How to write an explanation of the reason for late transfer of personal income tax?

The most frequently asked questions from the tax office

Usually, the requirement to provide explanations comes some time after submitting all kinds of reports and declarations, so any, even the most minor, error or inaccuracy in the documents can become the reason for them. In many cases, clarification is required for VAT indicated for reimbursement due to discrepancies in information about taxable bases in income tax returns and, again, VAT, if there is a discrepancy in data from counterparties. Questions may cause unreasonable losses when checking the accrual of income tax, filing an updated declaration or calculation in which the corrected amount of tax payable is less than that originally sent, etc.

Procedure upon receipt of a request

After the taxpayer receives requests for clarification, he must check the documents submitted to the tax office with the data in his hands.

First of all, when checking a VAT return, the amounts indicated in it are analyzed (for their compliance with the amounts for all incoming and outgoing invoices). Next, dates, invoice numbers, and other details (TIN, KPP, addresses, etc.) are examined in the same way.

If questions arise regarding the simplified taxation system or income tax return, you should analyze all the amounts of expenses and income that were accepted for their calculation. All other types of documents that raise questions from the tax inspectorate are also checked using the same algorithm as above.

Attention: the law does not say that explanations must be given in writing, i.e. this means that they can also be provided orally. However, in order to avoid further disagreements, it is better to take care of drawing up a written response.

Explanations if there are no errors in 6-NDFL

Moreover, if any discrepancies are discovered during the inspection, then the company will be asked to provide appropriate explanations or updated declarations.

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In this case, in order to avoid any penalties and other administrative measures, entrepreneurs must know how to correctly fill out a sample explanation to the tax office for 6-NDFL and what needs to be taken into account in the process of completing this paper.

What it is

Personal income tax reporting is optional documentation only if the company has not transferred wages to its employees during the current reporting period.

In accordance with the provisions of the Tax Code, the relevant information must be submitted by employers who calculate and withhold the corresponding tax from their employees.

The lack of information for calculating personal income tax and, accordingly, filing reports in Form 6-NDFL is a completely understandable and justified phenomenon if during the reporting period:

the company's work has not yet begun;
the company ceased to exist during the year preceding the reporting year;
the company is engaged in seasonal work, the deadline for which has not yet arrived;
The company's staff includes only the executive director, who performs his duties without any remuneration.

It is highly recommended to promptly notify the authorized persons of the Tax Service about all these circumstances by sending an explanatory note or submitting zero reporting, so that in the future they will not have any unnecessary questions and they will not impose appropriate fines.

Starting in 2021, the list of responsibilities of tax agents has expanded significantly, and every quarter it is necessary to submit reports prepared on form 6-NDFL.

As soon as it is sent to the inspectorate, tax officials immediately begin to study it, and this is done within the limits of desk control and in the appropriate premises of the Tax Service.

In other words, in this case there is no need for the mandatory presence of a company representative.

It is best, of course, in such a situation to predict such a course of events, and if any error is discovered, it is best to immediately submit the necessary explanations to 6-NDFL in order to clarify the position of the company, as well as its reputation as a conscientious agent performing the duties assigned to it obligations.

In case of zero reporting, there is no need to submit any documents to the Tax Service, but in this case, the control authorities may in any case inquire as to why the calculation was not submitted, and in such a situation it is best to provide an explanatory document. Moreover, in some situations it is best to take the initiative to write such a letter yourself.

Sample explanation to the tax office for 6 personal income tax

Important Disclaimers

Depending on the circumstances, you need to approach the reporting procedure differently, since each individual situation has its own peculiarities of document preparation, as well as the need for certain response measures.

Main reasons

First of all, tax officials can detect arrears by comparing the amounts in the reporting with those that were actually transferred to the budget and indicated on the payment card.

In other words, if the tax authorities report arrears, this may indicate that the tax filers paid less in taxes compared to what was indicated in the filed reports.

In this case, the amounts that must be transferred to the budget are prescribed in the terms of Section 2 140.

To do this, it is best to request from authorized persons the appropriate statement of calculations, which will indicate the amount of personal income tax paid.

Initially, the accrual indicators are compared with the calculation of 6-NDFL, after which the payment is compared with the actual documentation.

