# Tax audits and findings

An **audit** compares the marketplace revenue Fours holds for a period with the tax documents in your connected provider, and produces one **finding** per invoice: the sale is covered by a matching tax record, has none, disagrees with its record, or has tax recorded twice. The **Audit** tab is where you run audits and work through the findings; **Runs** keeps the history.

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## Overview

Open **Tax → Sales Tax → Audit**. Above the findings, the header shows your provider and its connection state, and when the last audit ran and how many revenue records it scanned. The **Audit** tab's badge counts the Uncovered, Ambiguous, and Duplicate findings of the most recent run.

Before the first audit, the tab shows a single **Run audit for** *month* button for the most recent complete calendar month. If Tax shows a setup screen instead, finish [Set up Tax](/revenue/tax/set-up-tax/) first.

![The Audit tab after a September 2026 audit: the Auditing period and Run audit button, the revenue-coverage card showing 70.2% of revenue covered by direct tax records in Avalara with amounts per status, and Coverage by source for AWS, Azure, GCP, and Snowflake](images/audit-coverage.png)

Below the coverage card, the findings table lists one row per finding:

![The findings table: the All results, Uncovered, Ambiguous, and Duplicate queues with counts, the Cloud Partner and Region / tax type filters, the search box, and rows showing each finding's status, company, invoice, cloud partner, country, and tax type](images/audit-findings.png)

## Run an audit

1. In **Auditing**, pick a period: one of the last 12 complete calendar months, or **Custom range…** with a **Start date** and an **End date (exclusive)** — the end date itself is not included. Months and dates are UTC.
2. Select **Run audit**. You need the **Admin** or **Editor** role; for a Viewer the button is disabled with *"You need editor permission to run an audit."*
3. Wait while the panel shows *Auditing* *period*… with the elapsed time. Findings appear when the run completes; you can leave the tab and come back.

To audit the same period again — after a correction, or after your provider's records changed — select **Re-run audit** on the coverage card. The Audit tab then shows the newest run's findings for the period; corrections already made stay in the [Action history](/revenue/tax/corrections/#action-history).

**When an audit won't start.** The run is refused, with the reason under *"Couldn't start the audit"*, when no selling entity is selected, when the selected entity no longer exists in the provider, or when the provider reports no active tax registration for it. Fix the cause in [Settings](/revenue/tax/set-up-tax/#settings) or in your provider, then run again.

**When an audit fails.** The panel reads *Audit failed for* *period* with **Try again**. If only some revenue channels failed to load, the run still completes and the Audit tab warns *"Some revenue sources didn't load — their coverage is unknown."* — the coverage figures then describe only the channels that loaded.

## What an audit reads

**Revenue.** Revenue records from **AWS**, **Azure**, **GCP**, and **Snowflake** — the same records as [Revenue Records](/revenue/revenue-records/). Stripe revenue is not audited. A sale belongs to the period of its **invoice date**, and a refund to the period of its own **refund date**, so a refund is audited separately from the sale it reverses. Records that carry no invoice-level detail produce no finding.

**The taxable amount.** Each sale is compared on its revenue *excluding* any tax already inside the invoice amount:

| Channel | Amount compared with the tax record |
|---------|-------------------------------------|
| AWS | Invoice amount − seller-remitted tax |
| Snowflake | Invoice amount − sales tax |
| Azure, GCP | Invoice amount (their reports carry no tax) |

**Marketplace-collected tax.** Under marketplace-facilitator rules, the marketplace — not you — collects and remits the tax on many sales. Fours marks a sale as marketplace-collected per channel:

| Channel | Marked marketplace-collected when |
|---------|-----------------------------------|
| AWS | AWS reports tax it collected on the sale. |
| Snowflake | Snowflake reports sales tax on the sale. |
| GCP | The buyer is in any country except **Australia**, **Israel**, or **Switzerland**, where you are liable. A buyer whose country can't be resolved is not marked. |
| Azure | Never — Azure reports no tax, so every Azure sale is treated as yours to record. |

A marketplace-collected sale still needs a record in your provider — with your own tax liability at zero. Seller tax charged on top of marketplace-collected tax is tax collected twice; Fours detects it only on records it created itself, so check records you filed by other means yourself.

**Tax records.** Every committed tax document for your selling entity in Avalara for the period. A record Fours itself created through a [correction](/revenue/tax/corrections/) is recognized directly, without matching.

