how is it carried out Tax audit for an organization is

Audit of tax reporting is a verification of financial documentation for its compliance with the provisions of the Tax Code. This event can be authorized by both regulatory authorities and the head of the enterprise. Consider further its features.

Why is a tax audit necessary?

The head of the enterprise can initiate an audit without waiting for the audit of the control bodies. Tax audit in this case will allow timely identification of shortcomings in the documentation and correct them. This, in turn, will prevent sanctions for violations, as well as eliminate the likelihood of overpayments to the budget. The specialists who perform it identify errors that may arise not only due to the lack of professionalism of the person responsible for compiling the documentation, but also due to the fairly frequent changes to the current legislation.

Verification specifics

An initiative tax audit is often necessary. This is especially true for large enterprises, as it allows you to significantly optimize costs. A tax audit can be performed not only before an official audit by the control authorities. It is advisable to organize an audit and when changing Ch. an accountant or other specialist responsible for the preparation of declarations and the deduction of mandatory budget payments. It should be noted that in case of detection of overpayments on taxes, they can be returned only within 3 years after they were made. In this regard, the timeliness of the audit is of great importance.

Classification

Tax audit can be:

1. Complex. This type of audit will require a large amount of time and money from the manager. The procedure involves a large-scale revision of all documentation. However, with such a check, there is a possibility that certain nuances will be missed. They may be minor, but they can also have a significant impact on the reliability of information in the reporting. At the same time, it is advisable to carry out a complex one before a scheduled inspection of control structures. In addition, such an audit will identify areas for spending funds and optimize them.
2. Thematic. This type of verification is suitable for those enterprises that know their problem areas. Thematic audit of tax accounting allows for a thorough study of specific elements of reporting. As a rule, such a check takes much less time than a comprehensive one, which is undoubtedly another of its advantages.
3. Structural. Such a tax audit is suitable for enterprises with a network of divisions. This review will cover the entire system of taxation. In the course of a structural audit, you can compare the workload of different departments and balance it.

Methodology

The tax is carried out in two stages. At the first stage, a preliminary assessment of the taxation system existing at the enterprise is carried out, at the second stage, the correctness of deductions is checked. In turn, these stages include various activities. At the first stage:

1. The factors influencing the reporting indicators are revealed.
2. Checking the payment method.
3. Diagnostics of the workflow and work of departments responsible for deductions is carried out.
4. The tax indicators of the enterprise are calculated.

Based on the results of the first stage, specialists get an idea about the specifics of the company's activities and assess probable violations of the provisions of the law, identify weak areas. The timing of the implementation of these activities will depend on the volume of workflow and the size of the enterprise itself.

Checking the correctness of deductions

At this stage, declarations for income taxes, personal income tax, VAT, advance payments, etc. are analyzed. The average duration of an audit, as a rule, is no more than 5 days per deduction. If the company has several divisions or operates on different levels, then the duration of the analysis may increase. As a result of the analysis, specialists formulate conclusions about the structure of taxation, correct shortcomings, and offer various optimization options.

Express check

This one, to a certain extent, combines thematic and complex analysis. Express verification involves the study of all reports in a short time. It is performed when the enterprise does not have enough time to conduct other types of audit, and the volume of documentation is large enough. Express verification is also indispensable in cases where the acquisition of a large company or its share is planned. During the audit, either all or a certain part of them is evaluated in a specific area of ​​work.

Conclusion

Tax audit at almost all enterprises is carried out according to the above scheme. Certain features of the audit may be determined by the specifics of the enterprise. For example, mining is subject to different taxes, the procedure and amount of payment of which differs depending on the raw materials (minerals, oil, metals, etc.). Violations in deductions from profits, as a rule, are associated with an incorrect determination of the tax base, the use of benefits, or mathematical inaccuracies. At the same time, errors in the calculation of VAT are caused by incorrect application of the tax to be deducted. In some cases, the scheme provided for in the law is used to evade paying it to the budget.

Tax audit risks will win!

What is a tax audit?

A tax audit is a verification of the correctness of the calculation and payment of taxes, incl. control of filling of tax declarations and calculations.

The main goal of a tax audit is to eliminate tax risks and minimize the financial losses of the company, owners and manager. After all, in the event of additional taxes, the company faces a fine of 20% of the amount of additional charges and penalties, and if there is evidence of intent in non-payment of taxes, the fine will be 40%. Moreover, the head, owner or other controlling person may face criminal, subsidiary and property liability. By the way, in the second half of 2018, the number of cases on bringing to subsidiary liability increased by 2 times.

Why is tax audit especially important in recent times?

Recently, the effectiveness of field tax audits has exceeded 98%, i.е. tax authorities go for an audit only in cases where there is a reason for this (they use a risk-based approach).

The minimum amount of additional charges for field tax audits in Moscow is 16.5 million rubles, and in the regions - 5 million rubles. Therefore, a tax audit can save at least 1 million rubles. (minimum additional accrual 5 million rubles *20%).

Already at the stage of desk audits of tax returns, inspectors can get an idea about the taxpayer and even determine the estimated amount of tax evasion. Now the program of the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation analyzes the chains of counterparties, the presence of unreliable taxpayers in them, identifies inconsistencies in the indicators of declarations, for example, between the tax base for VAT and income tax, assesses the tax burden, profitability and other indicators of companies.

Therefore, if the taxpayer's reporting does not cause complaints from the tax authority, there is no reason to appoint an on-site tax audit. In addition, with impeccable tax reporting, the number of requests from the tax inspectorate as part of desk audits is reduced, which cannot but affect the work of the accounting department and the emotional mood of employees. Confidence in these tax returns is the peace of mind of the manager and owner.

