Audyt podatkowy jako zewnętrzny mechanizm nadzorczy

Abstract

Tax audit as an external supervisory mechanism. Purpose: The purpose of the chapter is to identify, characterize and compare types of tax audit and their location in the structure of the internal tax supervision framework. In addition, the role of tax advisory companies, audit companies, tax advisers and statutory auditors in this process was highlighted. Design/methodology/approach: To achieve the purpose, an analysis of legal acts was used, including in particular the Tax Ordinance, as well as the documents of the National Revenue Administration (KAS) operationalizing the shape of the Cooperation Programme and its components. Initial data on the number of cooperation agreements and entities submitting applications for such agreements were also collected and analysed. Findings: In the light of the presented analyses and statistics, the tax audit institution is at the initial stage of development. In the case of an audit carried out by the Head of KAS, only pre-audit procedures are developed and verified, which is aimed at checking the taxpayer’s settlements in terms of potential risks related to the fulfillment of tax obligations and allows to determine whether the taxpayer has not only the willingness, but also the ability to effectively supervise tax function. There is no—so far—practice of monitoring audits aimed at ensuring that the Head of KAS can exercise effective and efficient supervision over the correct implementation of the cooperation agreement. There is a strong feedback loop between the latter type of audit and the audit of the tax function. The higher the level of effectiveness and adequacy of internal tax supervision, and the higher the level of tax function audit, the lower will be the scope and form of supervision carried out by the Head of KAS, especially in the form of a monitoring audit. Taking into account the complexity, high dynamics, as well as interpretative divergences and ambiguous jurisprudence of tax law, the development of the tax audit service can be expected in the near future—not only within the framework of the cooperation agreement, but also outside such an agreement.