An FTA audit notice lands, and the instinct is either to over-explain everything at once or go quiet while scrambling internally. Neither serves you well. The first two weeks set the tone for the entire process.
Read the Scope Before You Respond to Anything
Audit notices specify a period and, often, a specific tax type or transaction category. Responding with more documentation than was actually requested is a common instinct that backfires — it can surface questions about periods or transactions that weren’t originally in scope.
Reconcile Before You Submit, Not After
Every figure submitted in response to an audit should already reconcile against the filed return and the underlying ledger before it leaves your building. Submitting a number that later needs a correction is far more damaging to credibility than taking an extra week to verify it first.
Know Which Disputes Are Worth Escalating
Not every assessment is worth a formal reconsideration request or a tax dispute resolution filing — the cost and time of escalation should be weighed against the actual assessment amount and the strength of the underlying position, not decided on principle alone. This is where an experienced disputes team earns its fee: knowing which fights to take and which to settle.
If the underlying exposure traces back to indirect tax filings, our piece on Indirect Tax Beyond VAT: Excise, Customs and the Filings Businesses Miss (opens in a new tab) covers the categories that most often trigger a first audit notice. For substance-related assessments specifically, see Economic Substance Regulations: Who Actually Needs to File (opens in a new tab).
Our Direct Tax & Disputes (opens in a new tab) team manages FTA correspondence end-to-end, from the first notice through reconsideration.