In order for the organization to have such confidence, or at least a real idea of ​​the state of tax accounting and reporting and the tax risks of the company, it is necessary to conduct an audit of taxes.

In addition, a tax audit is carried out at the initiative of the owners or managers of the company to check the competence of the accounting staff responsible for calculating taxes. Indeed, sometimes taxes are overpaid, incl. and in cases where tax planning is not properly organized, such as in this case.

What are the features of the audit of taxation (its individual types)?

At the request of the Customer, an audit of tax accounting can be carried out for a certain period (quarter, year, several years, etc.) and in relation to all or some taxes:

1. Profit tax audit

Such verification is necessary for any company applying common system taxation. As practice shows, not all taxpayers pay due attention to documenting expenses. Sometimes due to the lack of internal documents (for example, a report on the conduct of a promotion, an act for the release of materials into production, technological map etc.) the taxpayer runs the risk of “losing” tax expenses.

An income tax audit is especially necessary for companies working with foreign partners, incl. attracting foreign funding (when conducting an income tax audit, the fulfillment of the duties of a tax agent and the legality of applying tax rates are checked).

Victoria Varlamova

2. VAT audit

VAT tax authorities pay Special attention(ASK-VAT3), therefore, for taxpayers, this is the most “risk containing” tax. As part of the VAT audit, counterparties are checked for “trustworthiness”, the correctness and timeliness of determining the tax base, the application of VAT exemption and preferential rates (10%, 0%), the procedure for maintaining separate VAT records, etc.

3. Audit of corporate property tax

Audit is necessary for organizations owning real estate. In practice, there were cases when the accountant underestimated the tax, because it was calculated based on the average annual value of the object, and not on the cadastral value. Or, conversely, organizations overpaid tax, erroneously calculating tax on real estate that is not subject to taxation, as, for example, in this case.

4. Personal income tax and insurance premiums

These "salary taxes" are paid by all organizations and they are under special control of the tax authorities, incl. employers are called to "salary commissions", and criminal liability was introduced for non-payment of insurance premiums several years ago.

First of all, the audit of personal income tax and insurance premiums is necessary for companies that make various social payments to employees, as well as those that have foreign employees.

5. Other taxes and fees

When conducting a tax audit, other taxes and fees are also analyzed: tax under the simplified tax system, transport tax, payments for a negative impact on environment, payment of government duties, state and local taxes and disputes, such as sales and resort fees, etc.

How is the tax audit of the organization?

First of all, the auditors get acquainted with the activities of the Client. The parties determine the period and issues of conducting a tax audit. Agree on the composition of experts, methods of verification, cost of services. Before starting work, a Confidentiality Agreement is concluded.

Some Clients have heard that from January 1, 2019, the tax authorities will have the right to request documents (information) from auditors about the activities of their Clients (Article 93.2 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation was introduced federal law dated 29.07.2018 No. 231-FZ from 01.01.2019) and fear that information about errors identified during the tax audit will become available to the tax inspectorate. We hasten to reassure you that an auditing company should provide documents to the tax authorities only if the taxpayer himself does not submit them, and only if the auditors have the requested documents.

Victoria Varlamova
Adviser of the tax service II rank, deputy. hands consulting department, ch. tax expert

Tax audit. As a rule, the verification is carried out on the territory of the customer company. The duration of the review depends on the scope of the issues being investigated. A comprehensive tax audit of tax returns for the year usually takes one to two weeks.

• Based on the results of the tax audit, the Client receives a Conclusion. It contains:

• identified errors and possible tax risks, their numerical indicators, possible amounts of penalties and interest, recommendations for correcting errors and minimizing risks
• identified financial reserves (if any)

• The results of the tax audit are discussed with the Client (feedback) in order to clarify all disputed points and answer clarifying questions to correct errors.

Who is interested in tax audit?

Manager and owner - they need to be aware of tax risks and assess possible consequences for yourself, as well as be confident in the qualifications of accounting staff, incl. that they correctly calculate and do not overpay taxes.

Chief accountant and financial director. A tax audit is an opportunity to check yourself and the accounting staff (only those who do nothing are not mistaken) and share responsibility with auditors (if the tax authorities find errors that the auditors missed, the accountant is not to blame, because he was checked ...). Also quite often, auditors help the chief accountant ( financial director) convey information about the risks of the company to the head.

How to choose a company for auditing tax accounting in an organization?

You can only trust trusted companies with an impeccable reputation. Otherwise, the meaning of conducting a tax audit is lost.

High-quality tax audit cannot be cheap.

We recommend that you familiarize yourself with the company's website, study customer reviews about it and its employees. Look at their resumes, if possible, evaluate the articles and other materials of the auditors of this company posted on the Internet. Check the membership of the audit company in the SRO, get acquainted with the data on liability insurance, the presence of the company in various ratings, etc.

"Pravovest Audit" is an audit company that is included in the TOP-18 largest audit companies (according to "Expert RA"), a member of the SRO "Sodruzhestvo", auditors and experts are only full-time employees with extensive work experience. We conduct over 500 audits per year, incl. for organizations with foreign capital. Our professional liability is insured by INGOSSTRAKH. The company provides audit services: mandatory, comprehensive, tax, IFRS, as well as consulting services, etc.

Internal control and audit at enterprises are the most important part of a modern management system that allows you to achieve your goals at minimal cost. The control environment in accordance with the International Standards on Internal Auditing is the general attitude of the supreme management bodies of an economic entity to the need for internal control and the actions taken in connection with this. For an understanding of ICS and audit risk, refer to ISA 400 "Risk Assessment and Internal Control System", ISA 401 "Auditing in the Conditions of Computer Information Systems", ISA 402 "Audit of Entities Using the Services of Service Organizations", as well as the Federal Rule ( standard) of audit No. 8 "Risk assessment and internal control carried out by the audited entity".

