Explanatory note to the tax office on the types of activities. How to correctly write to the tax service an explanation of the VAT return

After the VAT declaration is submitted to the tax authority, the inspectors must conduct a desk audit. If, during this check, errors or a high proportion of deductions are found in the declaration, the taxpayer will receive a request for clarification.

V Tax Code RF does not specifically indicate what should be the answer to the requirement for an explanation of VAT. Therefore, when preparing documents, taxpayers have to be guided by the recommendations given by the Federal Tax Service in a letter dated 06.11.2015 No. ED-4-15 / 19395. The same document contains the form of an explanation in the tax on VAT. How to avoid mistakes when filling out an explanation of VAT deductions and communicating with the tax service - in the material on the site.

Requirement for the provision of clarifications on VAT

Tax legislation stipulates that the payer must, within 5 working days (), provide the Federal Tax Service with a response to the requirement for clarifications on VAT to the declaration. It is noteworthy that the code does not contain a specific indication at the time of the commencement of this period. The tax authorities themselves believe that the date of the actual receipt of the request should be taken as this date. This is stated in the letter of the Federal Tax Service No. ED-4-15 / 19395, as well as in the very form of the document. In practice, this rule is applicable only to the paper form of the document, since upon receipt of a request from the Federal Tax Service in electronic form, the taxpayer, by virtue of Article 23 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, is obliged to send in response a receipt through the TCS channels through the EDM operator that the document has been received. This must be done no later than 6 days after the receipt of the request for the provision of explanations for VAT 2016. Therefore, the taxpayer must send a response before confirming the fact of receipt of the request. It’s a paradox, but it’s better not to argue with the tax authorities. After all, it is far from the fact that in the event of a dispute over the timing and going to court, the opinion of the taxpayer will coincide with the opinion of the arbitrators. Whereas the Federal Tax Service has already expressed its opinion rather ambiguously.

How to write an explanation of value added tax?

The taxpayer has the right to submit explanations on VAT to the declaration in free form. Although officials have prudently developed a sample of explanations for VAT, which, if desired, can be used.

This document consists of several tables in which you can specify the credentials and details of the documents, as well as explain the reasons for the discrepancies. Each table is dedicated to a separate issue, for example, there are explanations for the high specific weight of VAT.

Before filling out the document, you must write an introductory note to it. It indicates by whom and for what taxable period the answer to the explanations of the tax authority on VAT is given, as well as the number of sheets of the document and the number of the correction. How to do this is shown below.

In addition, before drawing up the document, it is necessary to understand the essence of what the FTS wants. To do this, the tax authorities in their request indicate the errors made by the payer using a special coding. In the letter, the tax service provides a decoding of error codes in the declaration and accounting documents.

Error code 1 means that:

• v tax return the counterparty does not have a record of the operation;
• the counterparty did not report on value added tax for the same period; the counterparty's tax return shows zero figures;
• errors made in the report do not make it possible to identify the invoice and compare it with the data of the counterparty's declaration.

In this case, the taxpayer must complete the sections for providing explanations for VAT 2016 below.

Error code 2 means that the transaction data between section 8 "Information from the purchase book" and section 9 "Information from the sales book" of the tax return for reporting period have discrepancies. This can happen if the amount of value added tax was accepted for deduction on advance invoices calculated earlier. In this case, clarifications on VAT on advances are required.

Error code 3 means that the data on transactions between section 10 "Information from the accounting journal of invoices issued" and section 11 "Information from the accounting journal of invoices received" of the tax return submitted to the tax authority do not correspond to each other. This can happen, for example, when entering information about intermediary operations taxpayer.

And finally error code 4 indicates a mistake in any column of the declaration. Usually, the inspector indicates the number of such a column with a mistake possibly made by the taxpayer in brackets, next to the code. Providing clarifications on VAT may affect not only taxpayers, but also tax agents, as well as other persons specified in article 173 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. In this case, they must complete section 12 of the document form.

In the case of filling out an explanation to the declaration on several sheets, it is necessary to certify each sheet with the signature of an authorized person or personally individual entrepreneur... In addition, the individual entrepreneur must put down the details of his registration certificate on each sheet. On legal entities this requirement does not apply.

After all the inconsistencies in the report have been sorted out and explained and comprehensive explanations have been given on the specific weight of VAT deductions, the document can be sent to the tax office.

Answers to the most frequently asked questions about the explanatory

1. What to write if there is a discrepancy in the declaration?

If the tax authority has requested clarifications in the case of discrepancies between the data in the value added tax declaration and other reporting or accounting data, it is necessary to proceed from a specific situation. It is undesirable to immediately send to the tax authorities along with explanatory documents confirming the correctness of the taxpayer. It is better to limit yourself to detailed figures in the tables.

