LEGAL BASES AND QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF TAX AUDIT IN TURKEY

Abstract

Tax revenues are the most important source of the general budget in Turkey. The erosion of tax
revenues can cause problems in the provide of public services. For this reason, every state takes
some measures to reduce tax losses and evasion. The most important of these measures is an
effective tax audit. It is understood from the literature that there is a serious decrease in tax revenues
in tax systems where tax audit has lost its effectiveness. The purpose of this study is to examine the
legal sources of tax audit in Turkey and to reveal the quantitative status of tax audit. For this
purpose, document analysis technique has been used in the study. The primary and secondary
legislation regulating the tax audit process has been examined in detail, and the importance of the
Tax Audit Board (TAB) has been emphasized. In addition, TAB's activity reports have been
scrutinized. Tax inspectors, taxpayers, have been examined in the light of up-to-date data.It has been observed that there has been a decrease in the number of audited taxpayers especially in
the last 10 years. In general, it has been observed that tax control has not reached the desired level.