How best to submit a tax return: on paper, magnetic media, electronically, telecommunications channels, by mail

What is EO

Electronic reporting (ER) - provision of established forms of reports to the Social Insurance Fund, Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, tax authorities and Rosstat - is used by organizations and individual entrepreneurs both on a mandatory and voluntary basis.
This depends on the type of tax and the size of the taxpayer’s staff. How to submit reports to the tax office electronically for free - register a personal account and receive an electronic signature. The services of specialized operators are more convenient in that they allow you to generate and check reports before sending them.

Changes to the Tax Code

The starting document that “launched” the process of introducing paperless technology into the activities of tax authorities can be considered the Federal Law of December 28, 2001 No. 180-FZ “On Amendments to Article 80 of Part One of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.” This law introduced amendments to the said article of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, according to which tax returns can be submitted by taxpayers in electronic form via telecommunication channels.

At the same time, it was established that the procedure for submitting a tax return in electronic form is determined by the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Taxes and Duties.

Mandatory electronic tax reporting in 2021

In 2021, declarations in electronic form must be submitted by:

• all VAT payers, including those who are tax agents;
• taxpayers whose average number of employees for the previous calendar year exceeds 100 people;
• established organizations (including those formed during reorganization), in which the number of employees is more than 100 people;
• the largest taxpayers, regardless of the average number of employees.

Also, personal income tax reports are sent via TKS if the number of employees in the company is more than 25.

To send all these reporting forms, an electronic signature is required for the Federal Tax Service. The operator helps you arrange it.

Let us recall that the list of the largest taxpayers is compiled annually by the Federal Tax Service on the basis of certain criteria (order of the Ministry of Taxes of Russia No. SAE-3-30 / [email protected] dated April 16, 2004). These criteria are regularly updated by tax authorities. For such enterprises, it is provided not only for submitting reports through the tax website, but also for support from the Federal Tax Service, in particular tax monitoring.

Regulatory acts of the Ministry of Taxes and Taxes of Russia

1. In accordance with the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Taxes and Duties of the Russian Federation adopted the “Procedure for submitting a tax return in electronic form via telecommunication channels” (approved by order of the Ministry of Taxes of Russia dated April 2, 2002 No. BG-3-32/169). This document directly establishes the procedure for interaction between participants in information exchange when submitting tax and accounting reports to the tax authorities in electronic form via communication channels.

2. In development of this document, by order of the Ministry of Taxes of Russia dated December 10, 2002 No. BG-3-32/705, Methodological Recommendations on the organization and functioning of the system for submitting tax returns and financial statements in electronic form via telecommunication channels were approved. Unlike the “Procedure...”, which establishes general principles, the Methodological Recommendations set out the requirements for software and hardware for transmitting reporting data, for a specialized telecom operator, and also provide a detailed procedure for electronic document management when submitting tax returns and financial statements in electronic form via telecommunication channels.

3. An important component of the process of exchanging reporting data in electronic form is the Formats for submitting tax returns, financial statements and other documents used for the calculation and payment of taxes and fees in electronic form.

At the moment, on the website of the Russian Ministry of Taxes and Taxes you can see four versions of the format (see table).

Table

We will tell you more about formats in one of the following articles.

Mandatory reporting on insurance premiums in 2021 according to TKS

In 2021, a new unified calculation of insurance contributions must be submitted to the tax office by:

• payers of insurance premiums whose average number of individuals in whose favor payments and other remunerations are made for the previous billing period exceeds 25 people (before 2015 this number was 50);
• established organizations in which the number of specified individuals exceeds 25 people (before 2015 this number was 50).

To the Federal Tax Service, organizations submit a unified calculation of insurance premiums using the KND 1151111 form. It replaced the RSV-1 and 4-FSS forms previously used for these purposes.

Starting with reporting for the first quarter of 2021, only the calculation of contributions for injuries must be submitted to the Social Insurance Fund.

Starting from 2021, the Pension Fund of Russia receives monthly forms SZV-M, SZV-TD (information about the insurance period of employees, the form has not yet been approved) and other personalized forms.

The Pension Fund and the Social Insurance Fund submit reports electronically if there are 25 or more people on staff.

This rule applies not only to payers of insurance premiums who fall under the scope of Federal Law No. 212-FZ of July 24, 2009. Payers who transfer contributions for insurance against accidents and occupational diseases if they have employees are also subject to the same requirements.

