What are tax audits?
The main objective is for the periodic checking of business and other tax returns. Tax inspections give rise to their own queries in a percentage of the cases examined. Hopefully these queries are then resolved by “get togethers” between taxpayers, advisers and the tax officers. Every year about 5% of all returns are subject to some form of post assessment examination. There are 2 types of audits – Desk Audit and Field Audit. • The Desk Audit involves preliminary examination in the Tax Office, usually of non-business tax returns and perhaps small businesses. • The Field Audit is used for most business returns and the more complex individual tax return. A field audit may be of a specific or random nature. Specific audits usually arise form “tip offs” while random audits are routinely carried out on taxpayers. If areas of dispute arise and further perusal is required it will become a Tax Investigation. Limited to Current Year One of the main aims of tax inspection is to expose any tax ev
