Inland Revenue Department - Annual Report 2012-13

Field Audit and Investigation

The Field Audit and Investigation Unit is responsible for conducting field audits and investigations on businesses and individuals with a view to combating tax evasion and avoidance. Back tax is assessed and penalties are generally imposed where discrepancies are detected.

During 2012-13, the Field Audit and Investigation Unit completed 1,802 cases (including tax avoidance cases) and collected back tax and penalties of about $3.4 billion (Figure 28).

Figure 28Results of the Field Audit and Investigation Unit
  2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13
Number of cases completed 1,803 1,805 1,804 1,802
Understated earnings and profits ($m) 12,192.8 19,470.1 34,083.4 16,348.0
Average understatement per case ($m) 6.8 10.8 18.9 9.1
Back tax and penalties assessed ($m) 2,590.4 3,827.4 6,003.0 3,447.7
Back tax and penalties collected ($m) 2,385.1 3,881.3 6,852.4 3,438.3

FIELD AUDIT

In 2012-13, there were 17 Field Audit sections. Field audit is conducted on both corporations and unincorporated businesses. The work of field auditors entails site visits to business premises and examination of accounting records of taxpayers in order to ascertain whether correct returns of profits have been made.

Anti-tax Avoidance

Two of the 17 Field Audit sections concentrate on tackling tax avoidance schemes, whereas other investigation officers and field auditors handle avoidance cases on an operational need basis. During 2012-13, the Field Audit and Investigation Unit completed 207 tax avoidance cases and assessed back tax and penalties of about $1.52 billion (Figure 29).

Figure 29Results of the audit on tax avoidance cases
  2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13
Number of cases completed 206 234 226 207
Understated earnings and profits ($m) 6,742.0 11,676.1 26,864.3 7,576.4
Average understatement per case ($m) 32.7 49.9 118.9 36.6
Back tax and penalties assessed ($m) 1,240.5 2,193.2 4,356.7 1,523.8

INVESTIGATION

In 2012-13, there were 5 Investigation sections. Investigation officers are responsible for conducting in-depth investigations into suspected tax evasion, and taking penal action (including prosecution proceedings in appropriate cases) as a deterrent.

Prosecution

One of the 5 Investigation sections is the prosecution section focusing on criminal investigation of tax evasion. Tax evasion is a serious crime. A person convicted of tax evasion could be sentenced to imprisonment for up to three years and fined. During the year, the Department successfully prosecuted 1 tax evasion case. The case involved a company director assisting the company to evade profits tax. The defendant, convicted of evading profits tax, was sentenced to 9 months’ imprisonment and fined a total of $900,000, being 93% of the tax evaded. The prosecution section has also completed the investigation of 3 cases with prosecution potential and referred them to the Department of Justice for legal advice.

PROPERTY TAX COMPLIANCE CHECK

In addition to conducting audits on businesses, the Department also carries out verification checks on the correctness of rental income reported by property owners. Commencing from 2006-07, the Department has broadened the scope of review to cover cases with lower rental income. In 2012-13, compliance check was completed on 117,923 property tax cases (Figure 30).

Figure 30Results of the property tax compliance checks
  2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13
Number of cases completed 79,000 90,681 102,422 117,923
Understated rental income ($m) 365.2 393.1 442.5 461.7
Back tax and penalties assessed ($m) 43.8 46.3 53.1 55.4