Overpayment in the taxpayer’s personal account: what to do?

New rules for crediting and returning overpayments

From October 1, 2021, the provisions of Federal Law No. 325 of September 29, 2019 will come into force, which simplify the procedure for offset or refund of overpayments of taxes. Until October 1, tax authorities can redistribute overpaid taxes only within the budget of one type. Federal tax goes to the federal budget, regional tax goes to the regional budget, local tax goes to the local budget. For example, by overpaying VAT, a federal tax, you cannot pay off a debt on property tax, a local tax.

Starting from October, it will be possible to offset overpayments against future tax payments or pay off debts for another tax without reference to the budget level. For example, due to the income tax overpaid to the federal budget, it is possible to pay off arrears or a fine to the regional budget for transport tax or to the local budget for land tax.

If there is a tax debt to any budget - federal, regional or local - it is impossible to return the overpayment of taxes in money. The debtor, due to the overpayment, is obliged to first pay off his obligations for taxes, fines and penalties (Clause 6 of Article 78 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

The rules for offset and refund of overpaid insurance premiums remain the same. For example, overpayment of pension insurance contributions cannot be “spread” onto social or health insurance contributions (clause 1.1 of Article 78 of the Tax Code).

How does overpayment of taxes occur?

Overpayment occurs due to errors either by the organization itself or by the tax authority.

Taxpayers themselves are wrong:

- when calculating tax. Accounting may make a mistake when calculating the tax base, applying the wrong tax rate, or not applying tax benefits and deductions;

- when filling out payment orders for the payment of taxes, penalties, and fines. Any error in the BCC or tax amount results in an overpayment for one tax and an underpayment for another.

Overpayment may arise due to advance payments.

For example, a company transferred advances for income tax during the year, but at the end of the year the tax turned out to be less than the amount of the transferred advances. So the company overpaid income taxes.

Tax inspectors may mistakenly collect taxes twice.

This occurs when a tax, fine or penalty is unilaterally written off from a current account. For example, the taxpayer has already transferred taxes, but the money has not yet reached the tax office. And the Federal Tax Service writes off the amounts without acceptance. Then there may be an overpayment.

Note!

Overpayment of taxes must be recorded on the organization’s front card with the Federal Tax Service. If, for example, a company transferred taxes through a problem bank, but they did not go to the budget, it will not be possible to offset or return them.

The courts believe that recognition of the obligation to pay a tax as fulfilled does not give rise to the taxpayer’s automatic right to return or offset the amount of such tax.

They confirmed that the taxpayer does not have the right to compensate for his losses at the expense of the budget (Determination of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation No. 307-KG 18-10845 of August 8, 2021).

How to find out about an overpayment

Both the taxpayer himself and tax inspectors can find overpayments of taxes. You can order a reconciliation report from the tax office or check your transfers in your personal account on the Federal Tax Service website. Within five working days after submitting the documents, tax officials must issue a reconciliation report and send it to the taxpayer.

If the tax authorities were the first to discover the overpayment, they are obliged to notify the organization - within 10 working days they must send a written message and indicate the date the overpayment was discovered (clause 3 of Article 78 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). The date of discovery of the overpayment is the day when the inspector discovered the excess for a particular tax. Regardless of whether the tax inspectorate informed the taxpayer about the fact of an overpayment or not, the overpayment can be disposed of within three years from the date of occurrence.

Taxes to the budget for the taxpayer can be transferred by any other person - an organization, an entrepreneur or a citizen without the status of an individual entrepreneur (paragraph 4, paragraph 1, article 45 of the Tax Code). But only the taxpayer himself has the right to return the excess or offset the payment. Third parties cannot do this (paragraph 5, paragraph 1, article 45 of the Tax Code).

Methods of paying taxes in your personal account

If it is necessary to pay a tax or debt, a citizen has the right to use the service. The service for paying funds and sending a report is provided by the service free of charge. Service employees offer two methods of paying the fee:

1. "Pay taxes" service. Here, the resident has the right to pay not only fees, but also insurance contributions and state duties. The program allows you to deposit funds for yourself and third parties. Algorithm for using the “Pay Taxes” service to pay funds:

• Agree to the processing of personal data by clicking the checkbox in the appropriate box and clicking on the “Next” button.
• Select the type of fee: tax on property of individuals, land, transport, personal income tax, unified, insurance contributions to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, compulsory medical insurance, VNIM. In the example, we will choose personal income tax.
• Determine the personal income tax category: according to form 3-NDFL or by foreign workers who work in Russia. Let's choose - 3-NDFL.
• Selecting the type of payment: fee, penalty, fine - direct fee (tax).
• Enter the amount and click “Next”.
• Fill in the details of the Federal Tax Service and the payer. In the information about the payer, the TIN is required to be filled out when making electronic payments on the Federal Tax Service website. If you do not complete the field, you will only be able to print the completed payment slip.
• Click on the red button labeled “Pay.”
• Select payment type. When paying via personal account, select a card or banking organization.
• If the “card” option is selected, then in the window that appears, agree to the processing of information by clicking the checkbox and clicking “Pay”. Then enter the card details and click on the “Pay XXXX rubles” button, where the amount is indicated instead of X. If a bank is selected, the service automatically takes you to the bank’s page, where you need to enter your personal account login and confirm the operation.

1. On the State Services website. Instructions for payment through the State Services portal:

• Log in to your personal account on the Federal Tax Service portal.
• Fill out the payment using the method above.
• In the last paragraph, when choosing the type of payment, click on the button using the organization’s website and select Public Services. Then the program will automatically transfer to the State Services website, where, using the account or card details, the resident has the right to deposit the tax amount.

