Tax Audit and Tax Control: Interaction Model and Legislative Regulation

Abstract

Calculations for taxes and payments are one of the key areas of accounting and the object of tax control and audit at any enterprise. The interaction of tax inspectors and auditors and their relations with tax-paying enterprises within the framework of their inspection are insufficiently regulated by law. The article is devoted to disclosing the procedures and features of the legislative regulation of tax audit in the system of interaction of taxpayers, control bodies and audit companies. To emphasize the existing features of tax audit carried out by independent audit firms and tax audit carried out by fiscal authorities, the authors use two definitions: tax audit and tax control. Taking into account the differences between the tax audit and tax control, it is recommended to legislate the concept of tax audit and tax consulting services at the level of normative legal acts in the field of audit activity. Based on the data of the conducted survey of accountants, the reasons for fines and VAT surcharges were revealed. The model of the relationship between taxpayers, subjects of audit activity and tax authorities is substantiated and described. Applying this model will increase the quality of independent audit and tax control and the trust of stakeholders in the financial and tax reporting of enterprises. In addition, it will reduce the financial risks to taxpayers and society's costs for maintaining the tax control system. Within the framework of this model, under certain circumstances, tax authorities can get acquainted with the results of audits by independent auditors drawn up in a separate document in the part of tax calculations. Quality control of an independent tax audit can be carried out by the Body of Public Supervision of Auditing Activities or the Audit Chamber of Ukraine within the framework of general quality control of audit services and indirectly by tax authorities during a tax control. Accordingly, the interaction between these subjects can create additional opportunities to strengthen the quality control of auditing activities as a whole.