The company may also be charged a penalty if the tax is not paid on time. At the tax office, the timeliness of tax assessment is carried out by comparing the dates written in line 120 and the date when the actual payment of the tax amount to the budget was registered.

Filing reports in Form 6 Personal Income Tax is mandatory for employers and other companies and individual entrepreneurs making payments to individuals. persons. If the calculation is filled out with errors or is not provided at all, provide written explanations to the tax authority. An explanatory note will also be required if any disputes arise with the inspection.

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During the desk audit, the tax inspectorate, if it has doubts about the reliability of the reporting, will request clarification. Term – 5 working days, otherwise a fine of 5,000 rubles.

The explanatory note is drawn up in free form, on the original company letterhead, indicating the details. The explanation provides answers to questions raised by the tax inspectorate.

Providing explanations to the tax authority occurs in the following ways:

By mail, in this case it is advisable to send an explanation by “valuable” letter with notification;
Electronically – via TKS;
Bring it to the inspection office in person or arrange for courier delivery.

Let's consider situations that require clarification and examples of explanations for 6 personal income taxes.

Zero calculation

If there were no payments to individuals during the tax period, zero reporting is not submitted. However, the inspector does not know for sure why 6 personal income tax was not provided. The organization is held accountable (for example, the inspectorate blocks the current account).

To prevent this from happening, they send a letter to the tax office stating that the organization is not a tax agent for personal income tax, and therefore there is no obligation to provide reporting.

Attention! If the company transferred income to an individual at least once in the current calendar year, then they submit reports from the moment of payment until the end of the year, even if there were no transfers in subsequent reporting periods.

For example, under the GPC agreement, remuneration was paid in January 2017, there were no other transfers this year, which means the organization submits a report for the 1st quarter, for 6 months, 9 months and a year.

When checking the reports, the inspectorate will immediately discover that personal income tax was not transferred on time. During automatic reconciliation, the amounts and dates of tax payment according to the calculation are checked with the information of the supervisory authority. If the information differs, the tax service demands clarification.

Typically this happens in two situations:

The amount of personal income tax withheld exceeds the amount of collected tax transferred to the budget;
Failure to pay taxes on time.

In addition to deliberate non-payment of personal income tax, there are other reasons why discrepancies in information arise.

Errors in calculation;
Incorrect details in the payment order.

Important! Incorrect KBK, one of the most common mistakes. Codes have been established for types of taxes in full, as well as for paying penalties on them. If, when filling out a payment slip, the accountant chose the wrong KBK, the payment was not intended and the money went to the wrong place.

In the first case, an adjusted report is submitted, in the second, the order is clarified and an explanation is provided that an error was made in the instructions of the BCC.

What to do when the tax demand is unfair

It happens that the tax inspectorate demands explanations unreasonably, i.e. no errors were made in the reporting. In such situations, you cannot ignore letters from the tax office either.

In order to avoid any sanctions (including sudden tax audits), it is necessary to promptly notify the supervisory service that, in accordance with the information of the enterprise, all the information provided is correct.

In any case, when drawing up a response, you must remember that for the tax office it is not so much the content of the letter that is important, but the fact of the response to the request itself.

Sample of a response to a tax request for clarification

As mentioned above, there is no unified response form for giving tax explanations, so you can compose it in any form. It is worth noting that the form of the response must be extremely correct and standard in terms of the rules for preparing such papers.

First, on the left or right (it doesn’t matter) you need to indicate the addressee, i.e. exactly the tax office where the response is sent. Here you need to enter its number, as well as the region and locality to which it belongs.
Next, the sender of the letter is indicated: the name of the company, its address (actual), as well as the telephone number (in case the tax inspector has any additional questions for clarification) is written.
Further in the answer you should refer to the request number (and the tax service always assigns numbers to such documents), and its date (note: not the date of receipt, but the date of preparation), and also briefly outline the essence of the question.
After this, you can proceed directly to giving explanations. They should be written in as much detail as possible, with all the necessary links to documents, laws, regulations, etc. The more carefully this part of the answer is prepared, the greater the chance that the tax office will be satisfied with it.

In no case should you give unreliable or deliberately false information in your answer - they will be quickly detected and then immediate sanctions from the tax authorities will follow.

After the explanation is given, it is necessary to certify the letter with the signature of the chief accountant (if necessary), as well as the head of the company (required).