From 2021, financial statements are provided only in electronic form

Publication date: 09/04/2019 17:00

In connection with amendments to the Federal Law “On Accounting” (No. 402-FZ dated December 6, 2011), the “one window” principle is being introduced from January 1, 2021: the obligation to submit reports to Rosstat is canceled, and all annual financial statements are submitted to the tax authorities authorities only in the form of an electronic document through electronic document management operators.

The list of electronic document management operators is posted on the information boards of tax inspectorates.

A transition period is provided for small businesses. Such entities include those whose average number of employees is no more than 100 people, and whose income does not exceed 800 million rubles. In 2021, they can still provide financial statements in the form of a paper document, and from 2021 - only in electronic form through an electronic document management operator.

All financial statements will be posted in the public domain on the website of the Federal Tax Service of Russia nalog.ru in the state information resource containing data on the annual financial statements of organizations. This is a public resource, and from January 1, 2021, starting with reporting for 2021, the Federal Tax Service of Russia will become its operator. You can find an organization in the resource using a flexible search: by name, tax identification number, address and other parameters. The reporting of any organization can be downloaded with an electronic signature of the Federal Tax Service of Russia, which has the same legal significance as a blue seal. Reporting formats and procedures, control ratios, all regulatory documents and answers to key questions will be made publicly available.

What will change for business? The procedure for submitting financial statements will be simplified. Reporting will not need to be submitted to Rosstat; it will be submitted only to the tax authority or to the Central Bank for organizations supervised by it. Accounting statements are presented in the form of an electronic document: statements - xml files, audit report - pdf files through electronic document management operators. It is planned that the formats and procedure for presenting financial statements will not undergo significant changes compared to the current ones.

What to pay attention to when preparing financial statements? All reporting is prepared only in thousands of rubles. On the first page it is necessary to indicate whether the statements are subject to mandatory audit and the name of the audit organization that conducted the audit of the statements.

How to avoid making a mistake?
Control ratios will help you avoid errors. For example, if the assets and liabilities of the balance sheet do not match, then a notification will be received from the electronic document management operator with an error code, and it will be possible to submit corrected statements. To resolve all issues, feedback will be provided on the portal. If a taxpayer sees an error regarding their company, they can submit an electronic appeal. The tax authority will review it, respond and quickly correct the data if necessary.

Voluntary submission of EO

In all other cases, reporting in electronic form is submitted at the request of the taxpayer or policyholder. Over the past few years, there has been a noticeable trend towards the transfer of reporting submitted by companies in all fields of activity to reporting through electronic channels.

This is convenient for regulatory authorities because it reduces the time for processing paper reports and brings everything to a single format.

This is convenient for legal entities and individual entrepreneurs, because it allows them to avoid exhausting visits to the tax office and funds and eliminates the possibility of disputes with government agencies about the timing of sending reports by mail in controversial cases.

Law on Electronic Digital Signature

Federal Law No. 1-FZ “On Electronic Digital Signature”, signed by the President of the Russian Federation on January 10, 2002, can be called fateful. This law established for the first time the equivalence of an electronic document signed with an electronic digital signature and a paper document.

The law actually gave impetus to the subsequent adoption of a number of legislative acts, which ultimately created the legal basis for the implementation of the exchange of tax and accounting data in electronic form.

Recommendations from the Federal Tax Service for remote reporting

Recommendations for the provision of tax and accounting reports in electronic form are given in the letter of the Federal Tax Service dated September 2, 2020 No. AB-17-19/ [email protected]

There are two ways to submit reports remotely:

• In the form of an electronic document in the format established by the Federal Tax Service.

Approved formats by order of the Federal Tax Service dated November 13, 2019 No. ММВ-7-1/ [email protected] They and the corresponding free software “Legal Taxpayer” can be found in the public domain on the department’s website. The website also contains all the information about electronic reporting and a list of current electronic document management operators.

Important! ConsultantPlus recommends that in order not to be denied acceptance of reports and (or) an audit report via telecommunication channels, comply, in particular, with the following requirements... For more details, see K+. Online access to materials can be obtained free of charge.

• Through a special service “Presentation of tax and accounting reports in electronic form.”

This is a pilot project, in which reporting is submitted directly through the Federal Tax Service website, without concluding an agreement with an EDI operator.