A number of factors influence the control environment:

• Management's understanding of the importance of tax reporting;
• willingness to correct significant errors;
• obtaining advice from auditors;
• control over accounting and tax accounting;
• distribution of responsibility and authority in the enterprise;
• conducting an internal audit;
• availability of job descriptions;
• compliance with the reporting schedule;
• availability of an accounting policy for tax purposes;
• compliance of external reporting with internal reports;
• development of procedures for protection against unauthorized access to documents, records, property;
• presence of ICS at the enterprise.

Based on the experience of conducting audits of tax reporting, it follows that the control environment for preparing and submitting tax reports to the user depends on the responsibility of the management to fulfill the duties of the taxpayer, on the awareness of the executive body about the taxation system, the rights of the taxpayer and the tax authority. If the management of the organization has decided to create or improve the ICS, then the process of its formation should be divided into the following stages:

• determination of the objectives of the ICS;
• determination of the main functions of the ICS necessary to achieve the goals;
• determination of the structure of the ICS, providing for the presence of a full-time internal audit service;
• development of regulations, internal standards and methods aimed at performing control functions, the effect of which will exceed the costs incurred;
• creation of a scheme of interaction between the internal audit service and other parts of the internal control system and the company's management system.

The economic feasibility of spending on ICS is confirmed by the following arguments:

• the purchase of services for the creation and improvement of the internal control system is necessary in connection with the conduct of special business transactions;
• improvement of the ICS contributes to the improvement of certain financial indicators of the organization.

Improving the ICS can have a significant impact on:

• efficiency of financial and economic activity;
• financial stability;
• timeliness and reliability of financial and tax reporting;
• safety of property and information;
• compliance with the laws, internal procedures and regulations.

The functioning of the ICS depends on the observance of the following principles:

• the principle of responsibility: each subject of internal control, that is, an internal auditor or internal controller, for improper performance of the control functions provided for official duties must bear economic and disciplinary responsibility;
• the principle of balance: the subject of internal control cannot be entrusted with the performance of functions that are not provided with appropriate organizational (order, instruction) and technical (programs, counting and measuring devices) means for their proper performance;
• the principle of timely reporting of identified significant deviations: information about them must be promptly communicated to those directly making decisions on these deviations;
• the principle of compliance of the controlling and controlled systems: the degree of complexity of the ICS of an economic entity must at any given time correspond to the degree of complexity of its business;
• principle of permanence: the ICS operates on a permanent basis. This will allow timely detection of deviations from planned targets and norms;
• the principle of complexity: the whole complex of objects of internal control in an economic entity should be covered by its various forms, depending on the level of risk;
• the principle of distribution of duties: the functions of employees of the management apparatus are distributed among them in such a way that the requirements for the formation of a control environment are met.

Each enterprise must independently organize a tax accounting system, fixing its provisions in the accounting policy for tax purposes.

The preliminary assessment of the existing taxation system includes:

• general analysis and consideration of the elements of the taxation system of an economic entity;
• determination of the main factors influencing tax indicators;
• verification of the methodology for calculating tax payments;
• legal and tax expertise of the existing system of economic relations;
• assessment of document flow and study of the functions and powers of the services responsible for the calculation and payment of taxes;
• preliminary calculation of tax indicators of an economic entity.

The implementation of these procedures will allow considering such significant factors as the specifics of the main business transactions in the organization and existing objects of taxation, the compliance of the taxation procedure applied by the organization with the norms of the current legislation, assess the level of tax liabilities and potential tax violations of the economic entity.

Verification and confirmation of the correctness of the calculation and payment of taxes and fees by an economic entity to the budget and off-budget funds can be carried out both for all taxes and fees, and for their individual types. When carrying out work, tax reporting submitted in accordance with established forms (tax returns, tax calculations, statements of advance payments) is checked, as well as the legitimacy of using tax benefits.

The information contained in tax reporting is checked and analyzed by comparing it with the data of synthetic and analytical registers accounting and reporting. The audit organization has the right to analyze the primary documents of the company, receive clarifications from the management on the indicators and methods underlying the tax calculation, and can also observe the inventory process and participate in the inspection of objects used by the taxpayer to generate income or are subject to taxation.

As part of audit part of the information on taxes the auditor receives when checking costs, settlements with suppliers and buyers, financial results. When checking the tax accounting system, the auditor needs to establish the correctness of determining the taxable bases and the accuracy of calculating the amounts of taxes payable, the correctness of the preparation of tax returns. And for this, it is necessary to check the availability of all necessary primary documents, contracts for various financial and economic operations, as well as the compliance of the data indicated in the calculations with accounting data and confirm the compliance of financial and economic operations with the current tax legislation. In order to avoid arithmetic errors, it is recommended to carry out for each calculation a reconciliation of the accounting data on the basis of which the calculation was made, and an arithmetic calculation in the calculation. It also checks the timeliness of the preparation and submission of tax returns and calculations, the timeliness of paying taxes. The auditor registers all the information received during the audit in his working documents, identifies the significance of errors and their impact on the reliability of reporting, and, if necessary, adjusts the audit plan.

It is necessary to observe and control the compliance of primary documents with the established requirements and monitor the provision of complete and reliable information on business transactions for tax purposes. To do this, the auditor should study the organization of workflow: is there a workflow schedule; how suitable is the existing workflow for compiling analytical registers of tax accounting and the formation of taxable indicators; what place do tax declarations take in the established workflow; whether the existing document flow takes into account the interests of external users (FTS bodies). The auditor should also make sure that the accounting policy of the organization does not contradict the norms of accounting and tax legislation, whether the forms of primary documents that are not provided for by the State Statistics Committee and the workflow technology have been developed; whether a list of persons entitled to sign primary accounting documents has been established.