When to write an answer

If, as a result of an audit, the organization received a letter from the tax office requesting clarification, most likely, errors were identified during automatic reporting control. However, an institution is not always obliged to respond to a request from the Federal Tax Service. Explanations must be sent if the inspector has questions regarding the conduct of desk audits of periodic or final reporting.

The most common inaccuracies that imply a response to a request from the tax office for clarification are:

errors in tax returns - errors in VAT, income tax;

discrepancies in information from related documents and taxpayer reports;

discrepancy between the information provided by the organization and the data available to the Federal Tax Service;

errors in documents and actions to obtain tax benefits.

Thus, an explanatory letter in response to a request for clarification must be sent if discrepancies are identified during desk audits (clause 3 of Article 88 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). But it will not be superfluous for the taxpayer if he sends explanatory information to the request of the Federal Tax Service that is not related to the camera room. This will help formulate a clear position of the institution in resolving a particular problem.

Explanatory note about the reason for non-payment of personal income tax

Inspectors analyze the amounts of tax receipts, comparing them with reporting data.
If any discrepancies are detected between data from different sources, tax authorities may request clarification from the taxpayer (clause 3 of Article 88 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Subscribe to our channel in Yandex. Zen! Subscribe to the channel The taxpayer is required to provide an explanation of late payment of personal income tax within 5 days. For violation of this deadline, a fine of 5,000 rubles may be collected from him, and in case of repeated violation within a year - 20,000 rubles. (Article 129.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

How to correctly compose an explanation: a sample on which you can prepare an answer. There is no approved form of explanation, so it can be arbitrary.

The main thing is that the tax response about late payment of personal income tax contains a reliable explanation of the detected deviations and is justified and convincing.

Our tax office sent a request for explanations, which does not have a stamp. Is this legal? It is right that the requirements submitted by the Federal Tax Service may not have the stamp of the tax authority (letter of the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation NED-3-2/2739 dated July 15, 2015). Question No. 3.

“If our organization ignores the tax authorities’ requirement and does not provide an explanation, can we be fined?” The tax office has no right to charge you a fine for refusing to provide explanations. However, it is in your best interests to provide explanations, because

Based on discrepancies between the declaration data and the tax authorities, you may be charged additional taxes or payments, and this is more complicated. Rate the quality of the article.

Written explanation to the tax office regarding personal income tax (sample)

In case of zero reporting, there is no need to submit any documents to the Tax Service, but in this case, the control authorities may in any case inquire as to why the calculation was not submitted, and in such a situation it is best to provide an explanatory document.

Moreover, in some situations it is best to take the initiative to write such a letter yourself.

What does a sample explanation to the tax office for 6-personal income tax look like?

If a typo was found in the reporting, then in this case you will need to submit an explanation indicating the following points:

Full name and position of the person to whom the document is submitted;
full name of the company that sends the reports;
TIN, OGRN and KPP of the organization;
indication of the number of the document in which the requirement to provide this paper was indicated;
providing an explanation of why the error occurred in the documentation and how it was corrected.
the initials of the person drawing up the document and his personal signature.

Exactly the same information must be indicated if tax officials find any discrepancies between the information specified in the certificates.

Explanations to the tax office regarding personal income tax (sample)

Such discrepancies in amounts may be associated with receipts to the current account that are not taken into account when calculating the company’s income, for example, a return of payment from a supplier, assistance from the founders of the organization, loans, etc.

explanatory note on the simplified tax system Explanatory note on losses When tax authorities require an explanation of a loss in the declaration, it is necessary to justify the reason for its occurrence.

Therefore, it is necessary to provide documentary evidence of income and expenses, explain how the calculation took place, and also justify the occurrence of this loss.

Extracts from accounting registers, contracts with suppliers, contracts with clients, etc. are suitable for documentary evidence. The more carefully you prepare an explanation, the fewer additional questions the tax office will have.

