First, the meaning of tax assessment of registered tax agents
Tax assessment of certified tax agents means that certified tax agents accept the entrustment of taxpayers or withholding agents (hereinafter referred to as taxpayers) according to law, and use various technical means and professional experience to comprehensively analyze, check and evaluate taxpayers' tax-related information and tax payment in a certain period of time, so as to confirm the legality, authenticity and accuracy of taxpayers' tax payment, and timely discover, correct and deal with abnormal problems such as tax-related matters mistakes. The tax assessment of certified tax agents is actually an act of self-examination of tax-related matters entrusted by enterprises. Its characteristics are objectivity, equality, impartiality and professionalism. According to the provisions of the Measures, tax assessment refers to the management behavior that tax authorities make qualitative and quantitative judgments on the authenticity and accuracy of tax returns (including applications for tax reduction, exemption, postponement and tax refund) of taxpayers and withholding agents by using the method of comparative analysis of data and information, and take further measures for tax collection and management. It can be seen that although both tax assessments are aimed at taxpayers and based on the tax-related information provided by taxpayers, there are still obvious differences between the tax assessments carried out by registered tax agents and those carried out by tax authorities. The two assessments can't replace each other, but complement and promote each other.
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Two, registered tax assessment methods and procedures
(1) signing a tax assessment agreement
Certified tax agents should first decide whether to accept the entrustment of tax assessment according to their preliminary understanding of taxpayers. If a certified tax accountant has an interest with the client, the client has the right to ask him to withdraw. After the two parties formally accept the tax assessment task, they should sign a tax assessment agreement according to law, clearly stipulating the responsibilities, rights and interests of both parties, especially the matters that need taxpayers' cooperation and information in tax assessment, which should be clearly defined in the agreement in advance.
(two) to develop a tax assessment plan.
Before tax assessment, a certified tax accountant shall formulate a detailed tax assessment plan, including a comprehensive assessment plan and a specific assessment plan, according to the tax assessment agreement and the taxpayer's production and operation, and according to the assessment purpose and procedures. The comprehensive evaluation plan includes the basic situation of taxpayers, evaluation purpose, scope and strategy, key evaluation items, work progress, time and expense budget, personnel division, risk assessment, etc. The specific evaluation plan includes evaluation objectives, specific steps, evaluators and time, working papers and indicators. The complexity of the average assessment scheme depends on the scale of taxpayer's enterprise operation and the complexity of tax-related matters.
(C) in-depth understanding of the enterprise situation
After signing the agreement, the registered tax accountant must have a deep understanding of the following information according to the tax assessment plan: ① the production and operation place, scale, nature and organizational structure of the enterprise, and the subsidiaries, branches or business divisions established; (2) The scale and composition of enterprise capital; (three) the composition and use of the assets of the enterprise; ④ Scientific and technological content, technical level and product structure of enterprise products; ⑤ Employee composition, salary scale and structure of the enterprise; ⑥ Taxes that enterprises may involve and preferential tax policies that they may enjoy.
(4) Collecting tax assessment information
The premise of tax assessment is to collect and master the tax-related information of taxpayers. The scope and methods of tax assessment information collection are based on the principle of "accuracy, detail, comprehensiveness and timeliness", and multi-channel and multi-channel information collection is implemented. It mainly includes: production and operation, tax registration, invoice management, tax declaration and payment, enterprise income tax settlement, financial accounting, tax control device, tax management and internal control information, tax-related information collected on site and tax-related information collected by other means for taxpayers in the same industry and the same scale. The collected information should be screened, evaluated and verified as needed, and a working file or database suitable for tax assessment application should be established.
(v) Determine the risks and priorities of the assessment.
According to the understanding of the enterprise and the analysis of tax-related information, the registered tax accountant should make a preliminary assessment of the risks of this entrusted project, including inherent risks, control risks and inspection risks. In view of the risks existing in tax assessment, different assessment methods and procedures are adopted, focusing on reducing controllable risks, so as to reduce the overall risks of tax assessment projects within a certain range, and tax assessment is carried out according to the principle of cost-benefit-risk.
(six) set up tax assessment indicators
The establishment of tax assessment and analysis indicators mainly refers to tax-related financial indicators, including tax analysis, financial analysis, operating performance indicators and so on. Tax analysis indicators include basic evaluation indicators and comprehensive evaluation indicators. Financial analysis indicators include: total tax rate (including all kinds of taxes), cost profit rate, profit rate, tax burden increase and decrease rate, the contrast ratio between the increase and decrease of business (sales) income and the increase and decrease of tax payable, abnormal changes in current account, etc. Operating performance indicators include taxpayers' operating conditions and performance indicators, basic indicators of operating performance in the same industry, and indicators of operating performance plans issued by superiors.
(7) Select the evaluation frame of reference.
