第三期，2014年4月刊 - 如何应对税务局实地审计和调查组的面试邀请
A tax audit and investigation case often commences with the issue of an invitation to the taxpayer for attending an interview by an assessor of the Field Audit and Investigation Unit (“FAI Officer”) of the Inland Revenue Department (“IRD”).
Information shown in that invitation letter may include:
- statement informing the taxpayer that an audit is being conducted on his/her tax affairs;
- statement on which year of assessment is selected as the tax audit year;
- list of documents to be made available for examination during the interview; and
- time frame, usually 10 to 14 days, for the taxpayer to contact the FAI Officer for fixing the time and place of the interview.
What the taxpayer should do upon receipt of such an invitation letter?
While there is a deadline mentioned in the invitation letter for the taxpayer to contact the FAI Officer, it does not mean that the interview must be held soon after the phone call. Scheduling an interview at rush may not be beneficial for the taxpayer.
Instead, taxpayers should consider doing the following preparation works before calling the FAI Officer to schedule the interview:
- retrieve all documents/information requested in the invitation letter. If any document/information requested is not readily available, estimate the time required to retrieve/locate them;
- check his/her travel itinerary or the travel itinerary of the director who will attend the interview on behalf of the taxpayer for the coming few months to ascertain his/her availability; and
- estimate the time required for examining all documents/information requested in the invitation letter before the scheduled interview as they will usually be collected by the IRD at the end of the scheduled interview; and
- engage a tax representative who can assist him/her to conduct self-review, quantify the overall potential tax exposure, if any, prepare and accompany him/her to attend the interview and provide professional advice on technical issues.
Once the above preliminary preparation works are done, taxpayers or his/her tax representative should contact the FAI Officer, explain that time is required to retrieve and review all documents stated in the invitation letter and suggest the interview to be held once the self-review is completed.
Meanwhile, taxpayers or his/her tax representative can discuss with the FAI Officer the alternative measures in case any document/information requested is not readily available.
By doing so, the taxpayer can demonstrate his/her responsiveness and cooperativeness, both of them will be regarded as mitigating factors when considering the quantum of penalty to be imposed in case there is any breach of tax law.
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