Tax and accounting services

Tax risks are an integral part of almost any type of business. The current risk management system developed by tax authorities is, firstly, insufficiently transparent, and secondly, more focused on meeting the needs of the state body than on preventing taxpayers from undesirable actions.

The Fortune Partners team has extensive experience not only in consulting but also in state revenue bodies, which allows us to accurately assess your tax risks and develop recommendations for their minimization based on both legislative norms and the potential approach of tax authorities during tax audits.

Effective transaction planning and structuring of existing business processes are hard to imagine without considering the possibility of optimizing the tax burden.

Tax benefits, preferences, and tax regimes are just some of the mechanisms through which desired results can be achieved within the legal framework.

Our team can analyze the conditions of your financial and economic activities to identify the potential for restructuring to reduce the tax burden.

Kazakhstan's legislation requires every company to have an Accounting Policy according to IFRS (NFRS), but not every enterprise follows this requirement.

An accounting policy ensures the correct organization of accounting, as there can be several ways to reflect operations, and typical operations should be reflected consistently. A properly formulated accounting policy addresses several tasks at once: it ensures a unified approach to accounting within the company; guarantees the correctness of submitted tax and accounting reports; minimizes the risk of disputes with auditors and regulatory bodies; and simplifies the process of handover when responsible personnel in accounting change.

We can prepare an accounting policy from scratch for newly created organizations, review and analyze the existing accounting policy in your organization for compliance with legislative requirements and actual accounting practices, and suggest amendments if errors are found. Additionally, we develop up-to-date accounting policies for existing companies in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Accounting and Financial Reporting" and the Rules of Accounting, as well as International Financial Reporting Standards (46 standards).

In recent years, there has been a steady trend of reducing the number of planned tax audits. Nevertheless, the likelihood that you may undergo a tax audit remains quite high.

An audit can be initiated for various reasons: violations identified during desk audits often lead to thematic audits on specific types of taxes, or audits can be triggered by taxpayer applications, such as for VAT refunds, non-resident CIT, etc.

The key to a successful outcome for you is, first and foremost, qualified audit support, which we can provide. Our team can establish a constructive dialogue with the auditors, prepare well-founded arguments, and in most cases, this excludes the prospect of additional charges at the discussion stage.

Unjustified refusals to refund VAT remain one of the key issues faced by export-oriented companies. When reviewing tax returns that claim VAT refunds on exports, tax authorities often operate under the "presumption of guilt" of the taxpayer to avoid refunding VAT, seeking any opportunity to issue a refusal.

If your company needs to refund VAT, remember that much depends on the qualification and specialization of the expert involved. This process requires not only a deep understanding of the economic nature of VAT refunds, the grounds for VAT refunds, and the essence of business transactions from the perspective of tax law but also the ability to anticipate the steps and actions of the tax authorities in response to your actions and arguments.

Our team is capable of solving tasks of any complexity through comprehensive analysis of the situation. Our auditors, lawyers, and consultants do not limit themselves solely to their areas of responsibility but work towards achieving a common goal. This allows us to successfully refute the arguments of tax authorities and fully document any arguments in favor of the client.

We know all the nuances of the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan and assist with VAT refunds when there are legal grounds. Our specialists:

• Support tax audits that precede the VAT refund procedure.
• Organize tax audits—collect, verify, and inventory documents to prove the legitimacy of your claims.
• Prepare the necessary document packages for VAT refunds.
• Resolve tax disputes and assist at any stage of the VAT refund process.

The tax and accounting review is conducted to assess the management of a company's tax and accounting records. The goal of these reviews, as an independent diagnosis of tax and accounting practices, is to determine the accuracy of tax calculations and payments to the budget, as well as their reflection in tax reporting, to evaluate document flow, and to establish the methods used in accounting and tax policy (choice of RPS, accounting forms, transaction system, preparation of primary accounting, tax, and production documentation, maintenance of tax registers, etc.). The main tasks of the review are the timely detection of errors, their analysis, and the provision of recommendations for their elimination.

To conduct a tax and accounting review in a company, we follow several stages:

1. Information Collection: We gather all necessary documents, reports, and data on the company's tax obligations. This may include financial statements, contracts with clients, tax returns, notifications and notices from desk audits, and other tax-related documentation.

2. Document Analysis: We carefully review the collected documents and analyze the company's tax obligations. We pay attention to tax rates, possible tax benefits, tax payment deadlines, and other important aspects.

3. Compliance Check: We ensure that the company complies with all tax legislation requirements and fulfills its tax obligations on time. We verify that all necessary tax returns have been submitted and tax payments have been made.

4. Risk and Opportunity Identification: We identify potential risks and opportunities related to the company's tax obligations. We consider possible tax changes that may affect the company's activities and think about how these changes can be leveraged to the company's advantage.

5. Recommendation Development: Based on the analysis, we develop recommendations for the company on optimizing tax payments, complying with legislation, and reducing the risks of tax audits. We propose strategies and methods that can help improve the company's tax position.

6. Report Preparation: We prepare a comprehensive tax review that includes a description of the company's tax obligations, risk and opportunity analysis, and suggestions for minimizing and leveraging these aspects. The report is clear and accessible to the company's management and other interested parties.

Accounting outsourcing has several advantages: continuous service, efficient work organization, all routine operations that do not bring added value to the client, we try to automate, simplify and standardize.

• We guarantee the accuracy of accounting, working with primary documentation, preparing banking documents and conducting banking operations;
• We prepare payroll calculations: calculating necessary payments to employees, tax amounts and contributions, preparing regulatory reports and client-standard reports, confidential payroll calculation for top managers;
• Conducting reconciliation and inventory of stocks, fixed assets, and intangible assets;
• Organizing management reporting and control systems;
• Preparing and timely submitting tax and statistical reports;
• Understanding the specifics of the client's business accounting;
• Increasing the level of data confidentiality;
• Consulting during state inspections and audits.
• Proactive approach. We inform the client about all changes in legislation, and instruct on measures to take to prevent risks.
• Data storage in a reliable data center with multi-level protection. Data security. We perform daily backups of client data to avoid loss.
• Free 1C updates. Automatic update to the latest version of all client 1C databases. All improvements accumulated over the entire working period are also updated for free.

In recent years, there has been a steady increase in the number of tax notices issued to taxpayers, particularly concerning desk audits.

Our team has extensive experience in successfully appealing tax notices of any complexity, both in pre-trial and court proceedings. When preparing appeals against notices, we work closely with our legal team, significantly strengthening the client's position in court. Our tax consultants also actively participate in court hearings.

Transfer pricing is one of the most complex areas in Kazakhstan. Our specialists in transfer pricing have unique experience: from the perspective of a consultant (Big 4), the authorized body, and a large taxpayer.

Our transfer pricing experts keep abreast of the latest trends in this field, legislative changes, and are ready to support clients at any stage by providing practical recommendations.