If the supplier has shipped a low-quality or incomplete product to the organization, the buyer can return it. There may also be other reasons for return, it depends on the terms of the supply agreement.
The Civil Legislation of the Russian Federation establishes several grounds on which goods can be returned. These are cases of non-compliance:
- quality;
- assortment;
- set;
- containers and packaging.
Thus, current legislation allows you to return goods to the supplier in the following cases:
- if the buyer has not received complete information about the characteristics of the product;
- The supplier did not ship the required quantity. In this case, the buyer may refuse the entire lot;
- the product is not fully completed;
- the supplier regularly violates delivery deadlines;
- the quality does not meet the terms of the contract;
- The products were shipped without packaging or containers.
In this article, we will consider what primary documents should be used to document the return of goods to the supplier.
How to arrange for a buyer to return goods to a supplier
The return of goods to the supplier is accompanied by a return invoice (for example, in form N TORG-12 with the note: “Return of goods”) or an act of returning goods to the supplier.
Documents for returning goods from the buyer to the supplier are transferred along with the returned goods.
In addition, the buyer sends a letter (claim) to the supplier demanding acceptance of the returned goods, indicating the reason for their return.
If the goods are returned to the supplier by power of attorney, then in this case, when registering it, you can use form No. M-2 (clause 2.1.4 of the Methodological Recommendations, approved by Letter of the RF Committee on Trade dated July 10, 1996 N 1-794/32-5 ).
In this case, the buyer does not need to issue an invoice for the return of goods.
Letter of claim requesting the supplier to accept goods returned by the buyer
If, during the acceptance of the delivered goods or after its acceptance, it is revealed that the goods do not comply with the requirements for their quality, the buyer has the right, at his own discretion, to refuse to execute the sales contract, return the low-quality goods and demand a refund of the amount of money paid for it, or demand replacement of this product with a product of proper quality (clause 2 of Article 475 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
The buyer sets out his requirements in the form of a claim, which is sent to the supplier (for example, for the return of goods). The norms of the current legislation of the Russian Federation do not provide for an established form of claim for the return of goods to the supplier.
The letter of claim is drawn up in any form.
The letter states:
- full name and details of the buyer and supplier;
- number and date of the purchase and sale (supply) agreement;
- number and date of accompanying documents for the delivered goods;
- name of the product, its quantity and cost;
- detected discrepancy (malfunction);
- links to regulations;
- requirement to satisfy the claim (request for replacement, refund, reduction of amount, etc.).
The claim is signed by the head of the organization, indicating his position and his full name, and certified by the company seal (if any).
The letter of claim is handed over to the authorized representative of the supplier against signature or sent to him by registered mail with a list of the attachments.
Tax accounting for the return of goods by the buyer - income tax
Important!
Returning a product is not the same as selling it back if the seller fails to properly fulfill the requirements of the purchase and sale agreement. Here there is a unilateral refusal of the party to the transaction to fulfill contractual obligations (the sale did not actually take place).
Termination of a supply contract is an independent business transaction. Expenses and income must be reflected in tax accounting on the date of termination of the agreement. If the item was returned in the same accounting period in which it was shipped to the customer, adjustments should be made to the entries in the current accounting period. It is necessary to reduce the amount of income from the sale and the amount of costs by the amount of the cost of goods written off upon sale.
If the product was returned not in the same reporting period in which it was sold, we proceed as follows. In the reporting period in which the buyer refused the goods, the amount of payment returned to the buyer is reflected in non-operating expenses as losses from previous tax periods discovered in the current period (clause 1, clause 2, article 265 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).
The cost of the returned goods, by which the amount of income from the sale of this product was reduced, is reflected in the income considered for the purpose of calculating income tax, as income from previous years discovered in the current period (clause 10 of Article 250 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).
VAT when returning goods to the supplier
VAT when returning goods to the supplier is required to be processed according to the following rules:
- The seller prepares an adjustment invoice and records it in the purchase ledger.
- The buyer registers the seller's adjustment invoice in the sales book (if he managed to accept VAT for deduction, if not, then he accepts the deduction in the non-refundable part).
Please note that it does not matter for what reason the return occurs.
This is how the return of both defective and high-quality goods is processed if it does not comply with the contract.
