Conducting a repeat on-site tax audit

In what cases is a re-inspection carried out?

On-site re-inspection is carried out by these authorities:

Higher tax authority. A repeat audit is carried out to check the work of the tax authority that carried out the first event.
The tax authority carrying out the first audit. The event is held only by decision of the authority. It is assigned when the payer sends an updated tax return with a reduced tax amount. The subject of the audit is exclusively the circumstances that led to a reduction in the amount of accrued tax.
Main tax authority. He can also organize events during the liquidation or reorganization of a company.

As a rule, control activities are carried out by a higher authority.

Prohibition on repeated inspections

It is prohibited to conduct repeated on-site inspections on the same tax for the same period (Article 89 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).
If the tax office violates this requirement, the company may challenge the legality of the audit in court. In this case, the inspection may be suspended by court decision. Example.
Repeated inspection The Tax Inspectorate has inspected the JSC twice this year. Moreover, the same taxes were checked for the same period. Based on the results of the second audit, the tax authorities obliged the company to pay the arrears and penalties. The company did not agree with the inspector’s decision and appealed to the arbitration court. The judges granted the claim. After all, controllers did not have the right to check the company twice for the same taxes for the same period. Therefore, the decision based on the results of the re-inspection was declared illegal.

The prohibition on repeated audits for the same taxes for the same period does not apply to three cases. A repeated on-site inspection on the same issues can be carried out:

if it is caused by the liquidation or reorganization of the company;
if it is carried out by a higher tax authority to monitor the work of subordinates;
if the company filed an updated tax return in which the tax amount was less than previously declared.

The tax office has the right to conduct two on-site audits a year, but for different taxes or different periods of the company’s activity. Such audits will not be repeated.

A situation may arise when the tax inspectorate simultaneously conducts desk and field audits in relation to the same tax for the same period. In this case, there is no repeat audit, since on-site and desk audits are independent and independent forms of tax control (letter of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated March 13, 2014 No. ED-4-2/4529).

During an on-site audit of a company, tax officials can also monitor the activities of its branches (representative offices). Inspectors also have the right to conduct an independent tax audit of separate divisions to determine the correctness of calculations with the budget for regional and local taxes.

During a separate audit of branches and representative offices, the same restrictions on frequency apply as when auditing the parent company. Namely: a branch (representative office) can be checked for the same tax for the same period only once. If different taxes (periods) are checked, then the unit cannot be visited more than twice during a calendar year.

What exactly can be checked

When repeating the event, specialists must comply with these conditions:

The findings of the courts regarding a current tax return should not be overestimated.
Only those circumstances that led to the clarification of the tax return are checked. In particular, to reduce accrued taxes.

When carrying out a repeated inspection, violations may be discovered that were not identified during the first event. In this case, sanctions will not be applied to the company. An exception is made for offenses that arose as a result of a conspiracy between the payer and an official representing the tax office (based on paragraph 10 of Article 89 of the Tax Code).

What to do if the results of the previous check are not yet available

Based on the results of the inspection, a report is drawn up. It takes some time to compile it. Is a repeat event held if the results of the previous one are not yet available? Paragraph 10 of Article 89 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation states that a re-inspection is carried out with the aim of analyzing the productivity, legality and validity of decisions of a lower structure. This approach is confirmed, among other things, by paragraph 5 of Resolution No. 5-P of the Constitutional Court Resolution.

That is, the higher authority does not check the results, but the process of the control event. Therefore, the presence or absence of an act does not matter. Even if the test results are not ready, the subject of the repeated event is present. In addition, the article of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation does not indicate that the second inspection should be carried out based on the results of the first.

How is the check carried out?

The repeated event has a number of restrictions. In particular, only papers related to the calculation and payment of taxes are checked (clause 12 of Article 89 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Specialists can request documents for a period not exceeding 3 years. The repeated nature of the event does not affect the order of its holding.

The results of the second check may not coincide with the results of the first. For example, a higher authority may detect other violations. However, sanctions will not be imposed for them. An exception is the discovery of falsification of the results of the first control event, which arose as a result of a conspiracy between the company and tax representatives. In this case, organizations may impose penalties, arrears, and penalties. The corresponding provision is contained in paragraph 10 of Article 89 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Can specialists, as part of a repeat event, request papers that were previously provided to inspectors? Paragraph 5 of Article 93 states that a company may not transfer those documents that were previously provided as part of desk and on-site inspections. However, this provision is relevant only for papers that were transferred to the inspection after January 1, 2010 (based on paragraph 15 of Article 7 of Federal Law No. 137 of July 27, 2006).

The inspector has the right to re-request these papers:

Documents previously submitted in the form of originals, which the company later took back.
Papers submitted to the inspection that were lost due to force majeure.

The relevant provisions are specified in paragraph 5 of Article 93 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. They are relevant for both regular and repeat inspections.

Can a higher authority inspect a company if there is a decision?