Procedures for obtaining audit evidence are developed in accordance with ISA "Audit Evidence" and Federal Rule (Standard) No. 5 "Audit Evidence". When evaluating the ICS, evidence should also be obtained in the form of testing.

Analytical registers of tax accounting - consolidated forms of systematization of tax accounting data for the reporting (tax) period, grouped in accordance with the requirements of this Chapter, without distribution (reflection) among accounting accounts. According to article 314 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the forms of tax accounting registers are developed by the taxpayer independently and are reflected in the accounting policy for tax purposes. For some taxes, the forms of registers are established by the bodies of the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation, for example, registers of received and issued invoices, books of purchases and books of sales. Forms of analytical tax accounting registers for determining the tax base, which are documents for tax accounting, must contain the following details:

• name of the register;
• period (date) of compilation;
• transaction meters in kind (if possible) and in monetary terms;
• name of business transactions;
• signature (decoding of the signature) of the person responsible for compiling the said registers.

The ultimate goal of compiling tax registers is to systematize information on income, expenses that form the taxable base. The tax base is the cost, physical or other characteristics of the object of taxation. The tax rate is the amount of tax charges per unit of measurement of the tax base. Taxpaying organizations calculate the tax base at the end of each tax period based on the data of accounting registers and on the basis of other documented data on objects subject to taxation or related to taxation.

If errors are found in the calculation of the tax base relating to previous tax (reporting) periods, in the current tax (reporting) period, the tax base and the amount of tax are recalculated for the period in which these errors were committed.

Recommendations for familiarization with the audited entity are contained in ISA 310 “Knowledge of the Business” and in the Federal Rule (Standard) of Auditing Activity No. 15 “Understanding the Activities of the Audited Entity”. The auditor should obtain information about external and internal factors affecting the economic activity of the organization. It is necessary to study the industry specifics of taxation, the dynamics of tax legislation during the audit period. To study the ICS, the auditor requests the following documents:

• statistical reporting;
• tax returns;
• accounting policy for the purposes of accounting and tax accounting;
• document flow schedule.

After a preliminary acquaintance, the auditor makes an opinion on the features of the organization's taxation system and proceeds to the audit of tax reporting. The purpose of the audit is to express an opinion on the reliability of tax reporting and compliance in all material respects with the norms established by law. The task of the audit is to collect sufficient audit evidence about the reliability of tax reporting. In doing so, the following criteria must be met:

• existence - availability as of a certain date of tax expense and tax liability;
• occurrence - confirmation that business transactions that form taxable indicators took place during the tax period;
• rights and obligations - belonging to the audited entity as of a certain date of an asset or liability for taxes;
• completeness - the absence of assets, liabilities, business transactions or events that have tax consequences that are not reflected in the tax reporting;
• valuation - reflection in tax reporting of the proper value of taxable indicators;
• accurate measurement - the accuracy of reflecting the amount of a business transaction or event with the attribution of income or expenses to the corresponding tax period;
• presentation and disclosure - explanation, classification and description of a business transaction, asset or liability in accordance with the rules for their reflection in tax reporting.

The management of the audited entity is responsible for compliance with the current tax legislation, the completeness and accuracy of the reflection of taxable indicators and taxes, as well as for the completeness and timeliness of paying taxes to the budget.

The audit organization is responsible for the correctness and validity of its opinion on the reliability of tax reporting.

To assess the ICS at the reporting level, the following documents are required:

• tax returns for taxes;
• accounting (financial) reporting;
• accounting and tax policies;
• certificate of state registration of a legal entity;
• charter;
• memorandum of association;
• the structure of the organization of the audited entity;
• the structure of the accounting department of the audited entity;
• scheme and schedule of workflow;
• job descriptions of employees;
• regulation on internal audit;
• staffing;
• inventory records and statements;
• correspondence with tax authorities;
• acts of reconciliations with contractors;
• working plans of accounts: accounting and tax;
• extracts from the personal account of the taxpayer for the audited tax;
• acts of audits of tax authorities.

When preparing recommendations and proposals, the audit organization must comply with the principle of caution in judgments and conclusions, reporting on the tax risks that the organization may face when addressing issues that are not sufficiently covered in the current legislation. Any recommendations and calculations made by the audit organization must contain references to the current regulatory documents.

In the course of conducting a tax audit, an audit organization should proceed from the fact that the organization's activities are carried out in accordance with the established regulations until there is evidence to the contrary. At the same time, the audit organization must show a sufficient degree of professional skepticism in relation to the accounts and documents under consideration, taking into account the high probability of violations of tax laws by an economic entity.

A tax audit must be carried out by an audit organization with professional integrity and thoroughness.

A tax audit is not the most desired procedure for an enterprise, but it allows you to bypass a number of serious problems for the company.

You will learn:

• What is a tax audit and what is its purpose?
• What are the types of tax audit.
• How to choose an audit company.
• When it is necessary to conduct an initiative tax audit of an enterprise.
• In what cases is a pre-trial tax audit carried out?

What is a tax audit

A tax audit is a procedure during which inspectors check the reporting of an enterprise regarding the payment of mandatory contributions and determine how reliable it is. It should be noted that these securities of companies today contain certain tax indicators that go beyond accounting. That is why auditors must have certain professional skills and knowledge in order to judge the quality of reporting.

Advice. Beforehand, it is worth conducting an internal tax audit, during which the company can study all the documentation in detail, correct the identified errors and avoid penalties from the inspectors.

