Imperatives of Tax Audit and Investigation for Revenue Generation in Nigeria

Abstract

Tax is a compulsory level on all income of taxpayers. This paper is set to review and document the imperatives of Audit and Investigation in relation to tax revenue generation in Nigeria. The paper analyses the general and professional meaning, similarities and differences between the two key terms. The paper surmises that though Auditing and Investigation may appear similar, but to some extent, they are different and may not be used interchangeably, similarly, tax audit and tax investigation. By Audit, one evaluate things, records, processes, persons, organizations, systems, projects or products to ascertain the correctness of the assertion there off, this will be in form of how valid and reliable the assertion are. In Accounting point of view, audit is conducted to provide an assessment of a system's internal control and the goal is to express an opinion on same. Investigation on the other hand is an inquiry that is commissioned for a specific purpose. This paper explores the overview of audit and investigation in relation to taxation and with respect to their objective, scope, extent of regulation, timing, expected degree of care, depth of enquiry, qualification and the skill set. Methodology used in arriving at the conclusion in this paper is “content analysis”, which is the review of relevant books, journals, and articles on the subject of discussion. Readers of this paper would appreciate the nexus between these concepts while professional tax auditor, investigators as well as tax practitioners will find it is useful in their day-to-day tax administration in the country.