Let's consider the situation. An initial event was carried out, based on the results of which a decision was made. It was assessed by the court and entered into legal force. Can a repeat action be carried out by a higher authority in this case? Maybe, but the inspector does not have the right to make decisions that change the conclusions of the judicial act.

The Tax Code of the Russian Federation does not directly prohibit a repeat inspection when the results of the previous one were assessed in court. However, sometimes control measures contradict the Constitution. In particular, this happens when a new decision comes into conflict with a judicial act. The corresponding provision is contained in the decision of the Constitutional Court No. 5-P of March 17, 2009.

Additional questions

Is the right to take an event relevant in relation to the branches of the company if a general inspection has been carried out before? It all depends on what taxes were the subject of the previous procedure. If a comprehensive analysis of all federal, state and local taxes has been ordered, an on-site audit will be illegal. The basis is paragraph 4 of paragraph 10 and paragraph 5 of Article 89 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

If the subject was individual taxes, it is possible to organize an additional on-site event. Its subject is unverified taxes. Such an event is not considered repeated (based on clause 10 of Article 89 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

IMPORTANT! On-site inspections can only concern regional and local payments to the treasury.

Based on the results of an audit of one tax, can an inspector request an updated declaration for another payment? Yes. During the repeated procedure, unrecorded data and errors that underestimate the tax may be discovered. In this case, you need to recalculate the latter. The company itself must submit the updated declaration. Otherwise, the inspectorate will take over the matter. The relevant rules are contained in paragraph 1 of Article 31 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and letter of the Ministry of Finance No. 03-02-07/2-209 dated December 21, 2009.

Possible number of re-checks

Even if two events were carried out in a year for different taxes and periods, if there are sufficient grounds, an unlimited number of audits can be carried out.

Grounds for extending an on-site tax audit

Tax authorities may extend the period of an on-site audit of a taxpayer company several times. The grounds for extending inspection activities are expressly stated in the legislation. These include the following facts:

The inspected legal entity is one of the largest taxpayers;
During the inspection, inspectors received information about violations of tax laws by the company that required additional study and confirmation;
In the territory where the inspection is taking place, force majeure circumstances apply;
The company being inspected has several separate divisions. If the company has 10 or more such divisions, the period of control measures can be increased to 6 months;
The company violated the deadlines for submitting the documents requested by the inspectors.

An on-site tax audit may be extended for other reasons. When deciding whether to extend the inspection, factors such as:

Length of the period under review;
The volume of required taxpayer documentation that is subject to analysis;
The number of taxes and fees that are being audited;
Number of types of activities of the taxpayer;
Organizational structure and internal technological processes in the audited company.

It should be emphasized that extension of the on-site inspection to 6 months is possible only in exceptional cases. The Federal Tax Service of Russia directly names one such case in Order No. ММВ-7-2/ [email protected] dated 05/08/15. This is the presence of 10 or more separate divisions within the audited enterprise.

When deciding on extending the period of inspection of a legal entity to 6 months, inspectors must analyze all the factual circumstances of the case, evaluate evidence indicating the impossibility of carrying out inspection activities within the period established by law.

Repeated measures during liquidation or reorganization

Repeated inspections during liquidation and reorganization are regulated by paragraph 11 of Article 89 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. The procedure is almost completely similar to standard repeated measures. The decision to conduct it is made by the head of the inspectorate to which the company is a member.

Is it possible to schedule a repeat desk audit? No, since its subject is tax reporting. It is impossible to check the same papers twice, without sufficient grounds. The corresponding position is set out in the resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the North-Western District No. A66-594/2008 dated September 26, 2008. Exceptions are cases when the company has submitted updated reports with a reduced tax amount. The accuracy of the organization's calculations is double-checked by inspectors.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION! Based on the results of the repeated event, as with the standard procedure, a report is drawn up with its results. It indicates the defects found or their absence.

Repeated desk tax audit

After submitting an updated declaration, the tax authority has the right to conduct a full audit of it. It is carried out in accordance with the general procedure of a desk audit on the basis of Art. 88 Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

The audit is carried out by the tax authority on the basis of the taxpayer’s declaration and documentation.
The tax authority may use the documentation it has about the taxpayer’s activities.
Permission from the head of the tax authority to conduct an audit is not required. Officials of the Federal Tax Service act in accordance with their official duties.
The audit period is 3 months from the date of submission of the declaration to the Federal Tax Service.
The inspection is terminated if during the inspection the organization submits a new, updated declaration. In this case, a new audit begins, and documentation previously received from the taxpayer may be used.
During the audit, the tax office may make a demand for the provision of documents, which must be fulfilled within 5 days
Grounds for filing a claim: errors, contradictions, inconsistencies in the documentation; reduction of the tax amount in the “clarification”; declared amount of loss; receiving tax benefits.
The tax authority cannot require additional documents not provided for by the procedure (Article 88 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

IMPORTANT : Find out how to prepare for any tax audit by following this link