Sample explanatory note to the tax office upon request for personal income tax

Specific wording and arguments depend on what kind of deviations caused the inspectors’ questions:

A technical error. The tax was calculated and paid on time and in full, but an error was made in the KBK or OKTMO. In this case, along with an explanation, you must submit an application for clarification of payment.
Discrepancy between the periods of accrual and payment of personal income tax.
Attention The tax agent must transfer personal income tax no later than the day following the day of payment of wages (clause 6 of Article 226 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). If the salary is issued on the last day of the reporting period (quarter), then the tax can be transferred already in the next period. This is not a violation, but this situation will need to be explained to the tax authorities.
Actual delay.

If the tax was actually paid later than the due date, one should refer to the presence of mitigating circumstances (Article 112 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

What is it? Personal income tax reporting is optional documentation only if the company has not transferred wages to its employees during the current reporting period.

Sample explanation to the tax office for 6-personal income tax

Like any outgoing document, you must register the note under a specific number;
The explanation must contain the name of the authority to which you are sending this note. This must be the tax authority at the place of registration of the organization or individual entrepreneur;
The note must indicate the number of the request that the tax office sent you;
In the text of the note, it is advisable to highlight sections, subsections, paragraphs and subparagraphs;
Attachments to the note must be properly completed.
If the error indicated by the tax authorities really exists in the report, but it does not affect the final result and does not underestimate the tax base, the organization or entrepreneur can do the following: indicate in the explanatory note that “the specified error does not underestimate the tax base and does not reduce payments to the budget, the correct consider the value”, or immediately submit an updated declaration.

Source: https://juristufa.ru/2018/04/21/poyasnitelnaya-zapiska-o-prichine-ne-uplate-ndfl/

What happens if you don’t send a response to the tax office?

If an enterprise that has received a request from the tax authorities to provide explanations ignores this request, then, according to paragraph 1 of Art. 129.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the consequence may be administrative liability and penalties in the amount of 5,000.00 (if the answer is not provided once) to 20,000.00 rubles (if this is a repeated violation).

Among other things, providing detailed explanatory information will lead to a dialogue with the Federal Tax Service and further resolution of the situation, while an unanswered request may lead to serious proceedings that do not exclude going to court.

How to write an explanation for a tax inspection request

The procedure for submitting a response with explanatory information is prescribed in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. After completing a desk audit of periodic or final reporting, the inspector sends a letter to the institution in paper or electronic form about identified discrepancies that are subject to clarification, clarification or adjustment.

The organization must generate and submit explanatory material within five working days from the date of receipt of the request from the Federal Tax Service (Clause 3 of Article 88 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). The letter is written in any form. If a taxpayer is preparing a response to a request regarding a desk tax audit, then he should use the sample that will be presented later in the article.

A response to a request for clarification can be submitted through an electronic document management system with the mandatory use of an electronic signature, by email, by courier, or directly to the inspectorate (the letter must be registered in the office). To prove his position, the taxpayer prepares a package of documents with all the necessary attachments, certified and signed by the head.

If the specialist is sure that there cannot be any inaccuracies or discrepancies in the reporting submitted by him, then the explanation must indicate that the declaration or report for the specified period does not contain errors. If errors were nevertheless made, the taxpayer can submit an adjustment to the declaration clarifying the submitted information (clause 1 of Article 81 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

If technical errors or inaccuracies are discovered that do not affect the taxable base and the amount of calculated tax, the explanatory material can describe the current situation, noting that the correct option is provided in the response to the request or in the updated declaration.

Question of the week: How to write an explanation to the Tax Office about non-payment of personal income tax on time?

The accountant inadvertently paid less personal income tax than necessary. They found the mistake and paid extra a week later. The tax office asks for an explanation about non-payment of taxes on time. Please advise how best to write a response to the tax office.

I inform you the following:

If you underpaid personal income tax, that is, you withheld but did not transfer the entire amount of tax that you should have, you will be held accountable in the form of a fine. The fine is 20% of the underpaid tax amount. The amount of the fine may be reduced by decision of the tax authority.

You can ask the tax authority to reduce the amount of the fine, citing mitigating circumstances. The more such circumstances you provide, the greater the chance that the fine will be reduced. Mitigating circumstances may include, for example:

— independent identification and elimination of the offense by paying the amount of tax and penalties before drawing up a desk tax audit report;

— slight delay in personal income tax payment (1-2 days);

— absence of fines for similar tax offenses previously (that is, the violation was committed for the first time);

— difficult financial situation of the organization;

— implementation of socially significant activities.

