Electronic Audit and Technological Developments

ELECTRONIC AUDIT AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS

With technological developments, the use of computers and the internet in all areas of business life is becoming increasingly widespread. As a result of these developments, it is seen that the Revenue Administration has made legal regulations regarding the creation of electronic documents and records in order to facilitate tax audit. Article 257 of the Tax Procedure Law No. 213 states that the Ministry of Finance is authorized to determine different procedures and principles for electronic books, documents and records than the procedures and principles for other books, documents and records.

In the e-Ledger General Communiqué No. 1 issued pursuant to this authorization;

• Electronic Record: It refers to the smallest information element that is kept in electronic environment and constitutes electronic books and documents, which can be accessed and processed by electronic methods.

• Electronic Ledger: It refers to the entirety of electronic records that contain the information required to be included in the books that must be kept in accordance with the Tax Procedure Law and/or the Turkish Commercial Code, regardless of the form provisions.

The standard used in the e-Ledger determined by the Revenue Administration is the most flexible language in the field of financial reporting called XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language), which is increasingly widely used in the world. The e-Ledger has the same legal consequences as the books kept in paper form within the framework of TPL and TCC (Journal of Accounting and Finance- January/2019- Technological Developments in Electronic Tax Audit and Steps to Full Audit- İlker CALAYOĞLU) Taxpayers can use the software they want, provided that it complies with the standards set by the Revenue Administration.

The widespread use of electronic books and documents, developments in computer-aided audit techniques and developments in digital data transfer and storage processes have made remote examination possible and triggered the process. As a result of the studies carried out in this context, the Electronic Data Submission System (eViz) Project was developed. The fact that the books and documents to be audited must be created in the form of electronic data facilitates e-audit.

Following the enactment of Law No. 7338 on the Amendment of the Tax Procedural Law and Certain Laws, work on sub-legislative arrangements was initiated and the Regulation on the Procedures and Principles to be followed in Tax Inspections was revised by including this system. Work on the realization of data submission in electronic environment, which is an important requirement of remote examination, was started simultaneously with the legislative arrangements. After the details of the project were determined, it was submitted to the General Directorate of Information Technologies as a 'Project Development Request' and as a result of the meetings and studies, the Electronic Data Submission (e-Viz) System was developed. e-Viz system is a system that enables electronic books and documents and other documents kept / produced in electronic environment to be submitted securely to the Tax Inspector conducting the examination in electronic environment.

Some of the risk-oriented e-audit applications developed by the Revenue Administration are as follows;

• VAT Refund Risk Analysis System (VATIRA)

• Counterfeit Document Risk Analysis Program (SARP)

• Data Visualization and Analysis System (VEGAS)

• Banderolized Product Monitoring System (BÜİS)

• Centralized Risk Analysis and Stratification Model (MERAK)

In order to examine e-books within the scope of electronic audit, programs that can open e-books, query and analyze predetermined issues are needed. Taxpayers commonly use programs such as Luca, Netsis, Logo, Zirve etc. In these programs, there is no limitation on the number of transactions both when creating accounting records and when creating customer current accounts. The fact that the number of transactions is not limited eliminates the problem of analyzing the book records piece by piece.

In the VDK-VEDAS software offered to the use of inspectors by the Tax Audit Board Presidency; E-Ledger and E-Invoice transfer, viewing and analysis, Balance Control, Reverse Balance Control, Balance Sheet, Balance Sheet and Other Accounts, Buyers and Sellers Report, Income and Cost Accounts, Dematerialized Inventory, Revenue Analysis, Adat, Benford Analysis, Duplicate Value / Values Control, Skipping Number Control (for numeric fields) etc. can be done.

E-Ledger data submitted by taxpayers to the administration are subjected to collapse analysis with the audit techniques established within the scope of tax laws with the VDK-VEDAS program. While taxpayers prefer accounting programs that have received RA e-ledger conformity approval, choosing programs that perform similar analysis to the audit and analysis uniqueness made with the VDK-VEDAS program will reduce the possibility of facing penal sanctions in audits.