Guidelines for the Tax Audit Plan

Guidelines for the planning and approval of the monthly tax audit plan

The audit plan must reflect the needs presented to the Office of Large Taxpayers. The heads of office must send their proposals in writing to the Head of the Audit Section, before he begins to prepare the audit plan for the following month. To ensure that the planning is correct and that the taxpayers to be audited are correctly included in the plan, it is also necessary to have proposals from the head of the liquidation and collection section, as well as the head of execution and debt management, therefore that this cooperation will serve to clarify certain issues, such as data maintenance methodology, especially in cases where taxpayer data is incomplete. Information is also received from the official in charge of the Appeals Administration, for cases in which the taxpayer to be submitted to examination is in the process of appeal.

The examination plan is prepared by the Head of the Examination Section on the 25th of the previous month and is presented to the Office Headquarters for Large Taxpayers. After the latter has received approval from the Head of the Tax Audit Directorate at the tax agency, this plan must be approved no later than the first day of the planned month, but the plan must be made available to the Tax Audit Directorate at least two days before the end of the month. If there is no response until the 1st of the month, the Office of Large Taxpayers may consider the audit plan for the month in question as accepted by the Tax Audit Directorate.

Using the audit selection methodology (IT or manual program), the plan must include the taxpayers to be audited, as well as the number of days that will be dedicated to each tax audit. The Tax Audit Directorate can change the taxpayers already selected, but it cannot change more than 15% of the total number of taxpayers selected by the audit section, nor can it change the taxpayers that have been selected by the computerized system, if said system is in spent. In such a case, the Tax Audit Directorate can add other taxpayers for the audit and these must be part of the 15% of manually selected taxpayers together with the selections made by the selection system.

Applicable deadlines in the planning of audits for special requests

The practice adopted so far has shown that the continuous audits of large taxpayers have in fact hidden their tax liability and, consequently, large companies in general represent the area of ​​greatest risk for hiding tax revenues. In the audit planning process, the audit section head should assess the risk of potential fraud. Thus, in the event that fraud is discovered, the audit plan must include the necessary techniques to be used.

Return Request Cases

The Evaluation Section provided the Head of the Audit Section with the list of persons who have applied for reimbursement. This list is sent via the internal protocol of the Office of Large Taxpayers. In the meeting with the office heads, the Section Chief plans the fiscal visit for the closest possible day in order to verify the veracity of each request included in the list. At the end of said control after the tax visit, this sector specifies the amount agreed for return in the report drawn up for that purpose. A copy of the fiscal visit report is sent to the Evaluation and Collection Section by internal protocol. The deadline for sending this information should not exceed 25 days from the date of registration of the return request in the respective registry.

Cases of applications for registration, bankruptcy or change of status of taxpayers

The Determination and Collection Section, the Debt Enforcement and Management Section or the Headquarters for Large Taxpayers deliver directly to the Audit Section the list of persons who have applied for removal or insolvency proceedings. This is done through the internal protocol of the Office of Large Taxpayers. In the meeting with the heads of office, the Head of Section plans the fiscal visit to verify the requests, without exceeding the term of 30 days counted from the registration of the request in the Office of Large Taxpayers.

Cases of requests for audits from the headquarters of the tax agency

In such cases, after receiving a request to conduct an audit, the section chief will plan to conduct the audit in the following month, unless the request is marked “Urgent”. If the official document that authorizes the audits contains a long list of taxpayers, the Head of Section contacts the Tax Audit Directorate (TAD) to prepare an audit plan in accordance with the list.

In all audits requested from the Tax Audit Directorate, it designates one of its officials as supervisor to monitor compliance with audit procedures, legal provisions and TAD guidelines. In special moments of the audit (misunderstandings between the auditor and the taxpayer, unethical or unprofessional behavior of the auditor(s), the supervisor can also make final interpretations, adhering to the audit program already prepared by the Large Taxpayers Directorate, in compliance with recommendations relevant to the problem to be audited.

Cases of audit requests from taxpayers

After discussing with the head offices, the Section Chief schedules the fiscal visit to verify the requests, without exceeding the term of 30 days counted from the registration of the request in the Office of Large Taxpayers.

Re-audit request cases

In the cases of requests for new audits from taxpayers, tax appeal structures, tax agencies or Local Tax Offices, the Large Taxpayers Office can never make a decision for a new audit without authorization from the Directorate of Fiscal Resources, Audit Directorate Tax, Internal Audit Department. Audit Directorate or Operative Supervision Directorate of the Local Tax Offices. In any case, the directors who do not perform the tax audit function must, at the same time, also inform the Tax Audit Directorate about their request submitted to the Office of Large Taxpayers. In all cases, the re-audits will be carried out in compliance with the procedures set forth in numeral 5.10 of this Manual and within a period of 30 days counted from the registration of the request in the protocol of the Office of Large Taxpayers.

Cases of audit requests from other Tax Agencies

In such cases, after receiving the request for verification or data crossing, the section chief plans to carry out the audit in the following month, without exceeding the term of 30 days counted from the date of registration of the request in the Large Taxpayers Office. If the Large Taxpayers Office is overloaded with work, it must reply to the Local Tax Agency within this period and look for the closest possible time to close the request made by the Local Tax Agencies.

Cases of requests for audits from auditing institutions of the operation of the tax administration

In such cases, after receiving the request from said institutions or the tax agency (High State Audit Office, Internal Audit Directorate, tax agency) to verify or confirm the data of the audits carried out by these institutions, the section chief plans the audit to be carried out during the following month, without exceeding the term of 30 days counted from the registration of the request in the Office of Large Taxpayers.

Other requests

In the other cases, for the requests specified in the previous points and that do not violate the fiscal procedures, after discussion with the heads of offices, the Section Chief schedules the fiscal visit, without exceeding the term of 30 days from the registration of the request. request. at the Office of Large Taxpayers. If for objective reasons this is not possible, the section chief responds, within 30 days from when the request was registered with the Large Taxpayers Office, explaining the reasons why the audit was not carried out and communicating it to the most near. possible period.