For developing countries, taxation is a challenging topic and has attracted the attention of researchers. Although taxes have a large contribution as a source of state revenue, in its implementation there are problems in the form of tax realization that does not reach the target. To combat this bad phenomenon, various countries in the world have incorporated tax audits into their tax systems. With the important role of tax audit activities, this paper aims to analyze how tax audits are effective, especially in the context of developing countries. This research is a literature study. Data were collected from various secondary sources and analyzed through qualitative data analysis techniques. The results show that tax audit effectiveness is a construct that can only be valid when its three components (audit probability, detection probability, and sanctions) work together. Tax audit effectiveness is a holistic construction that is a combination of various parts working together in a system to ensure prevention