1. Through the My Taxes tab:

• Open the My taxes tab on the main page.
• Select the fee you need to pay and click on this line.
• Select a payment method: by bank card, through the credit company’s website, or create a payment order. Let's choose a bank card.
• Agree to the processing of information by checking the box. Then you need to click on the “Pay” button.
• Enter your card details and click pay.

When choosing a payment method through the website of a specialized company, the program will take you to the company’s page, where you also need to fill in the details and click a button with the appropriate text.

How can you manage your overpayment?

If an organization or individual entrepreneur has identified an overpayment of taxes, then the excess can be offset against the debt, left in a personal account with the Federal Tax Service for future payments, or the money returned to the current account. Let's consider each point separately.

Credit for arrears

If there is arrears on other taxes, fees, fines, penalties, inspectors will first pay off the arrears to the budget through overpayments. The inspectorate independently decides which tax debt can be closed and informs the organization. But they can only dispose of overpayments that are no more than three years old.

An organization can independently submit an application for credit indicating a specific tax. It is advisable to reconcile the calculations with the budget before doing this. If the amount indicated in the application does not coincide with the data of the tax office, the tax authorities will return the application.

The tax office makes a decision on offset or refusal to offset overpaid amounts against arrears within 10 working days:

-from the moment the overpayment is discovered, if the organization has not applied to the inspectorate with an application for credit against a specific tax;

-from the date of receipt of an organization’s application for credit against a specific tax, if the organization has submitted such an application;

- from the date of signing the act of reconciliation of settlements with the budget, if the inspection and the organization carried out a reconciliation;

-from the moment the court decision comes into force, if the organization has achieved offset through the court;

-from the day following the day of completion of the desk tax audit, which took place without additional assessments;

if a desk audit revealed violations - from the day following the day the decision entered into force.

Desk inspection

A desk audit is an audit of the package of documents and the 3-NDFL declaration that the payer sent to the inspectorate. According to paragraph 2 of Art. 88 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, monitoring lasts up to 90 days by employees of the Federal Tax Service. In practice, the check ends earlier. But if during this time the tax authorities discover an error, they will notify you about it earlier and send a form for correction.

An individual has the right to check the progress of the verification in his personal account on the Federal Tax Service website. Step-by-step instructions for tracking camera monitoring:

1. After sending the papers for audit, the submitted declarations will be displayed on the main page in the Messages from the tax authority tab. The one according to which the resident expects a refund will also be visible here.
2. In the line “Desk audit status” you can see the following: “Registered”, “Started”, “In progress”. And if the status is “Completed”, the desk check is over. If there are no other notifications from the service, it means that the procedure was successful and no errors were detected.

When monitoring is completed, you can begin processing a refund of overpaid money.

Credit towards future payments

If there is no arrears, you need to send an application to the inspectorate for crediting money using the approved KND form 1150057. Applications for crediting taxes overpaid to regional budgets at the location of separate divisions of the organization can be submitted both to the tax inspectorate at the location of the organization and to the tax inspectorates at location of separate units.

The application deadline is within three years from the date of payment of the excess tax or contribution. The application must be accompanied by documents confirming the overpayment - a payment order or an updated declaration. The tax office must make a decision on the offset within 10 working days from the date of receipt of the application from the organization.

Overpayments cannot be counted against future payments of taxes, fees, penalties and fines by other taxpayers. Such offset of Tax Code is not provided (letter of the Ministry of Finance dated March 6, 2017 No. 03-02-08/12572).

When to refund overpaid tax

If the payer decides to return the funds to a personal account or card, you need to fill out the appropriate application. The application can be submitted on the portal in your personal account in two ways:

• Fill out 3-NDFL through the service. After sending the declaration, you are immediately asked to write an application.
• Use the “Manage overpayment” service. The service is provided in the Life Situations tab, where the overpayment is processed in a couple of steps.

Is it worth writing a statement?

After the citizen has sent the 3-NDFL form to the Federal Tax Service, a window will open asking you to fill out the application. But at this moment it is not advisable to fill out the form, since the amount has not yet been approved by the tax authorities. The fact is that during recalculation or during a desk audit, an error may be discovered and the refund will be refused. But when the desk audit is completed, you can fill out an application and send it to the tax authority. It is also worth remembering that after submitting an application, funds will not be received immediately. There are deadlines for tax authorities to review them.

Refund of overpayment

To return money to the current account, the organization submits an application in the KND form 1150058 within three years from the date of the overpayment. To make a decision, inspectors have 10 working days from the moment they receive the application or sign the reconciliation report. After 5 working days, tax authorities are required to inform the organization or individual entrepreneur about the decision made (clause 9 of Article 78 of the Tax Code). After a month, return the overpayment to your bank account. If the taxpayer made a mistake and provided incorrect details, the refund will be processed after clarification.

Refund of overpaid taxes is a right, not an obligation, of the taxpayer. An organization or individual entrepreneur can waive their right, which does not contradict paragraph 6 of Art. 78 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia No. 03-07-11/63803 dated December 11, 2014).

If the overpayment is more than three years old

An organization can offset or return an overpayment within three years from the date of payment of the excess tax amount. The payment date is calculated differently. For example, for VAT, which is paid without advance payments, the three-year period will be counted from the date of transfer of the tax. And for income tax, which provides for advance payments, the period will be calculated from the moment of filing the declaration.

If the organization missed the deadline for filing an application, you can go to court. When considering a case in court, the limitation period of 3 years will be calculated according to the norms of civil, and not tax legislation. And the countdown of the period does not start from the moment of payment of the excess amount, but from the moment when the organization learned or should have known about it (clause 1 of Article 200 of the Civil Code). But you will have to prove that you learned about the overpayment later than it occurred. And it's not that simple.