There can be no definite answer to the question of how to write an explanation of VAT. After all, discrepancies can be of very different nature and be based on both real business transactions, which were reflected differently in the income tax and VAT reports (for example, when customers returned defective products, or confirmation of a deduction for export operations), and because of a banal mistake of a taxpayer or inspector. Therefore, the document needs to explain in detail the data for both reports, or indicate the actual absence of discrepancies.

2. What to do if the share of VAT deductions is high?

Each tax return to the FTS is checked for the specific weight of the deductions. It is calculated by the formula: the amount declared for deduction is divided by the amount of tax calculated to be paid and multiplied by 100. The resulting value in percentage terms will reflect the specific weight of the deduction.

Example : According to the declaration, the tax payable was calculated in the amount of 250 thousand rubles, and the deduction was declared in the amount of 220 thousand rubles.

220 000/ 250 000 * 100 = 88%

The specific weight of the deduction exceeding 85% falls into the zone special attention FTS. This means that, most likely, a taxpayer who has shown such data as in the example will be asked for an explanation of the specific weight of VAT deductions. Since the businessman cannot refuse to send them to the inspectors, he must prove to the tax authorities that the deductions are not aimed at obtaining unreasonable benefits, and all the operations for which they have arisen are aimed at implementing economic activity and making a profit. The reliability of the counterparties plays an important role in this matter. Therefore, in the explanatory note, it will not be superfluous to point out the audit carried out in relation to them, according to the recommendations of the Federal Tax Service.

3. What if the tax burden is low?

The tax burden value added tax cannot be lower than 100%. Insofar as the tax base does not depend on the markup and profitability of a businessman. When calculating the tax burden on other taxes, this tax is excluded from their total mass, along with personal income tax and insurance premiums. Thus, due to the low tax burden, the FTS authorities cannot request an explanation.

4. What are the requirements for submitting explanations for VAT?

Inspectors want to receive, after filing the declaration, explanations on VAT, a sample of which is given above, in the form separate tables for each specific error code. The answer is submitted at the place of registration of the taxpayer to hard copy or in electronic form via TCM through an electronic document management operator within 5 days from the date of receipt of the relevant request. The document can be drawn up in free form, but at the same time it must necessarily answer the questions posed in the request, and also be certified by the signature of an authorized person. Such a signature confirms the accuracy and completeness of the information provided. It is important to remember that if the inspectors are not satisfied with these explanations, they may request documents for verification and even inspect the taxpayer's premises. And refusal to provide explanations or their delay may entail blocking of the taxpayer's operations on bank accounts.

In case of claims from the outside tax office often it is necessary to draw up a written response (according to the sample) to her requirements with the provision of appropriate explanations. How to correctly compose such an answer in different cases, ready-made examples and step by step instructions- in this article.

When to provide clarification

First of all, it is important to understand that providing explanations is not always the employer's responsibility. If the tax authority has identified inconsistencies or errors, then the organization must provide clarifications only if they were found during office check... The most common violations are:

• incorrect information in tax returns;
• contradictions in the data that are provided in one or more reporting documents;
• violations in transactions that are associated with the receipt tax incentives(vacations, reduced rates);
• contradictions between the information provided by the taxpayer and the data available in the tax office.

Thus, the answer to the requirement for the tax purpose of providing appropriate explanations (according to the sample) is mandatory if a desk audit was carried out, which revealed violations. In all other cases, it is the company's right to provide written explanations. However, as experience shows, it is better to take care and send a letter to the inspection, as this often helps in communicating your position to the inspectors.

Practice shows that in most cases, explanations must be provided due to discrepancies in VAT and income tax.

Compilation procedure

V general view the procedure is as follows:

1. After a desk audit, the tax office sends a request in the form of a paper letter or e-mail. The text indicates data that, in the opinion of the inspectorate, were compiled incorrectly, as well as discrepancies in the information contained in different documents.
2. Then the taxpayer is obliged to give his explanations as soon as possible - up to 5 working days. The course of this period begins on the working day following the day of receipt of the notification.
3. Can be sent either by mail (registered mail), by courier, or to in electronic format... In this case, in the case of an e-mail, it is important to certify it using an electronic digital signature... If it is not created, there is only one option - to send it in regular paper form. It is also important to know that it is often necessary to provide documents with explanations along with him. Then in the text of the letter the attachments must be indicated: the name of the document, the quantity and type (original or copy) are prescribed.

