Every statutory test in an audit starts with the same question, and it is usually answered from memory: does this apply to this client at all? A tax audit threshold, a TDS obligation on purchases, a labour-law registration, a provision that binds a company but not a firm. Get the answer wrong at the start and every test that follows is either wasted or missing.
Client Master answers it once, from the client's own profile, and every module in Audcrix reads the answer from there.
One profile decides what applies
The profile holds what the law actually keys on:
- The statutory identity — constitution, PAN, GSTIN and CIN.
- Turnover, listing and registration gates, so a threshold is tested against the figure it names.
- Section 44AB applicability for the tax audit.
- Section 194Q applicability, decided from the prior year's turnover, which is what the section looks at.
- Routing by constitution — company, LLP, firm or trust — so a test that binds only one kind of entity is never put to another.
- Routing by business — trading, manufacturing or service — because the right cost and income headings depend on it.
- Labour-law thresholds by headcount.
- Branches under one PAN audited as one entity, the way the law treats them.
Not applicable, with the reason
When a check does not apply, it is not silently hidden and it is not shown as a clean pass. It is marked not applicable, and it says why: the constitution does not attract it, the turnover is below the gate, the year predates the provision. A reviewer reading the file sees the reasoning rather than an absence.
That matters most in the years when the law moves. A provision that came into force this year reads as not applicable for earlier years, with the reason stated, instead of showing a nil position that could be mistaken for a tested one.
Figures from the books, not typed in
The turnover and balances that drive the gates are taken from the client's synchronised books rather than keyed by hand, so the applicability decision and the figures it rests on come from the same place. An LLP layer adds Form 8, Form 11 and section 194T to the profile where the client is an LLP.
The effect is that scoping stops being a separate exercise done once and forgotten. It becomes the switchboard every later test reads from.
Questions CAs ask
How does Audcrix decide whether section 194Q applies?
From the prior year's turnover recorded in the client profile, which is the figure the section itself looks at. The decision then flows to the TDS module automatically.
What happens to a check that does not apply to a client?
It is marked not applicable with the reason — the constitution, a turnover gate, or the year the provision starts — rather than being hidden or shown as a pass.
Does it handle LLPs, firms and trusts differently from companies?
Yes. Tests are routed by constitution, so a company-only provision is never put to a firm, and an LLP layer adds Form 8, Form 11 and section 194T.
Are branches treated as separate clients?
Branches under one PAN are audited as one entity, the way the law treats them.
Further reading
Related modules
- Income Tax Compliance — Income-tax sections walked against the client's profile — 269SS, 269T and 269ST per ledger, a mode-wise 269ST register, the 44AB cash test and a taxable-income bridge.
- TDS Intelligence — Deductee-wise TDS keyed to PAN — the real payee from each voucher, the right section, 194Q and 194T gates, month-wise deposits, and the 2025 Act's Table serials.
- Companies Act — Companies Act 2013 provisions gated by company type, size and listing, and tested against the books — sections 185 and 188, deposits and related-party disclosure.