Controversial tax audit

The tax audit (external audit) is used by the tax authorities to check and ensure that companies or private individuals have declared their tax circumstances in accordance with the tax laws.

During a tax audit, there is regularly open communication between the auditor, the tax advisor and the taxpayer. In an increasing number of cases, however, there are also more confrontational discussions between the parties involved. In some cases, threats are made to initiate criminal tax proceedings, in some cases even against the tax advisor. Taxpayers and their tax advisors can easily come under pressure in such a situation, which often makes it difficult to take considered action. It is advisable to obtain a second opinion in order to protect yourself fiscally and, if necessary, strategically.

The lawyers at Minoggio Grezesch Bachmann have many years of experience with contentious tax audits. In consultation with your regular advisors, we use our specialist knowledge to support the tax audit and at the same time hedge against the risk of an openly announced or latent threat of criminal tax proceedings. We discuss each situation individually with the client and their tax advisors and point out alternative courses of action. We decide on a case-by-case basis together with you and your advisor whether we will act on your behalf externally or (initially) limit ourselves to supporting you in the background.

Once the tax audit is underway, it is generally no longer possible to make a voluntary disclosure (with exemption from prosecution). In individual cases, it may nevertheless make sense to proactively disclose previously undiscovered facts to the tax authorities. This is because, on the one hand, the tax audit only blocks the voluntary disclosure to the extent that the tax audit order is factually and temporally sufficient. On the other hand, disclosure can have a mitigating effect if criminal tax proceedings are actually initiated.