NOTE. The legislation does not deprive the taxpayer of the right to provide his explanations orally. However, in order to play it safe (in case of possible litigation), it is better to draw up everything in writing, a copy of which must be kept with you (it is also better to print and duplicate the electronic version).

How to compose: sample requirements

There is no approved form, so each company is free to choose its own option. It is best to print it on a branded can. And you can draw up a document according to the general rules:

1. The abbreviated name of the tax inspectorate is written in the “header” in the upper right corner (for example, “to the Interdistrict Inspectorate of the Federal Tax Service No. 19 in the Chelyabinsk Region”).
2. All data about the sender is registered under the information about the addressee: the letter is sent from a specific official (as a rule, from the director of the company or the head of the branch), therefore his full name, position and abbreviated name of the organization (for example, Khlebodar LLC), as well as the address are indicated and contact details.
3. Under the "heading" on the left side, you can put a mark about the number and date under which the letter was registered in the organization's outgoing correspondence journal.
4. Further in the center follows the name of the letter, which reflects its essence, for example, "Answer to the request of the tax inspectorate" (and in parentheses it is explained for what reason).
5. In the text of the letter itself, at first, the circumstances are very briefly prescribed - i.e. mentioning that a letter came from the tax office with a demand for an explanation, in response to which the company sends its letter.
6. This is followed by the actual explanation with a detailed, but the most laconic description of their position. Typically 1-2 printed sheets are sufficient.
7. If any documents are attached to the letter, they are also registered in the "Attachments" section.
8. Finally, the sender indicates the position, once again prescribes the name of the company, puts the signature and its decryption.
9. Bottom line, left corner - the date the document was compiled. It must be indicated necessarily in order to have additional proof that it was provided on time.

A complete example is shown below.

Types: ready-made examples for common situations

In practice, there are several common cases when tax authorities demand an answer (similar to a company) with explanations of their position on a particular topic. Ready options solutions are discussed below.

If the asset was sold at a loss

The right to demand an explanation from the company in this regard appeared relatively recently for the inspection - since 2014, which is quite legal. However, in practice, there are often cases when the representatives of the inspection bodies essentially abuse their right and ask for clarifications regarding such cases:

• the asset was sold, but losses were incurred only due to actual depreciation (amortization), which caused the asset to be sold at a lower price;
• the asset was sold at a higher than residual value, price - such cases often arise for purely market reasons in connection with an unstable economic situation.

In these cases, the company is not obliged to provide any explanation. Nevertheless, in the response letter, it can be stated that the reporting documents declared profit, and the organization did not provide any factual errors or deliberately false information.

Application of privileges when paying property tax

Since in 2015, all movable property objects (except for those related to 1 and 2 depreciation group) taxes are not paid (provided that the company bought them after January 1, 2013), then, in fact, the law approved the benefit. Such privileged property is already specified in the Tax Code (Article 381).

However, many representatives of the inspectorate (perhaps unknowingly) began to demand documents that confirm the possibility of obtaining this benefit, as well as full list all movable objects that are exempt.

It is important to keep 2 points in mind here:

1. The letter must necessarily contain a specific list of assets in question. Otherwise, you can send only copies of contracts and other documents that confirm the fact of the purchase and the date of its completion. The contracts also reflect the type of the selling company: dependent or independent, which has its own meaning.
2. If the assets were purchased from an affiliated company (as well as in cases where the objects were acquired as a result of the company's reorganization), then taxes on such property are paid.

NOTE. The inspectorate may request a specific list of assets, i.e. privileged property, and it will be in the best interest of the firm to provide such data. Then the situation can be cleared up especially quickly.

And here is what a sample response to such requirements looks like when it comes to providing explanations on privileged property.

Of course, all property objects of their 1 and 2 depreciation groups are not included in this list. There are no benefits for them, besides, representatives of the tax service have no right to demand explanations specifically on these things.

If the property tax is greatly reduced or increased greatly

Representatives of the tax inspectorate often become interested in cases when in one financial year actually paid property tax decreased, and in the next remained approximately at the same level (i.e. did not grow). Especially often the attention of auditors is attracted by situations when the differences between these values ​​are too large (in their opinion), since this may indicate an illegal financial scheme aimed at non-payment.

In addition, 3-4 years ago there were precedents when interdependent organizations deliberately simply transferred some of the movable property to each other in order to significantly reduce the amount of payment. Since in 2015 the tax is paid from such a base, and the company has not actually increased the tax, it means, logically, it deliberately evades payment.

The answer is provided based on the actual situation. The most often influenced by objective factors:

• liquidation of some property objects due to optimization and / or unfavorable economic situation;
• sale of property;
• retirement of fixed assets.

