What to do if your VAT return has not been accepted?

The essence of the problem

A receipt from the Federal Tax Service stating that the tax office does not accept reports, namely VAT returns, threatens the organization with penalties in the amount of 5% of the amount of the tax liability to be paid, but not less than 1000 rubles.
A fine is imposed for each full and partial month from the last date for submitting the report. The amount of sanctions cannot be more than 30% of the tax payable and less than 1000 rubles. But in addition to the fine, the Federal Tax Service has the right to suspend the activities of the organization and seize accounts. Representatives of the Federal Service can make such a decision 10 days after the deadline for submission.

Lack of information to fill out is not a reason not to submit a report. If the institution is exempt from VAT or there were no tax obligations during the billing period, a zero report should be sent to the Federal Tax Service. A fine will also be issued for failure to provide a zero.

What threatens “unscrupulous” entities

The Federal Tax Service will carry out tax control measures against suspicious entities. First of all, the management of the organization or entrepreneur will be invited to the tax office for questioning. They may also request documents, conduct their examination, inspect the premises, and so on.

If an inaccurate signature is detected on the declaration, it will be canceled , and the subject will receive a notification that the report is invalid. We are talking about VAT and income tax returns.

If it turns out that an individual who is a director provided his data for a nominal appointment to a position for a fee, he may be prosecuted under Article 173.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation . There are such cases in judicial practice.

When the tax office has the right to refuse admission

The reasons when the tax office does not accept reports on legal grounds are established in the Administrative Regulations of the Federal Tax Service, approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance dated July 2, 2012 No. 99n.

Reports will not be accepted if:

The Federal Tax Service did not provide documents proving the identity and authority of the person providing the reporting. When submitting reports via secure communication channels via the Internet, the grounds for refusal are considered to be: an expired power of attorney or inconsistency of passport data.
Reporting does not comply with established forms, standards and completion requirements.
The reporting is not certified by the manager. If the electronic report file is signed by UKEP, but the electronic signature does not comply with the established rules for cryptographic information protection, then the Federal Tax Service does not accept VAT and other reporting legally.
The reporting was submitted to the territorial branch of the Federal Tax Service, whose competence does not include the responsibility for accepting these reports.

New grounds for refusing to accept declarations

Legal entities are multi-level entities consisting of various positions.
Since it is inappropriate for the head of an organization to independently prepare and submit a declaration of taxes and contributions, he entrusts a similar task to other employees. The Tax Service previously reported that the declaration may not be accepted if the company representative transferring the documents cannot confirm his own authority.

The source is Letter of the Federal Tax Service No. BS-4-11/ [email protected]

Federal Tax Service Letter No. BS-4-11/ [email protected]

Reasons why inspectors have the right not to accept reports

The person who draws up and sends the document to the Federal Tax Service is obliged to comply with a number of conditions (according to Art. Tax Code):

give a link and write down the name of the document giving him the right to conduct the procedure;
as an appendix to the declaration, attach a copy of the power of attorney drawn up by the employer in the name of the applicant and a document confirming his identity;
use an electronic signature (the requirement applies to declarations submitted electronically) or a discrepancy between the signature on the document and the signature of the head of the organization (a discrepancy between the signature is also considered grounds for refusal);
submit documents within the specified deadlines;
draw up a declaration in accordance with the current requirements for the form and format of the document.

These provisions are spelled out in clause 28 of the Regulations, approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance No. 99n.

An important nuance is submitting the declaration on time. The law specifies periods before the expiration of which the document must be provided. But you need to make an adjustment for the time allotted by the Federal Tax Service to review the papers and respond to the request.

Attention! In this case, it is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of submitting and accepting a declaration. Judicial practice shows that the main requirement is the submission of the document. That is, the very fact of transmitting the declaration is important, even if it initially contained shortcomings.

In this case, the applicant will simply be refused to accept the papers, giving him a documentary notification. Therefore, the payer must keep a certificate confirming the delivery of documents. It will be required later, when a new declaration is submitted to the Federal Tax Service.

Important! Electronic declaration forms are equal in strength to the paper version. The ability to submit a certificate electronically was introduced back in 2021. After submitting the file, the applicant will receive a confirmation receipt (also in electronic form).

Article 5 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation “Effect of acts of legislation on taxes and fees over time”

Read also: Confirmation of the main type of activity

Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 2, 2012 No. 99n “On approval of the Administrative Regulations of the Federal Tax Service for the provision of public services for free information (including in writing) to taxpayers, fee payers and tax agents about current taxes and fees, legislation on taxes and fees and normative legal acts adopted in accordance with it, the procedure for calculating and paying taxes and fees, the rights and responsibilities of taxpayers, payers of fees and tax agents, the powers of tax authorities and their officials, as well as for the acceptance of tax returns (calculations)"

The counterparty did not submit the declaration

A flurry of questions was caused by an unknown error when sending a declaration in the protocol, which the employees of the Federal Tax Service explain: “your counterparty did not submit a VAT return, therefore, you must provide zero adjustments.” What does it mean? Let's say that the counterparty for the third quarter provided zero declarations or did not send them at all, and your report shows the amounts of value added tax, that is, a gap (inconsistency) appears. The VAT database in the Federal Service is checked by a special program “ASK VAT-2”, which automatically generates an error. Therefore, the inspector demands that the amounts be matched and the gap be eliminated.

IMPORTANT!

A non-provided, null or non-compliant declaration of a counterparty is not grounds for refusal to accept a value added tax declaration!

