Desk Audit: What It Is and Why You Shouldn't Panic
A notice from the tax office isn't a verdict. Here's how a desk audit unfolds and what to do in the first three days.
A desk audit means the tax office checks your reporting against what it already has on file: bank statements, invoices from your counterparties, reports from earlier periods. Most of the questions that come up are just technical mismatches that a document can usually explain.
The first move is simple. Read the notice carefully, note the deadline for your response, and pull together the documents for the period in question. Don't ignore the request, and don't send an explanation written in the heat of the moment. Every paper you submit becomes part of the audit file.