Justice, Equality and Tax Law

S. 4241. Introduction

Joint (tax) audits and simultaneous tax audits (examinations) are procedures that seem similar but, in fact, are not. They should not be mixed up because both have different characteristics, goals, and procedures. Each of these cross-border tax audit actions can be carried out depending on the availability of basic legal instruments owned by each country. Therefore, it is possible for a country to carry out only simultaneous tax audits (examinations) or higher enhanced coordinated mutual assistance procedures in the form of joint audits. However, take into consideration that the two procedures are separate and different from the unilateral tax audit in a statutory provision of a country in order to test compliance with the fulfillment of tax obligations of taxpayers. This paper will be focused only on the joint audits initiative so that the research focus is not too wide and actually answers the problems of tax justice and equality in the context of using the joint audits mechanism.

The basic concepts and theories of justice and equality have been widely discussed by other authors in this book both in terms of economic justice (horizontal and vertical equity), philoso...