The tax authority will decide whether to recognize circumstances as mitigating liability. If the circumstances are recognized as mitigating, then the amount of the fine should be reduced by at least half.

If you withheld personal income tax, but did not transfer it (untimely transferred) it to the budget, then in addition to the fine, you will be charged a penalty. Penalties must be paid together with the amount of arrears for personal income tax or after payment of the entire amount of such tax.

In accordance with the information provided, the response to the Federal Tax Service can be drawn up as follows: “LLC___ when calculating wages for July 2021. withheld personal income tax in the amount of___. When transferring the amount of personal income tax to the budget on ____(date), the payment order by mistake did not reflect the entire amount of withheld tax; ___ (amount) was transferred. This error was discovered and corrected by us on ___(date) ourselves. Along with the personal income tax surcharge, we calculated and paid penalties. Due to the fact that we eliminated this offense ourselves in a short time and paid penalties, we ask you not to hold ___ LLC liable for late payment of taxes. We also ask you to take into account the fact that this is the first time such an offense has been committed by the organization.”

Document 1

This is interesting: Line 100 6 personal income tax accrued or payment

1.4. What is the fine for underpayment of personal income tax by a tax agent?

If you underpaid personal income tax, that is, you withheld but did not transfer the entire amount of tax that you should have, you will be held accountable in the form of a fine. The fine is 20% of the underpaid tax amount (Article 123 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). The amount of the fine may be reduced by decision of the tax authority and (or) the court.

1.5. How to reduce the fine

If you violated the deadline for paying personal income tax and you were fined, you can ask the tax authority and (or) the court to reduce the amount of the fine, citing mitigating circumstances (clause 1 of Article 112 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). They need to be documented. The more such circumstances you provide, the greater the chance that the fine will be reduced.

Mitigating circumstances may include, for example:

slight delay in personal income tax payment (1 - 2 days);
absence of fines for similar tax offenses previously (that is, the violation was committed for the first time);
difficult financial situation of the organization;
carrying out socially significant activities.

Whether circumstances are recognized as mitigating liability will be decided by the tax authority and (or) the court. If the circumstances are recognized as mitigating, then the amount of the fine should be reduced by at least half (clause 3 of Article 114 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Penalties for personal income tax

If you withheld personal income tax, but did not transfer (untimely transferred) it to the budget, then in addition to the fine, you will be charged a penalty (clause 1 of Article 75 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Next, we will consider in detail the procedure for calculating and paying penalties for personal income tax.

Penalties must be paid together with the amount of arrears for personal income tax or after payment of the entire amount of such tax (clause 5 of Article 75 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Document 2

Mitigating circumstances: independent identification and elimination of the offense by payment of the amount of tax and penalties before drawing up a desk tax audit report;

The service is provided in accordance with the regulations of the CONSULTATION LINE . We recommend that you familiarize yourself with it in advance.

includes the selection, analysis and provision of information, as well as regulatory and consulting materials prepared using SPS ConsultantPlus, on the issue

The answer was prepared by an expert of the Consultation Line

Response to VAT return requirement

A sample response to a request to the tax office for a VAT return must be generated electronically if the organization, by law, must submit a report through electronic document management tools (clause 3 of Article 88 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). To respond to a VAT request, there is a specially approved form, therefore, based on clause 1 of Art. 129 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the taxpayer is obliged to comply not only with the conditions for electronic submission, but also with the form of explanations submitted. As supporting documentation for VAT, a specialist can prepare copies of invoices and purchase and sales books.

Response to claim for damages

The sample response to the Federal Tax Service's claim for losses must contain information on why the taxpayer has an excess of expenses over income. The main thing that a specialist should note when drawing up an explanation is the economic efficiency and feasibility of increased costs, and also attach supporting documents to the answer for each type of expense incurred.

If inspectors find errors during the calculation check, they will demand an explanation. We have found three main reasons why tax authorities may request clarification on 6-NDFL. See this article for sample answers.

