VimpelCom's Tax Director Nikolai Shmakov noted that the Federal Tax Service sometimes violates the deadlines for opening audits, believing that the main thing is decided when considering the issue on its merits. "However, this is not the case for business. It is important that after the statute of limitations expires, there is no return to old periods. This is called legal certainty," he explained.
The Federal Tax ghana whatsapp resource Service did not respond to ComNews’ questions.
Nikolay Shmakov noted that due to the rapid completion of audit periods in recent years, the institution of tax monitoring has become popular, which is not yet used for the purposes of tax price control. "Within the framework of tax monitoring, regular audits are completed within nine months after the year being audited. It would be desirable for TCO issues to be closed just as quickly, instead of potentially opening an audit during the limitation period," he said.
Nikolay Shmakov noted: "The case won in the appeal is a precedent. Firstly, because until now no one has disputed the timing of the opening of TCO inspections, and for businesses, legal certainty is an important factor in financial planning. Secondly, because it was impossible to allow conflicting decisions of the Constitutional and Arbitration Courts. If the case had been lost by the taxpayer, this would have disrupted the stability of the judicial system and created a dangerous negative precedent, when lower courts may not follow the decisions of the highest judicial authority," said Nikolay Shmakov.
Rustem Akhmetshin noted that any audits are stressful for businesses: they distract resources, the attention of employees and management, they cost money and, importantly, they create uncertainty about the future. "Whether there is a reason to accuse the company of something, to hold the management accountable, to collect amounts - all this can only be found out after the audit is completed. The tax audit itself of a large company usually lasts at least a year and a half, and you can wait many more months for the written results - the audit report, the inspection decision, and then the decision of a higher tax authority. The deadlines are practically not regulated. More precisely, they are formally prescribed by law, but if they are not observed, there will be no punishment. All this time, shareholders, creditors, banks, management and even employees of the company are in a waiting mode," said Rustem Akhmetshin.