Using a random selection method, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has chosen 15,494 income tax case files for audit, aiming to detect potential tax evasion.

To keep this audit ongoing, 0.5% of the returns of each circle filed for the tax year 2023-24 have been selected.

According to a press release on Wednesday, “In order to ensure complete transparency in the method of selecting income tax returns for audit, the NBR has started the process of selecting income tax returns for audit in a fully automated manner based on the Risk-Based Audit Selection Criterion.”

It also stated that to complete this process, more time is needed to enter the complete information of all paper returns filed offline in the database.

It's further clarified that, in order to keep the audit activities ongoing, 0.5% of the returns of each circle filed for the tax year 2023-24 have been selected for audit by NBR through the random selection method in a digital manner until a fully automated method is implemented based on the risk-based audit selection criterion.

In order to prevent the same taxpayer's income tax return from being selected for audit repeatedly, the income tax returns of all taxpayers whose income tax returns were selected for audit in the previous two years have been excluded from the random selection for the 2023-24 tax year.

Under this method, a total of 15,494 taxpayers from all tax commissionerates across the country have been selected for income tax return audits for the 2023–24 tax year.

Although transparency and impartiality can be ensured in the random selection method, some uncertainty remains about the desired results, the NBR press release also said.

The NBR claims that it is committed to selecting income tax returns for audit in a fully automated manner based on the risk-based audit selection criterion by completing the entry into the database of all paper returns filed offline as soon as possible.

The release also stated that if this work can be fully implemented, it will be possible to collect the desired amount of revenue by ensuring complete transparency, impartiality, and effectiveness of the income tax return audit selection process.