Tax Research (Penelitian)
Tax research (penelitian) is a set of activities carried out to assess the completeness of a tax return (SPT) and its attachments, including assessing the correctness of the writing and the calculation (Article 1 number 30 of the KUP Law). Research is administrative and document-based, so it is less deep than a tax audit (pemeriksaan), which tests the books in full. In modern Coretax-based administration, research validates withholding slips, collection slips, payments via the state revenue transaction number (NTPN), and tax invoices electronically. Research is the backbone of the preliminary tax refund mechanism, because that refund is granted through research rather than an audit.
This article is for education, not tax advice.
Example
A low-risk taxable entrepreneur requests a preliminary refund of excess VAT. The Directorate General of Taxes does not run a field audit; it runs research instead: matching tax invoices, validating NTPN numbers, and checking the completeness of the return electronically. Once the research shows the data is valid, the refund can be processed faster than the audit route.