When looked at from the outside, VAT seems to be dry and boring, as many things. However when one knows the subject, it starts getting exciting and often also very entertaining. In the last years I experienced many unbelievable stories, which took their start in VAT consulting.

The most exciting it gets during audits by the tax administration. Even in well organised, properly documented and correctly behaving companies such audits cause quite some activity. Everyone wants to make sure that the audit goes off without a hitch and that at the end no additional charges are imposed. The activity gets particularly hectic in companies, which possibly did not implement all obligations according to the letters of the law. The VAT reconciliation may not be complete, system access is not available, and documents cannot be found or are not even stored in Switzerland.

Once I had a client storing all its documents in the UK. In principle that would not cause a problem, as long as the company can ensure that in case of an audit all documents can be provided to the tax inspector in Switzerland. In this case this was easier said than done. In the past years the company had undergone several restructurings and fluctuation was high and I as an external adviser had more internal and historic knowledge than the newly-appointed person responsible for tax. I really had pity with her.

Many documents could not be found at all. This mainly had to do with the fact that the archiving system apparently was not even a system but pretty chaotic and occurred more or less by accident. The inspector wanted to see accounts payable vouchers and export papers and we could not provide any. He was extremely patient and lenient, but when he returned one day and the promised documents were again not there, he said: “If the documents cannot be provided by next Monday, there will be a charge!”

The hectic search reached its peak after he had left. And it worked. Several boxes with documents turned up in the UK. “We won!” the company cheered, “let’s pack up the boxes in the UK and send them immediately to Switzerland.”

It was Thursday and the boxes still had not arrived. Friday and no boxes had arrived. On Saturday we were close to despair, as on Monday the set deadline would expire. The search for the boxes started. And the boxes were found!! For whatever reasons they had ended up in Africa…

Instead of the stating Switzerland as destination, the destination given was Swaziland. On Monday I had to come up with all my credibility in order to convince the tax inspector of this incredible story. On Wednesday the boxes arrived save and sound from Swaziland in Switzerland. In them, the almost complete documentation. There were hardly any charges.

This true thriller bestowed some people with an adrenalin rush. Boredom looks different!