Auditing the SMEs subject to corporate income tax

The Belgian Court of Audit has examined the auditing policy of the tax returns of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) subject to corporate income tax. Although the federal tax administration has introduced a tax auditing policy in line with international best practices, it has not been able to perform all planned tax audits and guarantee sufficient equal treatment of SMEs due to decreasing human resources. Consequently, two SMEs with the same level of tax risks have a very different probability of being audited, depending on their location. Equal treatment is also insufficiently guaranteed in both the sanctioning policy and the implementation of tax penalties. Thanks to the interactive website https://isoc-venb.ccrek.be/ (only available in French and Dutch), you can visually explore cases of unequal treatment of SMEs and the Court’s main findings and recommendations.