The objective of the Board is to review the compliance, with the reporting requirements prescribed under various sections of the Income-tax Act, 1961 and Rules thereunder; compliance with the reporting requirements prescribed under various provisions of the Indirect Tax Laws including Goods and Services Tax Law and compliance with the respective pronouncements, guidance notes of ICAI. It is envisaged that the reviews carried out by the Board will help the members to exercise greater diligence while certifying the various reports prescribed under direct and indirect taxation laws and in the long run would improve the overall reporting and certification done by them.

The Board would review any report prescribed under the Income-tax Act, 1961 and Rules framed thereunder, and any report prescribed under the Indirect Tax Laws including Goods and Services Tax Law which are certified by a Chartered Accountant (tax auditor) in respect of certain enterprises with a view to determine, to the extent possible:

• • Compliance with the reporting requirements prescribed under various sections of the Income-tax Act, 1961 and Rules thereunder;
  • Compliance with the reporting requirements prescribed under various provisions of the Indirect Tax Laws including Goods and Services Tax Law and
  • Compliance with the respective pronouncements, guidance notes of ICAI.

The Board may review the various reports prescribed under the Income-tax Act, 1961 and Rules framed thereunder and under the provisions of the Indirect Tax Laws including Goods and Services Tax Law either:

• • suo moto or
  • with the prior approval of the Council, in case of a reference made to it in respect of taxation matters (Direct and/or Indirect) by any regulatory body including Reserve Bank of India, Securities and Exchange Board of India, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the Central Board of Direct Taxes, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, State Commercial Tax Departments etc. or
  • where serious irregularities in taxation matters (Direct and Indirect) have been highlighted by the media reports

In case TAQRB finds any material / serious non-compliance in respect of the factors stated at paragraph 1 of Terms of Reference, it would refer the case to the Director (Discipline) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India for initiating action against the auditor under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 or Informing the details of the non-compliance to the regulatory bod(y)ies relevant to the enterprise or In cases where no material non-compliances are observed by the Board, and only immaterial non-compliances are observed, it may decide to appropriately bring out the non-compliance to the attention of the tax auditor or Consider the matter complete and filing the case.

The enterprises within the purview of the Board include:

• • Entities whose equity or debt securities are listed or are in the process of listing on any stock exchange, whether in India or outside India.
  • Banks (including co-operative banks), financial institutions or entities carrying on insurance business.
  • All commercial, industrial and business reporting persons, whose turnover (excluding other income) exceeds rupees one hundred crore in the financial year as may be decided by the Board.
  • Holding and subsidiary entities of any one of the above.
  • such other category of persons which in the opinion of the Board make the public interest vulnerable due to susceptibility to non-compliance of reporting requirements prescribed under the Income-tax Act, 1961 and/or under the Indirect Tax Laws including Goods and Services Tax Law relevant to it and non-compliance of the reporting obligations of the tax auditor.

The members on meeting the minimum eligibility criteria can get themselves empanelled with the Board as a Technical Reviewer and carry out the preliminary review of the Tax Audit Report allocated by the Board from time to time.

For empanelling as a Technical Reviewer with the Board, a member needs to satisfy the following conditions: -

• • possess at least 10 (ten) years of post-qualification experience in direct taxation OR 5 (five) years of post-qualification experience in the practice of indirect taxation
  • is currently active in the practice of taxation (Direct and/or Indirect).

For empanelling as a Technical Reviewer with the Board and to carry out the preliminary review of the Tax Audit Report, a member needs to fill the online application form which is available at https://taqrb.tinfotech.com/empanelment/empanelment-form and also send hard copy of the same at the earliest to:

The Secretary,
Taxation Audits Quality Review Board,
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
ICAI Bhawan, Plot No A-29,
Hostel Block, 6th Floor,
Sector-62, Noida-201 309
Telephone Board - +91 120 3876868
Email ID: taqrb@icai.in

Based on the review of the Tax Audit Reports, the Board has taken followings actions:

• • Organisation of Orientation programmes for Taxation Audits Quality Review Group members
  • Contribution of articles in Journal in respect of common errors noticed while reviewing Tax audit reports
  • Organisation of Webinars/ seminars to create awareness amongst the members of the Institute
  • Released publication on ‘Study on compliances in reporting in Tax Audit Report’