Thus, a tax audit is a set of specific services that are provided by both individual experts and specialized companies. The procedure provides for checking the correctness of the accrual and payment of mandatory contributions to the budget and extra-budgetary funds, the preparation of tax reporting, and consultations. In addition, this may also include the organization, restoration and maintenance of accounting in the part related to fiscal fees.

To this day, it is not clear what place tax audit occupies among the services provided by individuals and companies. In addition, the audit of tax accounting is not fixed at the legislative level. In this regard, it is necessary to develop and improve the methodological and organizational and methodological foundations of this activity.

The term "tax audit" can often be found in specialized literature and in the list of services provided by both individual experts and organizations. But what exactly this type of revision is, what features it has and what it includes, it is difficult to say for sure. In modern domestic legislation and international auditing standards, the concept is also not fully disclosed.

Based on existing scientific data and research on the topic, experts interpret tax audit in their own way. In their opinion, it is a comprehensive independent audit of tax accounting, the correctness of accrual and payment of contributions, and an assessment of fiscal risks in the company's activities.

As part of the audit, the relevant reporting of the customer enterprise is carefully studied. The purpose of such an audit is to identify inaccuracies in the preparation of financial or accounting reports and eliminate them in accordance with the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

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What types of tax audit exist

Tax audit can be complex, thematic and structural. As part of a comprehensive audit, specialists examine the entire annual tax reporting. If a thematic audit is carried out, specific papers are audited for a selected period of time. Structural audit of tax accounting is a verification of the declaration for certain types of mandatory contributions paid by the enterprise at the location of its branches.

Comprehensive audit is the most extensive procedure for organizing a tax audit. Experts spend a lot of time on its implementation, and the object being checked spends a lot of money. This is a serious and large survey, during which some inaccuracies, both insignificant and very significant, may be made in the documentation. At the same time, a comprehensive audit of tax accounting is the most best option for the client, if he is awaiting a scheduled inspection by the fiscal authorities. Such a survey can also better understand the company's costs and understand how to reduce them.

Thematic audit suitable for clients who are aware of the most problematic areas of their enterprise and are trying to correct the shortcomings. Thanks to this check, it is possible to better study the reporting, find and eliminate gaps. A thematic survey takes less time than a comprehensive one, which is also its advantage.

Structural audit prefer to use companies with multiple divisions. This type of verification makes it possible to learn about the entire system of taxation of the enterprise, compare and balance the fiscal burden on branches.

There is also the so-called express audit allocated to a separate category. It combines the features of a comprehensive and thematic and is a check of all tax reporting for the maximum a short time. This type is resorted to if there are not sufficient financial and time resources for conducting a comprehensive one, and a thematic one cannot be performed, since it is necessary to check a large amount of information. In addition, an express audit of tax risks becomes a lifesaver for a client who wants to acquire an entire enterprise or part of it. At the same time, potential losses are analyzed in the course of implementing the existing fiscal policy or in one of the activities of the organization put up for sale.

What is the purpose of a tax audit?

First of all, a tax audit of an enterprise is carried out in order to avoid fines due to violation of legislative norms for the payment of mandatory contributions and fees. The functions of a tax audit are to check:

• accrual and payment of taxes and fees;
• the validity of the use of benefits when calculating contributions to the budget;
• the correctness of the formation of tax declarations;
• fiscal risks;
• formation and reflection of taxes in accounting.

Tax audit is an important event for any company. And the higher the risks in the calculation and payment of mandatory contributions, the greater the volume of the company, the more acutely there is a need for such a survey.

When performing a tax audit, an individual expert or a specialized company tries to carry out all procedures in accordance with the interests of the customer, in particular on issues of tax optimization and planning. At the same time, the inspectors examine how correctly and reasonably the calculation is carried out, how mandatory contributions are paid, how the company uses benefits, how transactions are reflected in the relevant reports (often nothing is said about them at the legislative level). During the survey, they analyze how tax returns are drawn up, whether they meet modern legislative standards.

All tax audit procedures allow minimizing risks. Thanks to such a check, the head of the company does not worry about possible fines and sanctions that the fiscal authorities may impose on him.

Thus, a tax audit allows you to see the mistakes made in the preparation of reports, learn not only about arrears, but also overpayments of mandatory contributions. At the same time, shortcomings do not always arise due to the inattention of accountants. Not the last role is played by the constantly changing fiscal legislation. Based on the results of the audit, the organization can correct the errors and only then transfer the results to the tax office, avoiding fines.

Today, audit companies offer clients not only consultations and audits. Over the past few years, customers have become interested in related services - analysis of financial and economic activities, tax and management consulting, including those related to company restructuring, legal support and representation of interests in fiscal authorities, accounting automation and IT implementation. Clients also order the valuation of company assets such as property complexes, business risks, the creation and analysis of investment projects, the development of business plans and a number of other services. That is, the popularity of tax audit in all its manifestations is growing day by day.

Companies that urgently need an audit conclude an agreement for tax audit with specialized organizations. The tax audit agreement includes the scope of work to be performed as part of this procedure. Usually the total cost of the service increases because of this.

Who are the subjects of tax audit

As a rule, tax audits are ordered by large companies that conduct diverse activities and conduct import and export operations. Due to the large turnover of funds in these enterprises, their tax liabilities are also high. The amounts of fines and other monetary penalties are often very high. Such firms need an independent audit in order to reduce tax payments, minimize all kinds of risks, including fines.

Conducting a tax audit for large companies is a profitable event from an economic point of view. Organizations eliminate errors and submit well-formed and reliable documentation to the fiscal authorities. An audit allows you to correct inaccuracies in tax accounting, which is understood not only as the calculation of mandatory contributions to the budget from profits, described in Ch. 25 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, but also the calculation of the amounts of all payments charged to the company by law.

