Report on the Coordinated Audit on Tax Subsidies (in Russian)

Report ID: 397

The VI EUROSAI Congress held in Bonn from 30 May to 2 June 2005 dealt with the audit of public revenues by Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs).The analysis of the country papers submitted by EUROSAI’s members prior to the congress showed, among others,  that there was still  insufficient knowledge about the effectiveness of tax subsidies, noted the extent and complexity of tax legislation that can lead to tax shortfalls and tax exceptions and concluded that SAIs should develop more reliable findings about the volume and target achievement of such tax subsidies.

The Congress therefore advocated conducting a coordinated audit of tax subsidies that was open to all EUROSAI members. For that purpose, a Working Group was set up to coordinate the planning of the audit and to establish the contents and headings of it.

The Supreme Audit Institutions of Germany, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovak Republic, United Kingdom and Netherlands (observer) participated in the audit.

The objectives of the coordinated audit were:

• Enhancing the sharing of knowledge,
• Enhancing communication between EUROSAI Members in areas of special interest,
• Obtaining best practice information,
• Strengthening informal networks,

To obtain comparable results, a checklist was drafted that addressed all stages of a tax subsidy from legislation via implementation up to reporting. At the same time, this checklist formed the non-binding framework for an audit of transparency and reporting. Furthermore, three Working Sub-Groups were set up to deal with specific tax subsidies: Corporate Income Tax , Value Added Tax and Transparency and Subsidy Report.

After completing audit work, the Working Group came to the conclusion that, concerning tax subsidies, improvements were needed in the fields of legislation, evaluation and reporting in all participant states in order to create the overall transparency which it considered necessary both for the legislator and the general public.

SOURCE: https://www.eurosai.org/en/working-groups/historic-working-groups-committees/coordinated-audit-on-tax-subsidies-working-group/index.html

*This report is also available in the catalogue in English, Spanish, German and French.

Joint Report of the Paralllel Audit to the implementation of the NATURA 2000 NETWORK in Europe

Report ID: 271

Natura 2000 is an EU wide network of nature protection areas established under the 1992 Habitats Directive.

As stated in the European Commission strategy to protect Europe's most important wildlife areas, the aim of the network is to assure the long-term survival of Europe's most valuable and threatened species and habitats. It comprises Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) designated by Member States under the Habitats Directive, and Special Protection Areas (SPA) designated under the 1979 Birds Directive.

From february to october 2007, the SAIs of Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, and United Kingdom participated in the audit, coordinated by the French Cour des Comptes with the technical  assistance of the European Court of Auditors.

The scope of the audit on implementation of the European Natura 2000 network was to  examine whether and how the provisions of the European Directives, and especially Article 6 of the Habitats Directive, were observed in an effective and efficient way. The audit examined three key elements, namely compliance, governance and funding.

Report on the Results of the Parallel Audit of the Administration of Value Added Tax in the Czech Republic and in the Federal Republic of Germany

Report ID: 275

Based on an agreement between the SAIs of Czech Republic and Germany, both SAIs conducted a parallel audit on the administration of value added tax (VAT). Besides the main point – exchange of information based on the Council Regulation (EC) No 1798/2003 and the Commission Regulation (EC) No 1925/2004 – the audit covered other topics as for instance the registration of taxpayers,

VAT returns and recapitulative statements that are closely linked with it. Additionally, the legal situation in terms of international bus transportation of passengers and the comparison of certain statistical data were part of the audit.

In Czech Republic, the objective of the audit was to review the procedure used by financial authorities in administrating value added tax following integration of the Czech Republic into the common internal market of the European Community (hereinafter “EC”), connected with free movement of goods and services, and to review the use of the VIES1, particularly monitoring the exercise of the right to exempt intra- Community deliveries from value added tax.

In Germany, the objective of the audit was to review the system of intra- Community VAT control with a special focus on administrative cooperation in the field of VAT according to the above mentioned regulations. As a result of this, weaknesses should be reported and recommendations be developed to address the problems stated.

