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Statement of Intent - 2004 - Part 1

Enhancing our services - pages 32-33

Figure 17 -

Audit activity over time

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Audit activity over time

Over the next three to five years we will be further developing and implementing the principles within our audit strategy including ensuring:

  • Audit is strongly focused on the identification of compliance risk, based on credible intelligence. Key to improving the way that compliance risk is identified is through better collection and analysis of information about the industries we cover and topical tax issues. This will enhance our priority setting for audit activities and provide a better basis for a more efficient case selection process.

  • Audit staff are highly-skilled, motivated and equipped to achieve quality outcomes.

    We maintain an audit workforce that has a high level of competence and capability to deliver a highly effective programme of audit activities. We focus on maintaining and improving their technical excellence, business analysis, evasion and electronic auditing skills. Our people must also show professionalism and commercial awareness, display good relationship management skills and operate with high levels of personal integrity.

  • Technology supports and enhances all aspects of audit.

    We are applying recent advances in communication and computer technology to our audit environment to give auditors greater mobility and promote a more efficient and sophisticated approach to audit work.

  • Develop new audit performance measures.

    To ensure we are doing the right activities in the right way we need to establish measures for the impact of our audit work on long-term compliance. However, we recognise that it will take time to establish this new measurement framework and to ensure that it encourages the right behaviours.

Adjudication and Rulings

The role of our Adjudication and Rulings Unit is to identify and apply the correct interpretation of the Inland Revenue Acts and other relevant laws while considering case law. Our Adjudication Unit, as part of the disputes resolution process, takes a fresh look at tax disputes in an impartial and independent manner. Our Rulings function issues private, product and public binding rulings. It also issues statutory determinations, interpretation statements and guidelines.

Issues may be escalated to Adjudication and Rulings as part of Inland Revenue's escalation process. This will occur where there is doubt or different views about how the law should apply to particular arrangements or matters. Once a decision has been made in Adjudication and Rulings, this will become the Commissioner's view on that matter or issue.

Over the next three to five years, key issues for our Adjudication and Rulings function include:

  • continuing to work on our efficiency and timeliness in relation to adjudications and rulings
  • developing our capability to effectively handle issues escalated from other areas of Inland Revenue
  • the continued streamlining of business processes, and
  • continuing to improve communications with other areas of Inland Revenue and external agents.

Central to working on the efficiency and timeliness of adjudications and rulings is the continued development of our staff capability. We will continue to recruit adequate numbers of staff with the necessary skills and experience to handle our work, and have introduced a number of initiatives to enhance retention of existing staff, such as our remuneration policy and our career development matrix. We ensure that existing staff have access to ongoing training and development opportunities, and are continuing to work with our Corporates function on the delivery of particular rulings.

Over the next few years, we are intending to specifically target experienced technical staff, which will assist with our timeliness and our ability to provide high quality analysis and decisions.

Finally, we will continue to enhance our internal and external communications. Effective two-way liaison with other areas of Inland Revenue (except during the adjudication process) is important, and an ongoing focus. We will also ensure that we continue to work closely with representative groups, such as the Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Law Society and the International Fiscal Association. These discussions are important as part of the routine consultation process on public rulings and statements, and as specific issues of importance arise.

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Other pages in: Statement of Intent - 2004 - Part 1
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Date published: 16 Nov 2004

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