Enterprises for which general audits of this format are mandatory also become subjects of tax audit. In this case, we are talking about OJSC, credit and insurance companies, stock and commodity exchanges, investment funds, state extra-budgetary funds created at the expense of mandatory deductions from legal and individuals on the basis of the law of the Russian Federation. A general audit of tax accounting is mandatory for organizations and individual entrepreneurs that have an annual profit from the sale of goods or services of more than 500 thousand minimum wages or the amount of balance sheet assets at the end of the reporting year is more than 200 thousand minimum wages, as well as for other companies that, according to the law, require such an examination. In this case, it is better to analyze the state of calculation and payment of contributions to the budget during a mandatory audit.

Tax audits are also ordered by companies that have changed their chief accountant. Because of this, as a rule, accounting and tax accounting are also being rebuilt, and sometimes not for the better. Usually, the chief accountant decides all issues related to settlements with the budget, and it is quite difficult to establish correct fiscal accounting by correcting the errors of a previous specialist. The audit of tax reporting is designed to help the company in such a situation.

An audit can also be ordered by the owner or manager of the enterprise, who wants to find out whether the accrual and payment of mandatory contributions is carried out correctly.

Expert opinion

How to choose an audit company

Alexey Dorozhny,

Business Development Director, Bazis logistics & distribution, Moscow

Planning the tax audit in 2008 was an important task for us. We first thought about choosing specialists in this area when we decided to acquire several transport companies in the Russian regions. Everything was a good buy. The acquisition of such companies is a rather difficult process. We needed to find out the real value of enterprises, their property, movable and immovable assets. The event was further complicated by the fact that a significant part of the companies' technical means was pledged to banks.

We realized that self-assessment of transport companies would take too much time and effort. In addition, it is not certain that the result will be accurate. And then we began to think - which company to entrust a professional audit.

Here's how we did it.

1. Conducted an analysis of the Russian market by studying audit companies. Information was taken from the media and the Internet. For us, the period during which the company provides audit services was paramount (we did not consider companies operating for less than 5-7 years), its reputation, the list of works (how extensive it is) and the price for them. As a result, we have compiled a list of suitable companies with sufficient experience, excellent reputation and positive recommendations from customers.
2. We asked our clients to recommend companies because we value their opinion. Part of our target audience are large holdings and industrial Russian enterprises.
3. Published information about the tender in the Glavbukh magazine for the provision of audit services. Then we chose the companies that interested us and instructed our specialists to discuss the terms of cooperation with their representatives within the framework of business meetings.
4. Choosing the right auditor for us, studied the practical experience of potential partners, field of activity (with which firms they worked, what methods were used). We often got acquainted with the results of previous checks, because even the way the final documentation is framed can say a lot. It is important that audit firms give guarantees in writing during the negotiation process. For example, specialists must promise that they will evaluate the company in accordance with its real market price and that during the tax audit, the inspectorate will not make any claims. If we saw that the company does not pay due attention to this issue, we did not consider it.
5. To make sure we made the right choice, first asked the auditor to perform an analysis of some narrow area of ​​the firm's work without entrusting responsible issues. Then we looked at how the company coped with the task, and on the basis of this they determined whether it was worth cooperating with it.

As a result, it took us about one to one and a half months to choose a suitable audit firm. We were in no hurry, and most of the organizations were not entirely willing to tell us about practical developments. However, the search was successful. We found a regional company from Kaluga that evaluates transport assets and similar types of business. We were satisfied with the price-quality ratio of the services provided.

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Tax audit methodology

Each company conducts an audit of tax reporting in its own way, using well-established methods. There is no universal scheme for organizing a tax audit. Despite the fact that the fiscal system in Russia is unified, all enterprises work according to different schemes for calculating mandatory payments to the budget. Because of this, inaccuracies and violations often occur. The task of a tax audit is precisely to find and correct mistakes made by the company.

As part of the survey, an organization or a private auditor performs a certain task, studying accounting and tax reporting. During the audit, it becomes clear whether the documentation complies with legal requirements, whether it reflects the processes for paying contributions to various budgets and extrabudgetary funds.

During a tax audit, the company first evaluates the current system for the formation of mandatory payments at the surveyed facility. Further, the correctness of the calculation and payment of contributions to the budget and extra-budgetary funds is checked and confirmed (or not confirmed). After that, the company draws up and provides the results of the audit.

At each stage of the tax audit, specialists carry out certain activities. First, they analyze the elements of the taxation system of an economic entity, determine the main factors affecting tax indicators, and check whether contributions are calculated correctly. At the same stage, a legal and tax examination of the current system of economic relations is carried out, an analysis of the document circulation scheme, an assessment of the functions and powers of the services responsible for the calculation and repayment of mandatory payments. Also, experts preliminarily determine the tax indicators of an economic entity. Thanks to the above actions, it is possible to understand the intricacies of the main business operations of the analyzed company, to understand whether the system for calculating contributions to the budget complies with legal requirements, to learn about tax obligations and possible risks.

The next step is the main analysis. The main thing here is to identify areas that need to be checked especially carefully. Preliminary analysis allows you to learn about weaknesses tax system companies. That is why it is not necessary to analyze all its sections. For example, at the first stage of the survey, the auditor may understand that the audited object will have difficulties with export VAT in connection with the sale of goods (works, services) abroad, with income tax difficulties may be caused by incorrect accounting of income and expenses for taxation. Also, problems with excises are not ruled out if the company is engaged in the sale of excisable goods, etc. At the same time, an audit of tax accounting can also show safe areas of activity. Most often, such sites are simple taxes (advertising tax, transport tax, etc.).