The main basis for choosing the reference system of tax assessment is the tax change index and the industry average economic index. The tax increase or decrease indicators include: first, according to the increase or decrease amount and the increase or decrease rate, determine the main taxes and enterprises that cause the increase or decrease of the overall tax source in a certain period; Second, according to the increase or decrease amount and the increase or decrease rate, determine the main enterprises that cause the increase or decrease of individual taxes in a certain period of time. The industry average economic indicators include: first, according to the industry profit rate, determine the enterprises whose average profit rate is within (or higher than) a certain range; Second, according to the industry tax rate, determine the enterprises that are lower (or higher) than the industry average tax rate by a certain margin.
(eight) specific tax assessment and analysis.
In the tax assessment and analysis of enterprises, the method of "tax classification and project" is adopted. At present, it mainly evaluates and analyzes corporate income tax, value-added tax, business tax, consumption tax, urban construction tax, education surcharge, personal income tax, property tax and other taxes (fees). Through comparison, verification, analysis, calculation and other evaluation methods, using ratio analysis, trend analysis, structural analysis and other evaluation methods, taking the current tax laws and regulations as the criterion, this paper evaluates the taxpayer's tax declaration, tax payment situation and policies from two aspects: entity and procedure. In particular, it is aimed at the problems of inconsistent understanding of tax laws, unclear legal provisions, application of preferential tax policies, tax planning and other tax-related risks encountered by enterprises in their daily tax-related treatment. To carry out key evaluation, we should adhere to the principles of independence, objectivity, impartiality, honesty and prudence, and ensure the legitimacy, rationality and scientificity of the evaluation.
(nine) to write a tax assessment report
According to the requirements of relevant laws and regulations on tax assessment and professional norms, the registered tax accountant will issue a tax assessment report after completing the established assessment plan. The tax assessment report of certified tax accountant is the final assessment result of the assessment items entrusted by taxpayers, and it is a professional judgment on whether the tax-related items of taxpayers are legal, reasonable, objective and fair, with the functions of verification, protection and prevention. The evaluation report shall generally include the following basic contents: report title, taxpayer name, evaluation scope, evaluation opinions, explanations of key issues, opinions or suggestions, signature and address of tax agency, report date, relevant attachments, etc. The specific format of the report can be set according to the specific situation of the evaluation project.
Three. Problems needing attention in tax assessment of registered tax agents
(A) to solve the effectiveness of tax assessment.
The tax assessment service of certified tax agents belongs to the nature of tax-related services. First of all, it is necessary to conclude an evaluation agreement with taxpayers according to law. Only under the premise of legality can we ensure the independence, objectivity and fairness of the tax assessment process and results. There are three misunderstandings to be wary of here. First, it is necessary to confuse the tax assessment of tax authorities with the tax assessment of registered tax agents. Second, it is necessary to prevent tax authorities from carrying out illegal acts such as "designated assessment" and "compulsory assessment" on taxpayers with the help of administrative power; Third, registered tax agents themselves must pay attention to controlling the risk of tax assessment and carry out assessment business in strict accordance with tax laws and professional norms.
(two) to ensure the legitimacy of the assessment information.
Whether collecting tax assessment information or implementing tax assessment procedures, legal and reliable information support is needed. If the information is incomplete, inaccurate and untimely, it will mislead the professional judgment of certified tax agents and even lead to the failure of the whole tax assessment. In order to ensure the reliability and timeliness of tax-related information, it is necessary to verify and verify the data information, and then use it after integration and screening. Therefore, collecting and evaluating tax-related information is the key link of tax assessment. In the evaluation of certified tax agents, it is found that the client has violated the rules, which may affect the fairness and integrity of the evaluation report, and should be discouraged; If dissuasion is ineffective, the review will be suspended.
(3) Protecting the commercial secrets and other lawful rights of taxpayers.
Certified tax agents will know a lot of tax-related information of taxpayers in tax assessment, some of which belong to public information, some belong to taxpayers' business secrets or undisclosed information, which requires certified tax agents to have good professional ethics. No matter what kind of tax assessment report is issued, they should not disclose this information, nor should they use this information to seek illegal interests, or use their practices to seek other illegitimate interests. We can only point out or make suggestions to taxpayers on the mistakes or fraud in tax-related matters found in tax assessment. Tax assessment reports and working papers can only be used as internal documents of enterprises, and shall not be disclosed to tax authorities or third parties without the written consent of taxpayers.
(four) to safeguard the rights and interests of registered tax agents.
The tax assessment carried out by certified tax agents involves the interests of both the state and taxpayers, and is vulnerable to pressure from taxpayers and tax authorities, and may even be infringed by some taxpayers or tax authorities' instigation, instigation, coercion, threats and other illegal acts. Therefore, registered tax agents must adhere to the tax law as the criterion, abide by professional ethics, abide by professional standards, and carry out assessment according to the tax assessment agreement. If their objectivity, independence and impartiality are damaged, they should take measures such as maintaining the status quo agreement and tax administration.