## How a finding gets its status

```d2
direction: down
invoice: "Invoice in the audit period\n(sale or refund)"
receipt: "Record created by\na Fours correction?" { shape: diamond }
agree: "Record agrees on every field?" { shape: diamond }
twice: "Seller tax on a\nmarketplace-collected sale?" { shape: diamond }
match: "Provider record with the same entity, currency,\njurisdiction, period, ship-to address,\nand an amount less than one cent apart?" { shape: diamond }
second: "A second record\nalso matches?" { shape: diamond }
uncovered: "Uncovered"
ambiguous: "Ambiguous"
duplicate: "Duplicate"
covered: "Covered"

invoice -> receipt
receipt -> agree: "yes"
receipt -> match: "no"
agree -> ambiguous: "no"
agree -> twice: "yes"
twice -> duplicate: "yes"
twice -> covered: "no"
match -> uncovered: "no"
match -> second: "yes"
second -> duplicate: "yes"
second -> covered: "no"
```

Fours pairs invoices and provider records as a whole, choosing the assignment that matches the most invoices, rather than taking the first record that fits each invoice.

| Status | Meaning |
|--------|---------|
| **Covered** | One provider record matches the invoice. |
| **Uncovered** | No provider record covers the invoice — a sale or refund missing from your tax records. |
| **Ambiguous** | A record Fours created for the invoice now disagrees with it on one or more fields (shown as *field discrepancy*). Findings from older audits may instead read *multiple matches*. |
| **Duplicate** | The invoice is covered more than once: a second record also matches it, or a record Fours created charges seller tax on a sale the marketplace already collected tax on (*tax collected twice*). |
| **Needs review** | Appears only on findings from older audits; new audits no longer produce it. |

Additional labels on a status:

- **Partner handled** / **marketplace-collected** — the marketplace collected the tax on this sale, so your own liability is zero.
- **Ignored** — someone set the finding aside (see [Ignore a finding](#ignore-a-finding)).

**Tax type.** Each finding shows the tax family for the buyer's country: **Sales Tax** (United States), **GST/HST** (Canada), **Consumption Tax** (Japan), **GST** (Australia, Singapore, India), or **VAT** (EU countries, United Kingdom, South Korea, Israel). A country outside these has no tax type and shows —.

## Work the findings

The findings table has four queues: **All results**, **Uncovered**, **Ambiguous**, and **Duplicate**. There is no Covered queue — covered findings are under **All results**.

- **Filter** by **Cloud Partner** and by **Region / tax type**, and **search** by company, revenue record ID, or invoice ID. Your queue, filters, and search are kept in the window's address, so a link to it opens the same view.
- **Columns:** Status, Company, Invoice, Cloud Partner, Country, Tax type, Revenue, Tax, Period, and Tax record. **Tax** reads *collected by partner* on a marketplace-collected sale; **Tax record** reads *— None —* when no record matched.
- The table shows 25 invoice groups per page — a sale together with its refunds — so a page can hold more than 25 rows.
- **Export** downloads the current queue, filters, and search as CSV.

Select **Take actions** on a row (**Review** for a covered one) to open the finding.

### The finding page

![A finding page for an Uncovered AWS sale to Fabrikam Inc: the Recommended card holding the Create missing tax record form with company code, customer, date, amount, ship-to address, tax code, and the Create record button; Ignore this finding below it; then the Revenue, Tax, and Jurisdiction figures](images/finding-detail.png)

The page shows the buyer, status, channel, and invoice, then:

1. **Recommended** — what Fours concluded and the one correction it recommends, with the correction's form right in the card: for example *No matching tax record*, *Field discrepancy*, *Tax collected twice*, *Marketplace facilitator collected the tax*, or *Period already filed*. See [Corrections](/revenue/tax/corrections/).
2. **Ignore this finding** — see below.
3. **Revenue**, **Tax**, and **Jurisdiction**, followed by a field-by-field comparison of Fours' figures with the provider record — or, for a marketplace-collected sale, the record Fours proposes.

The open finding is part of the window's address, like the queue and filters, so you can paste its link into a ticket or a chat and a colleague opens the same finding; the **Back to** control returns you to the list you came from. An entry in [Action history](/revenue/tax/corrections/#action-history) and an [amended return](/revenue/tax/amended-returns/#take-a-return-to-submitted) have links of their own too. Audits replace their results, so a link can outlive the finding it names — the page then says *This finding no longer exists*. A link opened in an organization that hasn't connected a tax provider says *No tax provider connected* and offers **Go to settings**.

### Ignore a finding

**Ignore this finding** sets a finding aside without changing anything in your provider: it leaves its queue and that queue's export, but stays under **All results**, labeled **Ignored**. It is not offered on a covered finding, and needs the Admin or Editor role.

:::caution
An ignored finding cannot be restored from the app — there is no un-ignore control. Ignore only what you are sure needs no correction.
:::

### The filed-period banner

When findings fall in a period Fours considers already filed with the tax authority, the Audit tab says so: *"… has already been filed with the tax authority. Discrepancies in a filed period can't be corrected instantly — open a finding to flag it for an amended return."* See [Amended returns](/revenue/tax/amended-returns/).