Tax mitigating circumstances: choose, declare

independent identification and correction by the taxpayer of errors in tax calculation by submitting clarifications of the FAS Resolution PO No. A12-11813/2010; FAS MO No. A40-41701/11-91-182; FAS SKO No. A32-24187/2010; FAS VSO No. A33-18193/2010, despite the fact that the tax has not yet been paid;
payment of tax and penalties before a decision on prosecution is made *Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service UO No. F09-6797/12; FAS ZSO No. A27-17468/2010;

for other taxes there is an overpayment**Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service No. A03-17603/2009; 3 AAS No. A33-4210/2010

Failure to submit to the inspection documents and information necessary for tax control (Article. There is no standard form for explanations. In this article we will tell you how to write an explanation to the tax office for 6-NDFL, if discrepancies are found, we will show sample answers. Calculate your salary online Activate VIP access to magazine "Salary" How to write an explanation for 6-NDFL Read in the article:

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Explanatory note to 6-NDFL: sample
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Tax agents report quarterly to their Federal Tax Service on personal income tax withheld from employee income and transferred to the budget.

Explanations to the tax office for 6-NDFL: sample 1

According to the 6-NDFL calculation, inspectors immediately figure out that the company paid the tax late. To do this, tax officials look at how much tax and what payment deadline the company has written down in lines 070 and 120. These indicators are compared with the amounts and dates of payments in the budget settlement card. If the tax withheld is more than the tax paid, inspectors require an explanation. You must answer in free form. See sample below.

Explanations to the tax office for 6-NDFL Sample 1

TIN 7701025478, checkpoint 770101001, OGRN 1045012461022

Moscow, st. Basmannaya, 25

To the Head of the Federal Tax Service of Russia No. 1 for Moscow

Ref. No. 87 from 11/14/16

We present an updated calculation in which personal income tax was excluded from the salary for September from line 070. At the same time, we inform you that we do not consider this procedure for filling out line 070 to be unreliable information, since in the order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated October 14, 2015 No. ММВ-7-11 / [email protected] there are no clear rules for filling it out.

1. Copy of payment order for personal income tax payment No. 381 dated September 30, 2016.

2. Copy of the bank statement for 09/30/16.

General Director Astakhov I.I. Astakhov

Personal income tax was paid late, how to write an explanation

Tax inspectors are quite actively checking reporting on the new Form 6-NDFL, regularly reconciling report indicators against certain control ratios. Moreover, if any discrepancies are discovered during the inspection, then the company will be asked to provide appropriate explanations or updated declarations. In this case, in order to avoid any penalties and other administrative measures, entrepreneurs must know how to correctly fill out a sample explanation to the tax office for 6-NDFL and what needs to be taken into account in the process of completing this paper. What is it? Personal income tax reporting is optional documentation only if the company has not transferred wages to its employees during the current reporting period.

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Explanations to the tax office for 6-NDFL: sample 2

The company may also have been confused about how to fill out the withheld tax in line 070 of the 6-NDFL calculation. First, the entire tax that was withheld until the date of the calculation was recorded in line 070. Then line 070 coincided with line 040 (calculated tax). Then the Federal Tax Service clarified that in line 070 it is necessary to fill out only the tax that the company withheld on the last day of the reporting period (letter dated May 24, 2016 No. BS-4-11/9194). The companies redid the reports, and lines 040 and 070 no longer matched. Now inspectors are demanding to know why. To answer the requirement, write explanations in free form.

Please note in your explanation that there are no errors in the calculation. And the numbers in lines 040 and 070 should not match. This follows from the control ratios (letter of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated March 10, 2016 No. BS-4-11/ [email protected] ).

Tell the inspectors that in line 040 the company recorded tax calculated on the income that employees received during the reporting period. Next, explain that in line 070 the company showed the tax that it withheld during the reporting period. For this reason, the numbers in lines 040 and 070 do not match. That is, explain why the information in lines 040 and 070 is different. Otherwise, if you simply say that there are no errors in the calculation, the inspectors will again demand an explanation.

In the explanations, it is worth giving a calculation of the difference and referring to letters from the Federal Tax Service on how to fill out lines 040 and 070. This way, inspectors will immediately see that everything is in order in the calculation and will not ask additional questions.

Explanations to the tax office for 6-NDFL Sample 2

Limited Liability Company “Company”

127138, Moscow, st. Basmannaya, 25

To the Head of the Federal Tax Service of Russia No. 8 for Moscow

Ref. No. 142/О from 09.08.16

about the different amount of tax in lines 040 and 070 of the 6-NDFL calculation

In response to the request for explanations (ref. dated 08.08.16 No. 52-12-13/142), Limited Liability Company “Company” reports that the calculated tax in line 040 and the withheld personal income tax in line 070 differ due to the fact that the company issued salaries for March in April 2021.

