Identification of Effective Indicators on Tax Audit Risk by Mixed Explanatory Method

One of the main challenges of tax auditing in developing countries is the lack of efficiency in resource utilization, which the risk-based tax audit has been developed to overcome them. In Iran, risk-based audits have begun with the implementation of Integrated Tax System (ITS). Determining the risk-measurement indicators for choosing a taxpayer is a key point in the start-up of the risk-based tax audit process that this research deals with. Due to the lack of a theoretical framework on the indicators affecting the tax audit risk, the methodology of mixed exploratory research was used. In the qualitative section, the thematic analysis was conducted on semi-structured interviews with 12 experts from the Iranian Tax Administration. After identifying the concepts (effective indicators) and main themes. Then, for validating indicatiors, a questionnaire was developed based on the Fuzzy Delphi and sent to 16 of the tax auditors. Based on the results, five themes of "reporting and accounting functions"; "data matching possibility"; "tax compliance behavior"; "value chain" and "strategies and techniques" were identified as the main Thems. Exchange with blacklisted companies, use of current account of partners in carrying out costs, and increasing the ratio of ending inventory to sale, were identified as the most important indicators.