## Runs

**Tax → Sales Tax → Runs** lists past audits, newest first, under **Audit runs**:

| Column | Shows |
|--------|-------|
| **Run** | The run and the window it audited. |
| **Started** | Start time, UTC. |
| **Status** | **New**, **Running**, **Completed**, or **Failed** — with *N source(s) didn't load* when some channels failed. |
| **Scope** | *Calendar month* with the month, or *Custom range*. |
| **Records** | Revenue records scanned. |
| **Outcome** | *covered* and *findings* counts at the time of the run; — for a failed run. |
| **Actor** | Who started it. |
| **Duration** | How long it took. |

The list is read-only: rows don't open, and **Run a new audit** takes you to the Audit tab to choose a period. It shows the 50 most recent runs. If a run is still **New** or **Running** more than five minutes after it was created, opening the list checks whether it is actually still running; a run that has stopped is marked **Failed** then. A run that really is still working stays **Running**.

## Ask AI

The **Ask AI** panel on the right of every Tax screen answers questions about what you are looking at. It hides automatically when the window is narrow; **Show assistant** brings it back.

- **It can** read the current screen — on a list, up to 25 visible rows — explain a finding, open the recommended correction and fill in its fields, offer quick choices, and search the knowledge sources you attach.
- **It cannot** submit a correction or change anything, navigate for you (it gives you a link instead), choose a tax code, calculate a tax amount or rate, change a finding's status, or answer a tax-law question without a knowledge source that covers it.

**Edit assistant** sets your model and knowledge sources and lets you discard the conversation. These choices are yours alone; they don't change the assistant for anyone else.

## KPI calculation formulas

The same formulas apply to every audited channel — AWS, Azure, GCP, and Snowflake. Only the **taxable amount** of a finding differs by channel, as defined in [What an audit reads](#what-an-audit-reads).

| KPI | Applies to | Formula | Calculation details |
|-----|------------|---------|---------------------|
| Revenue coverage (*N% — $X of $Y revenue covered by direct tax records in* provider) | AWS, Azure, GCP, Snowflake | `coverage % = covered amount ÷ total amount × 100` | **Covered amount** = sum of the taxable amounts of the run's **Covered** findings. **Total amount** = sum of the taxable amounts of all the run's findings, ignored ones included. Refunds count as negative amounts. Only the run's main currency (the one with the largest total, refunds counted by size) is counted; findings in other currencies are left out and noted as *record(s) in another currency not included*. Records skipped for lack of invoice detail are not in either sum. Percentage to one decimal; amounts in that currency to two decimals. It updates live: a successful correction turns its finding Covered. |
| Amount per status (the legend beside the coverage percentage) | AWS, Azure, GCP, Snowflake | `amount for a status = sum of the taxable amounts of the run's findings with that status` | Same currency, sign, and rounding rules as revenue coverage. **Needs review** is listed only when it is not zero. The amounts for all statuses add up to the total amount. |
| Coverage by source (*N% direct coverage*) | each channel separately | `channel coverage % = channel's covered amount ÷ channel's total amount × 100` | Same rules as revenue coverage, per channel; channels listed largest first. |
| Coverage count (*N of M covered*) | AWS, Azure, GCP, Snowflake | `covered findings ÷ all findings` | Shown only while the findings themselves are loading; counted when the run finished. |
| Queue counts (All results, Uncovered, Ambiguous, Duplicate) | AWS, Azure, GCP, Snowflake | `number of findings in the queue` | Ignored findings are left out of Uncovered, Ambiguous, and Duplicate and kept in All results. Live: they change as you ignore and correct findings. |
| Audit tab badge | AWS, Azure, GCP, Snowflake | `Uncovered + Ambiguous + Duplicate findings of the most recent run` | Counted when that run finished, so it does not drop as you ignore or correct findings; it follows the most recent run even if that run failed or covered another period. |
| Runs and Action history tab badges | AWS, Azure, GCP, Snowflake | `Runs = number of runs listed; Action history = number of actions listed` | Runs counts the listed runs of every status, at most 50. Action history counts corrections of every status and amendment flags. The Amended returns badge is defined on [Amended returns](/revenue/tax/amended-returns/#kpi-calculation-formulas). |
| Records scanned (header) and **Records** (Runs) | AWS, Azure, GCP, Snowflake | `number of distinct revenue records the run loaded` | Records, not findings: one record can yield several findings (a sale and its refunds), and a record without invoice detail yields none. |
| **Outcome** (Runs) | AWS, Azure, GCP, Snowflake | `covered = Covered findings; findings = all findings that are not Covered` | Counted when the run finished; — for a failed run. |

## Related

- [Corrections](/revenue/tax/corrections/) — fix what the audit found.
- [Amended returns](/revenue/tax/amended-returns/) — discrepancies in filed periods.
- [Revenue Records](/revenue/revenue-records/) — the revenue an audit reads.