The salary for January – March 2021 is 10,000,000 rubles, deductions are 84,000 rubles. The calculated personal income tax in line 040 is equal to RUB 1,289,080. ((RUB 10,000,000 – RUB 84,000) x 13%).

LLC “Company” issued salaries for March in the amount of 3,000,000 rubles on April 5, 2021. The tax on this amount is 390,000 rubles. (RUB 3,000,000 x 13%). The Federal Tax Service recommends recording in line 070 of the 6-NDFL calculation only the tax that the company withheld on the last day of the reporting period (letters dated 05.24.16 No. BS-4-11/9194, dated 05.16.16 No. BS-4-11/8609) .

In accordance with the control ratios, the difference in the lines is not an error (letter of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated March 10, 2016 No. BS-4-11 / [email protected] ).

General Director I.I. Astakhov

Why tax authorities will ask for clarification on 6-NDFL

According to zero 6-personal income tax

Personal income tax reporting becomes optional if wages have not been accrued or paid for the current reporting period. After all, the Tax Code of the Russian Federation (according to paragraph 2 of Article 230) obliges the employer, who calculates and withholds the income tax of his employees, to submit the relevant information.

The lack of data for calculating tax and, therefore, filling out the 6-NDFL calculation is quite understandable and justified if for the reporting period:

work activity has not begun;
the activity was discontinued in the year preceding the reporting year;
the organization performs seasonal work, the time for which has not yet come;
The organization's staff includes only a director who works without remuneration.

It is necessary to notify the Federal Tax Service of these and similar circumstances in a timely manner: send an explanatory note or submit a zero reporting form, so as not to raise unnecessary questions and not be subject to a fine.

Registration procedure

To draw up an explanatory note, you need the organization's letterhead indicating its main details: full name, postal address, telephone numbers, email, TIN.

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Registration number, date, manager’s signature, and company seal are required.

The explanation may look like the example shown in the link below. You can also see other examples of writing explanations using the link below.

During the year, situations may arise when, with zero quarterly data, it is impossible to limit oneself to submitting an explanatory note on 6-NDFL; a report is required. It is clear that if an organization calculated the tax, but did not pay it in the reporting period (the real income of the employees was not paid), then the tax calculation will no longer be zero.

In this case, we must report to the regulatory authority.

How to perform quarterly tax calculations if wages were accrued and paid once throughout the year? Form 6-NDFL is filled out with a cumulative total, reflecting the entire amount of tax accrued and paid since the beginning of the current year. That's why:

if payments were made only in the 1st quarter, reports are submitted quarterly;
payments were made in the 2nd quarter, which means that instead of a report for the first 3 months, an explanatory note is sent to the tax office, and a report is sent for half a year, 9 months and a year;
payments arose in the 3rd quarter, therefore, for the 1st quarter and half of the year, not a report is needed, but an explanatory letter, and for the following reporting periods it is necessary to submit reports;
the appearance of income and corresponding payments only in the 4th quarter is exempt from quarterly reports (but not from explanatory notes to the tax office); an annual report will be required.

The tax office cannot refuse a report with zero indicators. The subtlety is that filing a report with zero data may sometimes be appropriate if it is likely that updated reports will be prepared for this period containing information on the payment of income.

Then the timely sent zero report can be supplemented with an updated one, and it will be presented as a primary one. And this will allow you to avoid inevitable penalties for failure to submit a report.

Many consider it a good idea to insure against possible blocking of a current account by sending zero reports to the tax office. The fact is that the Federal Tax Service program does not determine the reason for failure to submit a report and blocks accounts automatically.

If the tax office has discovered any inconsistencies or contradictions in the received 6-NDFL report, it will require clarification or corrections to the calculation form. A corrected report will need to be submitted within 5 days.

The response to the inspection requirement has its own deadlines, violation of which will result in the accrual of fines.

