Following a comprehensive tax audit of an official car dealer for 2017-2021, the tax authority excluded from deductions the cost of 33 vehicles worth 750 million tenge stolen by a company employee in 2019. The Department determined that theft does not fall under the concept of natural loss according to Article 243 of the Tax Code and assessed additional CIT. The company challenged this decision, claiming that expenses for purchasing the stolen vehicles were not actually deducted in the disputed tax period.
The Ministry of Finance fully satisfied the company's complaint on this issue after detailed analysis of tax and accounting records. The key argument was that according to the tax declaration and turnover-balance sheet, the stolen vehicles continued to be recorded as inventory at the end of 2019 and were not attributed to the cost of goods sold. When cross-checking VIN codes, it was confirmed that the cost of stolen vehicles was recorded in the "Inventory at end of tax period" line, which reduces the amount of tax deductions.
The decision is based on the rules for completing CIT tax declarations, according to which the cost of goods sold is determined minus inventory at the end of the period. Since the stolen vehicles remained as inventory, their cost automatically did not enter the composition of deductions, making the additional assessment unfounded. This case emphasizes the importance of proper analysis of the relationship between tax and accounting records when determining tax obligations.
