Nuances of accounting for state duties in 2020-2021
State duty, according to Art.
13 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, is recognized as a collection at the federal level. Recently, no adjustments have been made to this area, therefore in 2020-2021, as before, an account is used to reflect accounts for its accrual and payment. 68 (subaccount “State duty”). Read more about the classification of taxes and fees in the Russian Federation here.
At the same time, the type of corresponding account when calculating state duty depends on its type. State duty may be paid in connection with:
- with the acquisition of certain property assets;
- carrying out business operations related to the main activities of the company;
- carrying out operations that are not related to its main activities;
- participation of the company in legal proceedings.
Let's look at how state duties are recorded and what transactions are necessary to record the operation to accrue the corresponding amounts in the listed situations.
You will find an algorithm for filling out the details of a payment order for payment of state duty in the Ready-made solution from ConsultantPlus. Get trial access and proceed to expert explanations.
State duty on property value
The procedure for reflecting state duty in accounting depends on what the payment of state duty is associated with and at what stage such payment is made.
If the state duty is paid in connection with the acquisition of property, then it is included in its original cost. However, if the duty is paid after the object has been accepted for accounting (put into operation), and the accounting rules do not provide for a change in the initial cost in such cases, the duty will be applied to expenses for ordinary activities or other expenses, depending on the to what type of activity the payment of this duty applies.
For example, the state duty paid for registering rights to real estate before the commissioning of the object is included in its initial cost (clauses 7, 8 PBU 6/01, Order of the Ministry of Finance dated October 31, 2000 No. 94n):
Debit of account 08 “Investments in non-current assets” - Credit of account 68.
And if, for example, for the warehouse of a trading organization this duty is paid after the fixed asset object has been put into operation, the state duty will be reflected as follows (clause 14 of PBU 6/01):
Debit account 44 “Sales expenses” - Credit account 68.
Actually, the payment of state duty is reflected as follows:
Debit of account 68 - Credit of account 51 “Current accounts”.
State duty charged when purchasing property: which accounting account is used
The state duty paid upon the acquisition (creation) of property objects relates to an increase in their actual value (clause 8 of PBU 14/2007, clause 8 of PBU 6/01):
Dt 08 Kt 68/state duty.
Such records will be used, for example, when paying state fees in connection with the registration of an acquired fixed asset.
Read about fixed asset accounting in this material.
Accounting for state duties in accounting: entries for transactions related to the main activity
In case of payment of state duty for certain actions necessary for carrying out the current work of the enterprise, its amount is charged to expenses for ordinary activities (clauses 5, 7 of PBU 10/99). Accounting for state duties will be structured in such a way that the debit of the entry for calculating state duties will include one of the expense accounts:
Dt 20 (25, 26, 44...) Kt 68/state duty.
Examples of such expenses: certification of the company’s working documentation and its copies, registration of contracts, certification of employee signatures, correctness of translation from one language to another, etc.
Is it possible to reflect in accounting the founder’s expenses for paying the state duty for registering a legal entity? The answer to this question was given by 2nd class adviser to the State Civil Service of the Russian Federation I. O. Gorchilina. Get free trial access to the ConsultantPlus system and get acquainted with the official’s point of view.
For information on the main cost items, see the material “List of the most frequently used cost items in accounting .
Some nuances arise when reflecting in accounting the state duty paid for licenses obtained for a certain period of time, usually for several months (for example, licenses for the retail sale of alcohol). Today there are several options for accounting for such state duty:
- Its amount can be written off as expenses at a time (letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated April 12, 2013 No. 03-03-06/1/12248).
- There is also an opinion that such costs should be previously taken into account in the expenses of the future period, and only then they are written off as expenses (letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated January 12, 2012 No. 07-02-06/5).
Then the following entries will be used in postings for the state duty for issuing a license:
Dt 97 Kt 68/state duty - state duty has been charged;
Dt 44 Kt 97 - part of the state duty is charged to expenses.
The last entry will be made in accordance with the procedure used by the company to account for future expenses, until the state duty on expenses is completely written off.
- There is also a position that such licenses form intangible assets (clause 3 of PBU 14/2007, clauses 4, 9, 17 IAS 38). In this case, the amount of state duty will be written off as expenses as depreciation:
Dt 08 Kt 60, 76 - the amount of the state duty for the license is included in the cost of the intangible asset;
Dt 04 Kt 08 - license has been capitalized;
Dt 44 Kt 05 - depreciation has been accrued.
IMPORTANT! For intangible assets with an indefinite useful life, depreciation is not charged (clause 23 of PBU 14/2007).
It is worth understanding that each of the listed methods of organizing accounting entries for state duty has its pros and cons. Of course, the chosen method of accounting for such expenses must be fixed in the company’s accounting policy.
Accounting for licensing costs
Legal entities and entrepreneurs without forming a legal entity can engage in certain types of entrepreneurial activities only after obtaining the appropriate license. A license is a special permission to carry out a specific type of activity.
The procedure for obtaining a license and the list of types of activities, the implementation of which is possible only if it is available, are determined by the Federal Law of August 8, 2001 No. 128-FZ (as amended on November 2, 2004) “On licensing of certain types of activities” (hereinafter referred to as the Law No. 128-FZ). In paragraph 1 of Art. 17 of Law No. 128-FZ provides types of such activities. Specific licensing issues are resolved in the provisions on licensing of certain types of activities issued on the basis of Law No. 128-FZ.
In paragraph 2 of Art. 1 of Law No. 128-FZ contains a list of types of activities, the implementation of which requires obtaining a license, but not within the framework of this Law, but in accordance with special regulatory legal acts. Therefore, the provisions of the Licensing Law do not apply to them.