The company then simply acquires property from the firm to which it is not interdependent. It is this reason that plays the main role. Sales contracts and financial documents confirming such a legal scheme are sent to prove their position.

The relationship between depreciation and property tax

V similar cases suspicions arise because property is being depreciated, but property tax is not paid. Inspectors may again suspect some illegal activity. However, in practice, the reason is most often easily explainable and provable. The fact is that a fairly large share in the company's assets is property that belongs to 1 and 2 depreciation groups, and tax is not paid from it. An example answer for this case is presented below.

If the costs are too high

Tax officials often demand explanations because they believe that expenses are growing too quickly and make up a fairly large percentage of the company's budget. Practice shows that suspicion is raised by those cases when the profit is only a fifth or less. Explaining the increase in costs is very simple, especially against the background of really influencing economic reasons:

• instability on foreign exchange market(exchange differences);
• the need to raise wages in connection with the real decrease in the income of the population over the past 3 years in a row;
• rising costs due to inflation.

What happens if you do not answer the request

The answer to the request of the tax office is the responsibility of the company, because if you completely ignore the message, the inspectorate has the right to fine the organization for:

• 5000 rubles, if it was not provided for the first time;
• 20,000 rubles - for the second time (the calculation is carried out by calendar years).

Thus, it is not difficult to provide an explanation in most cases. And ignoring the letter is not in the interests of the company: the point is not only in a possible fine, but also in the fact that by explaining its position, the company often relieves itself of the need for further proceedings, including legal proceedings.

Video comment

Today, some institutions have to deal with the need to provide tax structures explanations after any verification or reporting. So that explanations do not provoke additional checks supervisory authority, the execution of the explanation must be taken very seriously, with full responsibility and not delayed with the answer.

What are the current requirements

As a rule, the requirement to provide explanations arises after a certain period after the reports or declarations, and the reason for the request may be any erroneous record or inaccuracy in the reporting. Quite often, supervisory structures have questions about reporting to VAT refunds, in case of inconsistency in the reports of counterparties, due to inconsistencies in tax data in income tax returns. Also, questions may arise as a result of unjustified losses of the enterprise during the audit, when sending a revised declaration or in the tax reporting, in which the tax amount is shown to be less than in the initial information, etc.

For example, for VAT, there are 3 main types of requirements for writing explanations, a sample of which is developed and approved in electronic form by the regulations of the Federal Tax Service:

• By control compliance
• On disagreements with counterparties
• About unrecorded information in the sales journal (letter of the Federal Tax Service No. ED-4-15 / 5752 dated 07.04.2015).

Requirements for explanations after VAT returns may arise for other reasons, but the tax authorities have not yet developed a sample document.

To send a response, the payer has 6 working days to send a message on receipt of the request, plus another 5 working days to send a response to the request (weekends and holidays are not taken into account).

How to write explanations for the tax office in 2019

If the payer received a request from the tax service for an explanation, then the inspectorate found something suspicious in the payer's declaration. It should be noted that the Inspectorate of the Federal Tax Service provides a desk control of all declarations and reports of the accounting department using an automatic electronic program that can quickly identify errors in reporting (discrepancies between the data in the reports, discrepancies between the submitted declaration and the information available to the assigned inspector), as a result of this, the IFTS submits a request for an explanation of such a fact (clause 3 of article 88 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). There may be other reasons for submitting an Explanation Request.

The explanatory one in the IFTS is issued in a free form, except for explanations during the in-house audit of the VAT declaration. If the payer believes that there are no inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the sent report, then this should be indicated in the explanation for the claim:

« ... In response to your request No. 75 dated 02.03.2019, we report that there are no inaccuracies in the tax return for the requested time. Based on this, we consider it inadmissible to make corrections to the reporting for the specified time ...».

If you find an error in the reporting that does not entail a tax reduction (for example, a technical inaccuracy when displaying some code), you can explain what error was made, indicate the correct code and provide evidence that this inaccuracy did not lead to a decrease in the amount of tax paid or send an updated declaration.

However, if an inaccuracy is found that has led to a tax reduction, you must immediately send an updated tax return. Under such circumstances, it makes no sense to give explanations (clause 1 of article 81 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation; Letter of the Federal Tax Service No. ED-4-15 / 19395 dated 06.11.2015).

Each taxpayer is obliged to know that the legislation does not provide for, that explanations must be submitted only in writing, i.e. this suggests that explanations can also be provided orally, however, in order to avoid any misunderstandings, it is better to compose a written answer.

