Tax inspection of taxpayers

A cameral check is a type of inspection conducted within the tax authority in fulfillment of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. This type of documentation review is carried out on the basis of tax returns provided by the payer, as well as other documents that would confirm the calculation and payment of taxes.

Cameral check is carried out by employees of tax service without the special permission in the form of the order of a management of this body according to their functional duties. The duration of this verification process is not more than three months from the date of the actual provision of the necessary documents to the auditors. This date is considered the beginning of the audit.

In pursuance of Article 31 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the tax authorities, during review of the necessary documentation, the payer may be called by a written notice to provide some explanations. In addition to this, a desk audit allows obtaining information about the activity of the payer in cooperation with counterparties. At these business entities, the tax authority also requests documents on the said interaction. This check is called "counter".

The Chamber Verification consists in exercising control over the completeness and correctness of filling in all the necessary details, the accuracy of the calculations of the filed reports, the comparability of their results, and compliance with the approved rules for completing this reporting.

If certain violations of the law are identified, the payer checks out an inspection report. In the case of a calculated surcharge of taxes, identified by a desk audit, the tax authority sends a request for payment of this amount from default interest. If the taxpayer fails to execute the claimed demand within the established time limit, then the tax authority resolves the issue of collecting the amount of tax and penalty interest forcibly.

Cameral check, according to the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, can cover no more than three years of the subject's activity, which preceded the audit.

Modern Russian tax policy, as the priority direction of the control work, has chosen to strengthen analytical work with the introduction of a comprehensive economic and legal analysis of the financial and economic activities of the entities. Therefore, the concept of tax control is reduced to conducting desk audits. This is due to such circumstances:

- A desk audit is a less labor-intensive form of tax control and amenable to automation;

- this type of verification work is possible to cover all taxpayers who are provided with reporting to the tax authorities. And when conducting on- site inspections, the tax authorities can check only a quarter of the total number of payers.

Also, a desk audit can be important in two aspects. The first is a controlling means for the correctness and reliability of the preparation of tax returns. The second purpose of this check is to use it as a guide in selecting the payers for the implementation of on-site scheduled inspections.