Source: https://www.nku.cz/en/audit/coordinated-audits/

Rapport contrôle parallèle de la performance des Fonds structurels des programmes de l’UE dans les domaines de l’emploi et/ou de l’environnement par le Groupe de travail sur les Fonds structurels

Report ID: 331

Le Comité de contact a conféré au Groupe de travail1 le mandat de continuer à contrôler les Fonds structurels et particulièrement la « performance (réalisation/efficacité) des programmes des Fonds structurels dans les domaines de l’emploi et/ou de l’environnement ».

 Les ISC des pays suivants : Allemagne, Autriche, Espagne, Finlande, Hongrie, Italie, Lettonie, Malte, Pays-Bas, Pologne, Portugal, Royaume-Uni, Slovaquie et Slovénie. Les ISC de la Bulgarie, de la République Tchèque et de la Lituanie et la CCE ont participé en tant qu’observateurs.

Programme de contrôle

Le sujet de contrôle est crucial pour les contrôles des programmes des Fonds structurels 2000-2006 et 2007-2013. Sur la base du contrôle des mesures et des projets relatifs à la période 2000-2006, chaque ISC a cherché à tirer une conclusion sur la mesure dans laquelle les États membres ont contribué à atteindre les objectifs stratégiques des divers Programmes opérationnels (PO).

Afin de mettre en oeuvre ce contrôle, le Groupe de travail a élaboré un programme de contrôle à utiliser par les institutions supérieures de contrôle (ISC) lors des enquêtes nationales respectives.

Objectif du contrôle

Le Groupe de travail s’engage à identifier des possibilités d’améliorer la programmation et la gestion administrative des programmes des Fonds structurels. Chaque ISC avait la tâche de contrôler les Fonds structurels (objectifs 1 et 2) en matière de l’emploi et/ou de l’environnement et d’en tirer des conclusions concernant :

• la question de savoir si et comment les autorités nationales suivent la durabilité du succès des mesures financées ;

• la question de savoir dans quelle mesure les aides (sous-programmes, grands projets et autres projets) contribuent efficacement et durablement aux objectifs stratégiques des Fonds structurels.

Les résultats de chaque contrôle national ont été résumés dans ce rapport. Le rapport comprend également des recommandations visant à améliorer les programmes et la mise en oeuvre des mesures dans la nouvelle période de programmation des Fonds structurels.

Bonnes pratiques

Le rapport met en relief des bonnes pratiques identifiées par les ISC individuelles dans les deux périodes de programmation 2000-2006 et 2007-2013. En ce qui concerne les bonnes pratiques, une grande partie des enseignements tirés de la période 2000-2006 a été prise en compte dans les dispositions administratives nationaux pour 2007-2013.

Fonte: https://www.eca.europa.eu/sites/cc/Lists/CCDocuments/1959901/1959901_FR.PDF

Joint information on the results of transboundary movement of waste between Ukraine, the Republic of Slovakia and the Republic of Poland, 2004 - 2007, in the light of the Basel Convention

Report ID: 342

In  2007, the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) of Poland, Ukraine and Slovakia carried out a cooperative audit on transboundary movement of waste between their countries. The audit was aimed to evaluate the degree of implementation by Ukraine, the Slovak Republic and the Republic of Poland of the provisions of the Basel Convention,  relevant regulation of the European Union and National Legislation in particular:

• Regularity of delivering the decisions permitting for transboundary movement of wastes and regularity and effectiveness of checks in this field.
• Regularity and effectiveness of control activities aiming at detection of incidents of illegal transboundary movements of waste.

The audit was a common initiative of the Supreme  Audit Institutions of  Poland, Slovakia and Ukreine within the framework of the activities of EUROSAI environmental working group. The audit  was launched on the basis of cooperative agreement among the three SAIs.

Source: http://old.ac-rada.gov.ua/img/files/auditukrsl.pdf