Audit
10 entries in this section. Every term is a link — open one for the full definition, its sources, and related entries.
- Burden of proof Who has to prove what. The taxpayer carries it for deductions and exemptions, with one contracting exception that runs against the Department.
- Intent-to-Audit letter The letter that officially begins an audit. It arrives after the auditor has already made contact, and that earlier contact is what closes the voluntary disclosure door.
- Look-back period How far back an audit reaches. Four years is the normal reach, and normal is not the same as maximum.
- Managed Audit A self-examination of the business's own records under Department guidance. Once ADOR accepts the application, interest is removed and penalties are waived, and the right to protest the results is kept.
- Proposed assessment The Department's determination that additional tax is due. It becomes final forty-five days after receipt, not after mailing — and some adjustments are not proposed assessments at all.
- Protest window Forty-five days from receipt of the proposed assessment to file a written appeal. After it, the assessment stands.
- Statute of limitations The deadline on assessing additional tax. Four years where a return was filed, and no deadline whatsoever where one was not.
- The 45-day exemption-certificate rule Forty-five days from an auditor's request to produce a missing exemption certificate. A certificate that was available on the transaction date, fits the item and the purchaser's business, and is correct for the jurisdiction relieves the liability. The rule is in ADOR's audit guidance, not the statute.
- TPT audit ADOR's examination of a business's records to test whether the right tax was reported. A defined sequence, with two separate 45-day deadlines inside it.
- Voluntary Disclosure A program that converts an unlimited exposure into a bounded one. It is available only until the Department makes contact, and applications can be anonymous.