VAT Audit
Finances

How To Reduce Your Chances Of A VAT Audit in Ireland

VAT audits are the elephant in the room that Irish businesses don’t like to talk about. For any business, audits can be hugely time-consuming and stressful. If you are in business, the last thing that you want to worry about is a VAT audit. It’s best to have the support of qualified accountants and business advisors. 

Who needs to pay VAT in Ireland?

Generally in Ireland, you must register for VAT if you are an accountable person.

A person carrying out only exempt activities or non taxable activities may not register for VAT. However, a person carrying on exempt activities or non taxable activities may have to register for VAT in certain situations, for example:

 acquiring goods from other EU Member States

Or receiving services from abroad.

Check out the official Revenue website to learn – who needs to pay VAT. 

Seeing as so many businesses require audits, first-time experience with a VAT audit can come at the peak of your resources. It may also be considered a considerable amount of money to spend on your company. It’s important that businesses provide accurate documentation of their sales and purchases from a tax perspective. If you are unable to do so, the Irish Revenue may charge you for errors in your reporting.

However, with the appropriate software, advice, and systems in place, you can avoid accidentally being audited by saving time and money. Simply put, the easiest way to avoid a potential VAT audit is to ensure your financial records are easily accessible and up-to-date.  This ensures you will have the correct answers to any Revenue inquiries before they become audit issues.

In the past, many accountants needed to liaise directly with Revenue on behalf of the client. We’ve dealt with them in the past and know how to find what they’re looking for easily.

 

What Is A VAT Audit?

This means that when you submit your tax return, the officers of the Revenue Commissioners will try and make sure that they are calculating your income, charges and profits correctly. This can be done to make sure none of them are omitted from the return! A VAT audit may also be carried out to check that the tax credits, reliefs, etc., claimed are due.

 

Steps Before A VAT Audit in Ireland

Just in case you are wondering the kinds of things we might ask from you during a VAT audit, sometimes they may ask for your general information like your turnover and what kind of changes have been made to your business. A point of information here, whether aperio acts on your behalf or not, don’t ignore such a request for information from Revenue. Make sure you engage or you may be sending the wrong message.

Revenue may have a question about your business or product. They’re going to ask an “aspect” question, which is when they want to know more about something. This isn’t standard practice and may be handled differently depending on the situation. Generally, you’ll need to visit your own office for this particular task. Some requests for this type of thing may involve a long wait time so it’s important you have your documents organised beforehand.

As companies are submitting more and more reports to verify their operations, they are generating more data in the process. When these reports lack up-to-date information they can lead to faulty assumptions or leads. This can be disastrous when it comes to VAT audits because the UK government is proactive when it comes to phasing out businesses that make unsubstantiated claims.