You can selectively check the procedure for calculating mandatory contributions in a company. But if we are talking about a large enterprise with an extensive system, many branches, subsidiaries with different taxation procedures, everything needs to be evaluated. In this case, the tax reports that the entity submits in the prescribed forms, the compliance of the calculation of mandatory contributions with legislative norms, the period of their repayment and other procedures are subject to verification.

Each type of payment experts analyze differently. So, when checking the calculation of income tax, the supporting documentation and the economic feasibility of expenses are assessed.

Auditors also examine whether the tax base is formed correctly and how tax returns are filled out. As noted above, tax accounting is the registration of all transactions, including accounting, which includes information that affects the company's fiscal charges. At the moment, almost all mandatory contributions are calculated on the basis of accounting data. The only exception is income tax.

During the examination, specialists analyze accounting and tax accounting for the entire period allocated for verification. The auditors examine the primary documentation, ask the management to explain in accordance with what methods and indicators the tax calculation is carried out. Experts, accounting, legal services and company management interact with each other.

Auditors should be aware of the specialization of the audited object, understand how it works. An example would be cashing out Money. To document such procedures, companies often resort to fictitious contractor agreements. Such transactions should be correctly legally executed. Otherwise, the company risks getting into trouble. When checking, the expert should pay attention to all the problematic and risky transactions of the object (in terms of taxation). In this regard, both the management and the accounting department need to provide the auditor with both formal and factual information about their work.

The object under examination and the expert should closely cooperate with each other also because during the audit of the accounting department, the identified shortcomings should be quickly eliminated. The tax audit of an enterprise is designed not to find as many errors as possible and reflect this in the report, but to correct errors together with the company's employees. If some gaps cannot be eliminated due to certain circumstances, the experts reflect this in the report and advise employees on how to avoid similar situations in the future.

The third and final stage of the tax audit is summing up and drawing up a conclusion. It should contain the opinion of experts on how complete and correct the company's calculations are, how the economic entity reflects and transfers payments to the budget and extra-budgetary funds, whether it correctly applies and uses tax benefits.

But directly in the conclusion there are no recommendations and analytical data. In this regard, the customer of the audit of tax accounting should require a report on the work done, which describes in detail all the identified shortcomings along with proposals for their elimination. The auditing company or private individual is fully responsible for the accuracy of the data and their inclusion in the final document of the survey.

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What is the degree of responsibility of auditors during a tax audit

Both specialists of the audit company and employees of the fiscal service can detect violations of the current law. But at the same time, the goal of the tax inspectorate is to hold the company accountable. The task of the auditor is to point out errors and help correct them, just preventing possible fines. Independent experts do not have the authority to oblige clients to perform certain procedures. They only have the right to advise and advise what to do.

If the auditor reveals inaccuracies in accounting reports, violations of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, then he will certainly inform the head of the customer company about this and propose to make adjustments to the reporting, clarify calculations and tax returns. If the accounting department does not take into account the recommendations and does not eliminate errors, the expert has the right to notify the company's management in writing and indicate what penalties are provided for violations. Further, the head determines whether to take into account the conclusions of the audit company or not. That is, the inspector ceases to be responsible for the consequences of the activity of the subject being examined. At the same time, he is endowed with certain obligations to the customer. For example, he does not have the right to disclose confidential commercial data of the enterprise where he conducts an audit.

As soon as the tax audit and audit is completed, the client can order other services of an expert company. For example, take advantage of recommendations on optimizing the current taxation system, conduct a tax audit of leasing operations, learn about the schemes for calculating mandatory payments taking into account the specifics of the business, with the help of an expert try to apply tax incentives more rationally, develop a set of measures to optimize contributions to the budget and non-budgetary funds and reduce risks associated with the methods of their calculation. An enterprise can also take advantage of recommendations on how to ensure that the principles of taxation of individual branches or subsidiaries comply with a single system, how to control the correctness of the calculation of contributions and fees within the organization, how to adapt the existing tax planning and accounting system to likely changes in the requirements of fiscal legislation.

The auditor has the right to protect the interests of the audited object before the tax inspectorate. Interaction with the fiscal authorities during and after the survey is necessary in order to obtain clarifications on the acts of inspections that their employees performed at the enterprise, and to resolve conflicts between the analyzed object and the inspection.

As already noted, the audit company, providing additional services, can point out various violations in the activities of the audited object and explain what sanctions are provided for them. The expert has the right to recommend how to eliminate the unpleasant consequences associated with identified deviations from the requirements of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, develop new projects to form unified system taxation of the enterprise and any of its parts. In addition, the auditing company has the right to give advice on adapting accounting elements and registers (including when using computer processing of information) to the chosen concept for managing mandatory payments, the developed set of tax projects, changes in fiscal legislation and other parameters that significantly affect the completeness, accuracy and timeliness of accrual and payment of contributions to the budget and off-budget funds. At the same time, auditors often develop operational management and organizational and legal methods for creating a permanent tax planning system.

It should be noted that the proper effect of rendering additional services renders in the event that before this they conducted a direct tax audit of the enterprise. If there was no such check, specialists cannot use all the necessary information about the company and its directions, and therefore, find rational ways to eliminate shortcomings.

Today in Russia, many methods of auditing tax reports are not fully defined, their essence has not been chosen. It is not clear what goals and objectives it pursues this check on what principles and criteria it is carried out. There are no unified approaches to the analysis of tax reports, the audit is not described in stages. Checking the calculations for mandatory payments is evaluated from the same positions as for accounting (financial) reports. The tax audit methodology should consist of theory and practical recommendations. Only in this case, the survey will be carried out qualitatively. In the course of the audit, it is imperative to take into account the peculiarities of the work and the specifics of the taxation of the enterprise.