Example: a declaration was submitted but not accepted:

What to do to correct the situation

What to do if the VAT return is not accepted? The table below gives the answers in accordance with the numbering of the grounds for refusal above:

No.	Necessary actions of the taxpayer
1	Update the accounting program by downloading the required report format, fill it out and resend it
2	Check the correct OKTMO at the taxpayer’s registration address and the tax authority that serves this territory, correct the OKTMO in the declaration and send the report to the required inspectorate
3	Sign the report with the signature of the current head of the organization/individual entrepreneur or provide the inspection with an electronic power of attorney for the representative whose signature appears on the report
4	Order an enhanced qualified digital signature in accordance with the necessary technical requirements

As we can see, all grounds for refusal to accept VAT reports require the applicant to make preliminary preparations and verify compliance with all requirements long before submitting the reports.

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Try to send your VAT return at least a week before the deadline, so that if it is rejected, you have time to correct the shortcomings and resubmit it before the 25th day of the month following the expired tax period. Fine under Art. 119 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation due to failure to submit a report on time is equal to 5% of the amount payable, but not more than 30% and not less than 1,000 rubles. If you are 10 days late, the tax office may block your current account.

The manager must report to the head of the Federal Tax Service

Tax officials require the head of the organization to appear at the inspectorate with a passport and a full package of constituent documents for an appointment with the head of the Federal Tax Service. Moreover, they add that the declaration will be accepted only after a personal reception with the inspection management. In fact, the queue to see the head of the Tax Service is scheduled several weeks in advance, therefore, fines cannot be avoided.

This is how the inspectorate fights against unscrupulous managers who deliberately underestimate the amount of tax liabilities, and against fly-by-night companies that are set up as front men.

The official position of the inspectorate is radically different from the situations in practice. For example, tax officials announced a massive server failure due to which the tax office does not accept VAT returns, so the process was temporarily suspended. Moreover, based on the press’s explanations, the deadline for submitting the report will be the date of sending the receipt of the secure communication channel or the inspector’s mark on the paper report.

Why doesn’t the tax office want to accept the report?

The declaration, simultaneously with the first control procedures, is examined to find grounds for refusing its acceptance. The list of such grounds is in clause 28 of the Administrative Regulations and is closed. Regarding filing an electronic VAT return via TKS channels, this is:

Unspecified form/format.
Referral to the wrong inspectorate.
Absence of an enhanced qualified electronic signature of the taxpayer/tax agent-applicant.
Inconsistency between the data of the owner of the digital signature and the data of the management of the organization / tax agent or the data of the entrepreneur.

If there is at least one reason from clause 28 of the Administrative Regulations, the Federal Tax Service generates a notice of refusal to accept the report, be sure to explain the reason why the tax office does not accept the VAT return. In this case, the declaration is considered not submitted to the inspection. The tax authority must send the notification within one business day from the date of receipt of the declaration.

You can find more complete information on the topic in ConsultantPlus. Free trial access to the system for 2 days.

What to do if refused

If the refusal came for legal reasons, correct the error and submit an adjustment.

If the tax office did not accept the report illegally, send a written request asking to clarify the reason for the refusal. If there is no adequate response, send a complaint to a higher inspection. Justify your arguments:

the buyer's right to deduct VAT is granted regardless of whether the counterparty fulfills its tax obligations;
delivery and shipment of goods or services is confirmed by invoices and certificates of work performed, testimony of witnesses;
The tax authorities have no evidence of a criminal relationship between the counterparties.

Rely on the decision of the Arbitration Court of the Rostov Region dated March 13, 2017 No. A53-31426/16, the resolution of the Fifteenth Arbitration Court of Appeal dated February 13, 2017 No. 15AP-20848/2016.

We have problems

Starting from December 25, 2021, the tax service is experiencing problems when accepting reports via telecommunication channels (TCC), reports one of the operators, Astral Group of Companies. Namely, response transactions from the Federal Tax Service are delayed: receipts and protocols for receiving reports do not arrive. All operators have problems.

The failures are associated with the next stage of the planned transition of the Federal Tax Service to the automated information system AIS3 (AIS “Tax 3”). Right now, regional bases in this system are being replaced by federal ones. Tax officials promise to later send users receipts, protocols and documents awaiting their turn.

Another special operator, Taxnet, writes that technical problems in the Federal Tax Service should be resolved by February 1, but not everywhere. In many regions, a response from the tax office should be expected no earlier than February 11.

Meanwhile, the official website of the tax service does not comment on the failures. On the contrary, the head of the Federal Tax Service, Mikhail Mishustin, speaks of a high level of provision of digital services and the operation of data processing centers.

AIS "Tax-3" is a unified information system of the Federal Tax Service of Russia, which ensures automation of the activities of the Federal Tax Service for all functions performed. The cost of its development and implementation is 832 million rubles. at the first stage and 950 million rubles. on the second, a total of almost 1.8 billion rubles.

New approach

One of the fundamental norms of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation states that the payer or his representative signs the declaration (calculation), thereby confirming the accuracy and completeness of the specified information (clause 5 of Article 80).

The main purpose of the letter No. ED-4-15/13247 dated July 10, 2018 is to prevent violations of the legislation on taxes and fees when they submit reports that do not correspond to reality. Namely, tax returns are signed by unauthorized or unidentified persons, although formally everything complies with the requirements of Art. 80 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Starting from 2021, tax officials have been given a clear directive - to monitor and collect evidence in advance of submitting unreliable and incomplete tax reports, in order to later withdraw (cancel) them. After all, if you signed the declaration, it means you have assured that all the information presented to the Federal Tax Service is true.

Also see “What actions of tax officials lead to the cancellation of a submitted declaration.”