Tax returns
In general, a tax audit can lead to very serious consequences for a taxpayer or a company.
Our tax audit law firm is responsible for ensuring compliance with the rights of its client under audit and to ensure in particular that the principle of oral and adversarial debate is well respected.
In addition to our role of protector of the rights and guarantees of the taxpayer, our tax audit law firm must first verify the validity of the tax adjustment envisaged or notified by the tax administration and also guide our clients towards a defense strategy. appropriate.
We will stress below the question of the period, the two types of tax audit, the role of your tax lawyer in tax audit.
1. Tax Period
The right of the tax administration to repair omissions, insufficiencies or errors committed in the establishment of the tax (“recovery period”) can only be exercised for a period.
This period is generally three years but can be extended in the event of non-declaration of income.
However, there are specific deadlines for direct local taxes, registration fees and solidarity tax on wealth.
For income from the year 2021, the recovery period will normally expire on December 31, 2024.
2. Control of the tax administration
Check on parts
In practice, the documentary tax audit consists of a series of administrative work during which the tax department examines the tax declarations using the information and documents contained in the files it holds. If necessary, the service can make adjustments to the amounts.
This process is designed to achieve several goals. First of all, it aims to ensure that the mandatory declarations have been filed on time. Then, it aims to rectify the errors, insufficiencies, inaccuracies, omissions or dissimulations in the elements being used as a basis for the calculation of the tax.
Finally, with regard to income tax, the process aims to verify that the overall income declared is consistent with what is known about the taxpayer.
Compared to spot checks, this method is much less intrusive, but should still be treated with caution. Indeed, if anomalies are detected, the tax administration may decide to carry out an in-depth investigation, which could eventually turn into an accounting audit or a tax investigation.
Although the tax lawyer is not essential during an on-site audit, it is up to the taxpayer to decide whether or not he wishes to use his services.
A tax audit lawyer can help the taxpayer prepare appropriate answers to the tax auditor's questions, but without officially intervening. In the event of a tax adjustment, a tax lawyer can assist the taxpayer in drafting observations to be submitted to the tax department.
On-site inspection: ESFP and accounting verification
The role of the auditor service, within the framework of the tax audit procedures, is to carry out an in-depth on-site examination, either at the registered office of the audited company for an accounting audit, or at the taxpayer's domicile for a contradictory examination of personal tax situation.
The accounting audit concerns companies, whether they are in the form of a company or an individual entrepreneur. Its objective is to compare the company's tax declarations with its accounts, in particular its file of accounting entries, which must be submitted in a precise computer format during the first intervention.
The ESFP, meanwhile, is aimed at individuals and consists of checking the consistency between the income declared under the IR and the cash position, assets and the elements of the lifestyle available to the taxpayer and the other members ofhis tax household. It is therefore a contradictory examination of consistency between the real incomes and those declared.
The tax optimization schemes put in place by taxpayers can trigger an ESFP, because the auditor service will want to ensure that the spirit of the law has not been misused for an exclusively tax purpose, such as for example a donation before an assignment or a contribution with payment.
In return for the right to carry out these checks, specific guarantees have been provided for the benefit of the taxpayer, such as prior information of the start of the check and the right to the assistance of an adviser, lawyer or not.
These guarantees, set out in the book of tax procedures and the audited taxpayer's charter, are in addition to the general guarantees that the administration must respect in tax matters, in particular oral and adversarial debate.
The role of the tax audit lawyer is therefore to ensure compliance with these guarantees by the tax administration and to sanction their violation, if necessary, before the administrative court.
3.Role of your tax audit lawyer
The profession of tax lawyer has undergone a significant evolution in recent years. Formerly called upon to set up tax optimization schemes or to reduce the tax burden, the tax lawyer now has an increased advisory role in terms of tax audits.
Our duty to advise begins at the start of control operations. Our tax audit law firm can intervene officially by revealing its mandate to the administration and receiving a copy of any mail, or unofficially by directing its client to thethe most relevant way to respond to requests from the auditor service.
Your tax audit lawyer informs his client about the different options available to respond to requests for computer processing, while respecting the provisions of the book of tax procedures.
In the event of a tax adjustment, your tax lawyer will establish, in consultation with his client, a relevant defense strategy. This strategy can consist of frontal opposition or negotiation, depending on the issues and reasons for recovery.
Your tax audit lawyer can also advise his client not to raise all formal means during the taxpayer's observations, in the event of a procedural defect. This challenge may be made in stages, until certain formal irregularities are regularized by the tax authorities within the recovery period.
This tax optimization strategy applied to tax litigation allows tax audit lawyers to play a key role in defending their client's interests. His advisory role therefore takes on its full significance in terms of control, where he must ensure that taxpayers' rights are respected and have any violation sanctioned before the administrative court.
4. What to do in the event of a tax audit procedure?
A tax audit procedure against a natural person or a company is a very important event which is unfortunately too often neglected by taxpayers.
The use of your law firm in tax control from the beginning of the procedure (1st meeting) is decisive insofar as the latter will be able to ensure your defense in the best conditions and argue certain elements with the inspector in order to limit potential rectifications.
In practice, your tax lawyer is unfortunately frequently faced with situations where some prospects submit their rectification proposals late. This situation is more delicate for your tax law firm, since certain elements which could have been justified during the control phase are difficult to justify afterwards.
Our tax law firm regularly advises its clients to intervene from the start of the procedure in order to guarantee a better defence.
Our tax law firm intervenes in the event of control by the administrationtax situation of individual taxpayerss or companies. Our law firm with more than 15 years of experience, operates throughout France with its team specializing in tax litigation and auditing.