When the audit is carried out automatically and formally, the tax inspectorate may have various questions for the taxpayer if it turns out that:

the amounts of accrued, withheld and transferred tax do not match;
the employee’s income has decreased significantly compared to the previous period;
indicators in forms 6-NDFL and 2-NDFL differ;
the deductions made are unfounded.

Since there is no set standard for expository writing and the content is presented freely, it is important that it be persuasive and motivated.

The three most common reasons for requests from the tax office, which will require sending an explanatory letter:

The discrepancy between the amounts of paid and accrued tax. It may arise as a result of an error in the payment order or in the calculation itself.
The checkpoint or OKTMO is incorrectly indicated in the reporting document. This often happens when a division mistakenly puts the codes of the parent organization on its reporting.
Contradictions in the dates of calculation of 6-NDFL (lines 100, 110,120).

In addition, a desk audit may draw attention to the discrepancy between the company’s reporting (2-NDFL and 6-NDFL) and the income statement provided by the employee himself - 3-NDFL.

Independent clarification and correction of inaccuracies and technical errors before they are discovered by the inspector should be made a rule.

Specific examples

Whatever happens in reporting practice. Let's look at possible specific cases. For example, form 6-NDFL was drawn up correctly and submitted on time.

At the same time, as the control ratios for verification indicate, the calculated tax (line 070), reduced by the amount of the returned tax (line 090), should not exceed the amount of the paid tax shown in the budget settlement card.

If the reporting shows the opposite, the inspector will have reason to believe that the withheld amount only partially went to the budget.

When compiling it you must:

Indicate the details of the payment order, the exact and full name of the recipient and the digital code.
Inform that the company has sent an application to clarify the payment, citing the relevant article of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
Indicate that the payment must be taken into account in the taxpayer’s settlement card with the budget.
It is imperative to emphasize that the Federal Treasury account number and bank details were correctly entered into the payment order. Consequently, the payment has actually been made, which eliminates the need to make corrections to the personal income tax calculation.

What violations of established rules are considered by the tax authorities as failure to submit a report:

submitting a report later than the deadline in the absence of insurmountable obstacles;
inclusion of erroneous, unreliable data in the report if the reporting organization did not correct the error before it was discovered by the tax inspectorate;
inappropriate way to provide a report on paper if the number of employees of the organization exceeds 25.

For 2021, the penalties are as follows:

calculation submitted with errors - 500 rubles;
payment submitted on paper - 200 rubles;
payment submitted after the deadline - 1000 rubles. for each month of delay.

If the period of delay is more than 10 days, it is already possible to apply such a measure as blocking the current account of the enterprise (according to Article 76 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). In addition, officials may also be subject to administrative punishment: a fine will range from 300 to 500 rubles. per person.

An appeal to the Federal Tax Service with an explanatory note may be caused by a request from an inspector, or it may be an independent decision of the reporting executor. Timely submission of such a document eliminates complications in relations with the tax authority and will allow you to concentrate entirely on your current work.

Form 6-NDFL is submitted by tax agents quarterly, starting from 2021 (Order of the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation dated October 14, 2015 No. ММВ-7-11/450).

After checking the received Calculation, if inconsistencies, inaccuracies or errors are detected, tax authorities can send a request for clarification, which requires a response, or for making corrections to the Calculation.

Explanations regarding 6-NDFL must be provided to the tax office no later than 5 working days after receiving the request (clause 3 of Article 88 and clause 2 of Article 105.29 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

There is no set form for drawing up explanations, so they can be drawn up in any form. It is important that the explanations are convincingly formulated and justified.

Since such reporting does not relate to calculations or declarations, certificates are not looked at during desk audits.

However, inspectors study the document as it is provided and if questions arise or there are doubts about the reliability of the information, tax officials request an explanatory note.

There are many situations in which inspectors may require a note. Any inaccuracies in the document need clarification.

In practice, you need to answer questions from the Federal Tax Service in the following cases:

There are discrepancies in the amounts of calculated, withheld and paid personal income tax;
incorrect application of tax deductions;
discrepancy between the amount of income and the tax paid;
discrepancies between 2nd personal income tax provided by the employer and the 3rd personal income tax declaration filled out by the employee (for example, when receiving a property deduction);
discrepancy between the number of submitted certificates and statistical information on the number of employees of the organization;
differences in information between 2 personal income taxes and 6 personal income taxes.