Customs and tax inspections begin to displace traditional tax inspections

In 2019-24, the tax authorities initiated approx. 117.5 thousand. control. Customs and tax controls play an increasingly important role, and the importance of tax audits is decreasing-according to the MDDP report published on Tuesday, developed in cooperation with the Lewiatan Confederation.

“In recent years, there is a clear increase in the importance of customs and fiscal controls, which are beginning to displace traditional tax controls. In 2019, they constituted only 12.5 percent of all inspections, in 2024 over 38 percent. According to information flowing from cash registers, this trend is expected to keep up”-it was informed in the report “Entrepreneurs under the Lowland of the Firefight”, developed, among others by the MDDP office.

It was indicated that on the one hand, customs and fiscal offices should be best prepared to conduct tax settlements, but on the other, it was assessed that the regulations quite poorly secure the position of the taxpayer during the customs and tax audit. The point is that in the case of these inspections, the tax authorities have much wider powers and there are no rigid framework.

“Inspections, both tax and customs and taxes, are still a frequently used tool for checking entrepreneurs. In the years 2019–2024 a total of approx. 117.5 thousand inspections were initiated-on average 77 a day (59 tax and 18 customs and tanks). The most inspection was initiated in 2022, the least-in 2024. This may be the result of better access to taxpayers and more effective access data typing companies for control ” – reported in the report.

The authors pointed out that in 2019–2024 offices detected tax depletion to over PLN 45 billion. Departments exceeding PLN 18 billion were detected during tax inspections, while over PLN 27.5 billion is the result of customs and fiscal controls.

As stated, the average amount of arrears found during one customs and fiscal check exceeded PLN 1 million. “This shows that no control can be underestimated, because it involves a very high tax risk. Data on the so-called + effectiveness + control are approved. In 2024, irregularities were detected in 98 percent of tax controls and 94 percent of customs and tax controls!” – the authors of the report passed.

They assessed that such a percentage of control effectiveness may result from great typing entrepreneurs to carry out the inspection. They added that such reasons are given by cash registers. “However, this may also be a clear sign that in a situation where there is already an inspection, tax authorities do not want to depart + empty -handed + and almost always find irregularities in settlements. The fact that these arrangements can often not have justified grounds, is evidenced by a relatively low number of tax arrears after the inspection,” they said.

They pointed out that “he worries (…) the way of starting tax audits.” The authors reminded that, according to the regulations, the taxpayer should be informed about it in advance to have a chance to voluntarily improve his settlements. Meanwhile – as stated – only in 1 in 10 cases the taxpayer gets such a notification. “This shows that we are dealing with a legal guarantee of taxpayers, which is only +on paper +. In fact, entrepreneurs are surprised and cannot correct errors before,” the authors of the report pointed out.

They added that controls can last for months or even years, which – in their opinion – is too long. This not only makes it difficult to conduct business, but also causes interest on the arrears.

“It all shows that + control + is a word-cluster in relations between taxpayers and tax authorities. On the one hand-as one of the key procedures for checking tax settlements. But on the other-as the need to supervise the actions of tax authorities to ensure that the taxpayers are checking that the settlement is reliable and taxpayers' rights are properly implemented,” said in the report. (PAP)

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