Evaluating the historical process efficacy of the Turkish tax inspection organization

Tax arises from the debt-credit relationship between the taxpayer and the state. This relationship gives some authority to the state while assigning some duties to the taxpayer. The assignments attributed to the taxpayer are divided into two, namely material obligations and formal obligations. The material obligations are "filing and paying the tax debt". And the formal obligations are "notifications, bookkeeping, document issuance, preservation and submission, and other obligations". However, determining whether the taxpayer fulfills these obligations as specified in the law requires tax inspection. Various organizations related to tax inspection were established in both the period of Ottoman Empire and Turkish Republic, and these organizations carried out some activities within the scope of inspection. While these activities were carried out by the Başbaki Kulluğu in the Ottoman Empire, they were carried out by the Presidency of the Finance Inspection Board, the Presidency of the Board of Accounts Experts, the Presidency of Revenue Controllers and the Presidency of the Tax Audits Bureau in the Turkish Republic. This multi-headedness during the Republican period caused serious problems in the effectiveness of tax control. In order to ensure effectiveness and coordination in tax audit, with the Decree Law No. 646 published in the Official Gazette dated 10.07.2011 and numbered 27990, by putting an end to the multi-heading in question, the audit organizations were united under a single roof (the roof of the Tax Supervisory Board Presidency). As a result of the said merging, a single cadre titled "tax inspector" has been created by removing the cadres titled "income controller, financial inspector, tax inspector and accounts expert". It is observed that merging the units in charge of tax inspection under one roof lead to many positive developments in efficiency of tax inspection. Keywords: Tax Inspection, Finance Inspection Board, Accounts Experts Board, Tax Inspection Board.