Supreme audit institutions of the Czech and Slovak Republics made a co-operation agreement regarding audits of excise duties’ administration
On August 17–18, 2015, a delegation from the supreme audit institution of the Slovak Republic headed by President of the Supreme Audit Office (SAO) of the Slovak Republic Mr. Karol Mitrík arrived at the SAO. It was the first bilateral international trip of President Mitrík who was elected to the post in May 2015 and replaced the previous long-standing President of the SAO of the Slovak Republic Mr. Ján Jasovský.
During the meeting, President Mitrík was informed about the structure and scope of activities of the Czech SAO and was very interested in focus of the Czech SAO’s auditing operations, planning of audits, and selection of appropriate topics for auditing. Participants at the meeting also discussed how the audit results are published and about co-operation with law enforcement authorities, and last but not least, about means of publishing the audit outcomes. During the meeting, there was also a discussion about the Slovak SAO’s experience with audits of regional governments, which the Slovak SAO is entitled to carry out – unlike the Czech SAO.
During the meeting, an agreement was signed regarding future co-operation between both supreme audit institutions when performing auditing operations aiming at excise duties’ administration. Outcomes from the parallel audits should compare whether administrations of excise duties in both countries achieve similar figures with comparable costs and whether new electronic systems for products’ transport, controls and monitoring resulted in more effective administration of the duties and in reducing tax fraud levels.
Participants of the event also discussed further co-operation possibilities namely in the field of controls aimed at tax administration and electronic evidence of sales. For both countries, tax collections represent an up-to-date topical item. Mutual efforts may help the supreme audit institutions of both countries to achieve interesting and comparable results, for example in the area of anti-fraud measurements related to VAT.
International Relations Department
Supreme Audit Office