Explanation of tax loss

When checking unprofitable enterprises, the tax service carefully examines whether income taxes are understated. The period of the audit is carried out over the past two years or more. When a taxpayer receives a request for an explanation of the reason for losses, it is necessary to promptly send a response to the supervisory service, which explains in detail why the costs are higher than income. For example, you can refer to the fact that the company was established recently, there is still a small clientele, and the costs of renting a building and maintaining employees are large, etc. In response, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that all costs are documented and the reporting is correct. For greater clarity, you can create a table displaying a list of costs for the year in the context of operations.

Download explanatory note to tax on losses

(Video: "We draw up explanations of losses in response to the request of the tax authority")

Explanation to the tax office about discrepancies in declarations

Supervisory structures check all declarations using automatic programs, and they can very quickly find a discrepancy between information in one declaration (for example, for VAT) with information on another (for example, for income tax) or with an accounting report. In this case, the inspectorate is forced to turn to the payer with a requirement to explain the reason for the discrepancy between indicators (for example, revenue).

Considering that accounting in institutions is not conducted in the same order as accounting in the supervisory service, it is not difficult to explain the identified discrepancies. For example, tax data on VAT may not coincide with the amount of profit, since there are non-sales income that is not subject to VAT (fines, dividends, exchange rate differences). This circumstance may be the reason for discrepancies, which should be written about in the response to the request. (Article 250 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Explanation in the Federal Tax Service Inspectorate for VAT

When drawing up explanations in the Federal Tax Service Inspectorate for VAT, it should be borne in mind that there are some nuances here. As noted earlier, payers are required to submit a declaration in electronic form (clause 3 of article 88 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation), therefore, institutions must submit their explanations for VAT in electronic form. In this case, explanations must be submitted according to the accepted template (Pr. FTS N ММВ-7-15 / [email protected] 2016) and if the institution has submitted electronic explanations not in the required template, then it can be fined (clause 1 of article 129.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). However, in September 2017, the Federal Tax Service issued Resolution No. SA-4-9 / [email protected]) dated 09/13/2017, where the fine to the payer was canceled for an incorrect sample of explanations.

If the company has the right to file a VAT return in paper form, then it is better to provide explanations according to the samples adopted by the Federal Tax Service (Appendices 2.1-2.9 to the letter of the Federal Tax Service No. АС-4-2 / ​​12705 dated July 16, 2013). It should be noted, however, that the use of these samples is optional.

For greater reliability of the explanation, you can attach copies of invoices, extracts from sales and purchase journals.

If the inspector asks the enterprise to explain the low tax burden compared to the industry average, then this circumstance can be explained as follows:

“… In the declaration on the required reporting for the requested time, the incomplete display of information that would lead to a decrease in tax payments was not allowed. Therefore, the company believes that the clarification of the tax return for the specified time is not required. The tax burden on the main activities of the institution was reduced at the indicated time due to the decrease in income and increase in the costs of the institution ...».

And then you need to set out the value of the decrease in the amount of proceeds and the increase in expenses for the requested time in comparison with the previous period, and the reasons for this circumstance (decrease in the number of buyers, increase in prices for the purchase of goods, etc.).

(Video: "News" UNP "- Issue 8")

What to do when a tax claim is unfair

There are times when tax structures require an explanation in the absence of errors in the reporting. It is not necessary to ignore such requirements from the tax authorities. In order to avoid misunderstandings and not be subject to sanctions (including unexpected inspections by supervisory services), it is required to immediately notify the inspectorate that all submitted reports are correct and, if possible, provide copies of supporting documents. It must be remembered that for the inspection, it is not the text of the explanation that plays an important role, but the very fact of the answer.

A sample of compiling a response to a tax request for clarification

As noted earlier, there is no unified response to the inspection request, so you can write an explanatory one in any form. Of course, the text of the response must be displayed in the correct business style adopted for the design of service letters.

• First, usually in the upper right corner you need to write the address of the tax office, where the institution should provide an explanation. Next, the letter number is written, locality and the area to which the institution belongs.
• The next line displays the data of the sender of the document: name of the institution, address, and contact phone number.
• In the next paragraph of the letter, before drawing up the text of the explanation, you need to display a link to the number and date of the request by the inspection and concisely describe the essence of their requirement, and only after that you need to start describing the explanations.
• The explanation must be described very scrupulously, with the provision of the necessary links to supporting materials, certificates, legislation, regulations etc. The clearer this section of the explanation is made, the greater the hope that the supervised body will remain satisfied with the answer.
• In the explanation, categorically, one cannot refer to inaccurate data, since this will be quickly revealed with subsequent severe sanctions from the tax inspectors.