The obligation to submit tax reports (calculations) under the TKS through the EDI (with some exceptions) is established for:

• taxpayers (payers of insurance contributions) whose average number of employees for the previous calendar year exceeds 100 people;
• newly created (including during reorganization) organizations whose number of employees exceeds 100 people;
• taxpayers (payers of insurance premiums), for whom such an obligation is provided for by part two of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation in relation to a specific tax (insurance premiums). In particular, such an obligation is provided for when submitting a VAT return;
• largest taxpayers.

In other cases, it remains possible for taxpayers to submit reports on paper, confirms the Federal Tax Service in letter dated 10/08/2020 No. EA-3-26/ [email protected]

The service also reminds that the annual accounting statements for 2021 must be submitted electronically to the State Register of Economic Institutions using the TCS, including small businesses (for 2021 they could still submit a balance sheet on paper). To create and direct accounting records, the Federal Tax Service has developed formats for presenting a copy of the BFO, which are publicly available on the official website of the service.

The Federal Tax Service also notes that (letter dated 10/08/2020 No. EA-3-26/ [email protected] ):

• from 04/01/2021, methods for remotely obtaining an electronic signature are provided;
• from 01/01/2022, the Federal Tax Service is vested with the authority to provide business entities with an electronic signature and means of cryptographic information protection free of charge.

You will find all the details about obtaining an electronic signature and working with it in 2020-2021 in the Guide from ConsultantPlus.
Trial access to the system can be obtained for free. You can find more complete information on the topic in ConsultantPlus. Free trial access to the system for 2 days.

Responsibility for failure to provide an electronic VAT return

According to Art. 119 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, a taxpayer who has violated the procedure for filing tax reports is obliged to pay a fine in the amount of 5% of the tax amount reflected in the declaration, but not less than 1,000 rubles. A fine is charged only in case of failure to submit or untimely submission of a declaration to the fiscal service. A fine is also assessed in the case where an organization (IP) that is a VAT payer submits a tax return not in electronic form, but on paper.

In addition, according to paragraph 3 of Art. 76 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, if a VAT return is not submitted (including filing a document in paper form instead of electronically) for more than 10 days, the Federal Tax Service has the right to block the taxpayer’s accounts.

Electronic reporting from 2021: tax returns and reports to funds

One general criterion obliging enterprises and individual entrepreneurs of all taxation regimes to submit tax reports electronically is the average number of personnel for the previous year, exceeding 100 people (clause 3 of Article 80 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). The same size criterion also applies to newly created entities. Please note that from 01/01/2020, companies and individual entrepreneurs will not submit a separate form “Information on the average headcount”, since this data is now included in the updated DAM form (Calculation of insurance premiums). Also, the electronic format is mandatory for the largest taxpayers (unless a different procedure is provided for information about state secrets).

However, despite the size criterion, for some forms of reporting electronic document management is the only way to transmit data. Thus, VAT is declared in electronic format, regardless of the number of employees and the volume of business. The right to use a paper version of the report remains only with tax agents who do not pay VAT, who do not carry out intermediary activities with the issuance of invoices on their own behalf, and the legal successors of reorganized enterprises using special regimes, if they are not among the largest taxpayers and the average number of their employees does not exceed 100 people (clause 5 of article 174 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

The criterion of a number of more than 100 people is not taken into account when generating reports on insurance premiums and personal income tax (forms DAM, 2-NDFL and 6-NDFL). These reports must be submitted electronically if the number of employees exceeds 10 people (clause 2 of article 230, clause 10 of article 431 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

The electronic format for reporting to the Pension Fund of Russia (forms SZV-M, SZV-STAZH) is required if the number of individuals included in the reporting is 25 or more people. The SZV-TD form is submitted electronically if in the reporting month the number of employees under employment contracts (registered persons) was 25 or more persons (clause 2 of article 8, clause 2.6 of article 11 of the law dated 04/01/1996 No. 27-FZ)

The 4-FSS calculation submitted to the Social Insurance Fund must be in electronic format if the average number of employees in the previous year was more than 25 people (Clause 1, Article 24 of Law No. 125-FZ of July 24, 1998).

The Ministry of Finance has presented a bill according to which all reports to the Pension Fund and the Social Insurance Fund will have to be submitted electronically if there are more than 10 people, but so far this draft has not been adopted.