The results of the audit are drawn up in the form of a conclusion and a report. Note that this documentation is not fixed at the legislative level. This suggests that if the tax inspectorate checks the enterprise, it will not take the audit conclusion into account. Today's practical experience shows that thanks to the audit it is much easier to organize an effective taxation system in the current conditions.

When is it necessary to conduct an initiative tax audit of an enterprise

As noted earlier, audit companies and individual experts check the taxation system of an economic entity, help in the development and maintenance of reports. Specialists conduct an audit of tax risks, advise on issues related to the calculation and payment of mandatory contributions. Experts analyze accounting reports, identify errors that are contrary to legislative norms, and eliminate them.

Typically, the services of such specialists are ordered by large enterprises with many branches or a multi-level structure and a large workflow. Companies of medium and small business segment use the services of audit companies to optimize taxation.

It is extremely important to conduct a tax audit in a timely manner. If all reporting is brought into line with legal norms, the company can avoid most of the problems. An initiative tax audit is not a mandatory event. A specialized company can conduct it only if the client wants it directly, that is, at his will. A tax audit does not guarantee exemption from audits by fiscal authorities. However, large enterprises often need an independent survey, as it can significantly reduce costs. Below we consider the benefits for companies from conducting a tax audit.

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Is it profitable to conduct an initiative tax audit?

It is impossible to accurately calculate the amount of the company's funds saved due to tax audit, since errors in the reports are different. However, based on several examples of effective verification of this kind, an objective picture of this process can be formed.

Example. One company supplying minerals and raw materials decided to challenge the results of the tax audit. The company was ordered to pay more than 10 million rubles in connection with the presentation of claims against it. The company did not agree with these requirements and turned to an audit firm. As a result of challenging the supplier’s check, 10 million rubles were released from payment, and legal costs in the amount of 300 thousand rubles were also reimbursed. The cost of the audit was 950 thousand, ROI is estimated at 985%.

Thus, a tax audit sometimes allows not only to avoid unnecessary expenses, but also to return the funds spent.

Example. A furniture manufacturing company that supplies 40% of its goods abroad wanted to exercise the right to a VAT refund from the budget, but could not, and therefore asked for help from auditors. During the trial, initiated by the audit company, 6 million rubles were returned and a VAT refund scheme was established.

Tax audit sets itself a very important goal - to optimize the costs of the audited entity.

Example. The audit company provided support to a large technopark. During the survey, the experts checked how VAT is distributed among several types of activities. The results showed that within three years the client overpaid over 30 million rubles. The auditor proposed to distribute VAT according to a different scheme, thanks to which the technopark was saved from unnecessary expenses.

The examples described above show how beneficial tax audits are for companies. The cost of its implementation pays off almost instantly. But in order for the tax audit procedures to become as effective as possible, preference should be given to the type of audit that is most consistent with the specifics of the company's activities at the moment.

Carrying out a tax audit for all enterprises is almost the same. It can differ only taking into account the characteristics of the business.

For example, there are many taxes applied to mining in Russia. The amount and procedure for their payment is determined by the extracted resource (companies can develop metals, oil, minerals, etc.). Violations in the payment of MET, as a rule, are associated with specific and ad valorem rates.

Errors in the payment of income tax are most often caused by an incorrectly formed tax base, incorrect application of tax incentives, or simple mathematical miscalculations. Inaccuracies in the calculation of VAT, as a rule, are associated with the accounting for this tax deductible. Payment evasion schemes are built according to the same methods.

Some transport tax contributions are not needed at all. To a row Vehicle mandatory payments do not apply in principle.

Inaccuracies in property taxes are usually caused by incorrectly drafted leases. Experts look at whether they are correctly formulated legally, identify mistakes made by both the client and his counterparty.

Corrections are often made to the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. In addition, the meaning of existing legislative norms is changing. Considering all this, a tax audit is the best solution to avoid both monetary penalties and more serious sanctions. This helps the company not to overpay today and avoid unnecessary expenses for settlements with the budget and extra-budgetary funds in the future.

In what cases is a pre-trial tax audit carried out?

In the fiscal service, a pre-trial audit has been operating for a long time - one of the structural divisions of this body. Its activities allow resolving difficult situations with taxpayers, identifying and resolving problems in the activities of tax inspections, without resorting to lengthy court proceedings.

The pre-trial audit works according to a fairly simple and well-established principle. Taxpayers apply to the fiscal service with complaints and objections. Next, they consider whether the tax authorities are legally acting (or inactive) when working with applications. If it turns out that the rights of the enterprise have been violated, all the necessary procedures for their restoration are performed during the pre-trial check.

Pre-trial audit for taxpayers is very useful. Making and filing complaints, in comparison with court proceedings, is faster and easier. This is due to the fact that the application can be drawn up in a relatively free form. The participation of consultants and lawyers is not required, there are no state fees when submitting it. When the appeal is submitted to the tax inspectorate, all measures to implement the contested decisions made as a result of the audits are suspended.

Pre-trial audit of tax accounting has another significant advantage - the settlement of problems as soon as possible. Based general rule The complaint is studied within a month. The tax authority issues a particular conclusion based on the results of its consideration. This decision shall be executed immediately by the lower inspectorates.

In addition, pre-trial audit, despite the intradepartmental basis of this system, is objective and independent. Why? The curator of this structure is the leadership of the tax authority. Conducting a pre-trial audit is strictly regulated, and no additional procedures can be carried out within its framework. When studying complaints and objections, the established judicial practice is taken into account. The existing indicators for evaluating the effectiveness of the audit provide for an extremely deep and detailed study of complaints and objections, without formalities.