Türkiye's finance chief announced on Sunday that the ministry's tax inspection board is preparing for an intensive audit campaign targeting large companies nationwide.
"In line with our principle of justice and efficiency in taxation, we continue our efforts oriented at large companies without interruption," Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek told Anadolu Agency (AA).
He added that while standing by honest taxpayers, they also follow up on taxpayers who earn substantial profits but pay less in taxes.
The minister, in an interview with AA, evaluated the new steps to be taken with the aim to combat the informal economy.
He emphasized that the ministry's departments are continuously working in this direction, saying, "As part of this, teams of tax inspectors under the Tax Audit Board (VDK) Presidency are preparing for an intensive audit program targeting large companies across the country."
He added that the inspections would initially focus on 31 provinces, including Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, Bursa and Konya, with the participation of around 500 tax inspectors, and would later expand nationwide.
Şimşek expressed that risk analysis studies using machine learning analyses covering hundreds of thousands of taxpayers are being carried out and explained that 3,400 large companies that are deemed risky will be invited for clarification.
"Among the issues on which taxpayers will be invited to provide clarification is the application of inflation adjustment provisions in a way that erodes the tax base, contrary to legislation," Şimşek said.
Other topics under scrutiny will include unregistered revenues and collections made through third-party IBAN accounts instead of the company's own bank account numbers, according to the minister, who indicated that there are nearly 30 different issues to be covered.
Notably, the failure to declare income from social media will also be questioned.
"According to the initial calculations, it was determined that the large companies that are to be invited for clarification underreported a tax base difference of TL 23 billion ($670.27 million) for the relevant periods," he said.
The minister stated that as a result of the invitation to provide an explanation, it is anticipated that billions of lira in taxes calculated on the specified tax base will be returned to the public. He mentioned that taxpayers whose explanations are deemed sufficient will be relieved of the burden brought by tax audit processes.
