In what case and for what can a company (individual entrepreneur) be fined for failure to provide or provision of false information to statistics?
In addition to accounting (financial) and tax reporting, organizations and individual entrepreneurs must also submit statistical reporting. This obligation to submit primary statistical data to state statistics bodies is provided for by Federal Law No. 282-FZ of November 29, 2007 “On official statistical accounting and the system of state statistics in the Russian Federation” (hereinafter referred to as Law No. 282-FZ).
ACCOUNTING SERVICES
Rosstat of the Russian Federation, within the framework of its powers, approves the forms of federal statistical observation and instructions for filling them out (clause 5.5 of the Regulations on the Federal State Statistics Service, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of June 2, 2008 No. 420).
Where can I see the obligation to submit statistical reporting?
Selective statistical observations are carried out by Rosstat of the Russian Federation in the form (clause 1 of the rules for conducting selective statistical observations of the activities of small and medium-sized businesses, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of February 16, 2008 No. 79, hereinafter referred to as Rules No. 79):
- monthly and (or) quarterly surveys of small and medium-sized enterprises (except for micro-enterprises);
- annual surveys of micro-enterprise activities.
And if sample observation is carried out, then only those small enterprises that are included in the sampling percentage of Rosstat of the Russian Federation should submit statistical reports (clause 2 of Rules No. 79).
ADVANTAGES OF ACCOUNTING OUTSOURCING
Important!
Lists of companies or individual entrepreneurs that must submit a particular statistical report are posted on regional statistics websites in the section: “Reporting” - “Statistical reporting” - “Lists of reporting business entities”.
Statistical information must be provided to statistics according to approved forms of federal statistical observation on paper (at the location of the respondent) or electronically in the established format using an electronic signature, no later than the submission deadlines indicated on the forms.
REPORTING TO STATISTICS: WHOM AND WHEN TO REPORT (PART 1)
REPORTING TO STATISTICS: TO WHOM AND WHEN TO REPRESENT (PART 2)
In what cases can a company be fined?
A fine may be imposed if the organization does not submit a statistical report within the prescribed period or indicates false information in the report. What data is considered unreliable? Maxim Prokhorov, an expert in the Kontur.Extern system for reporting to Rosstat, comments:
“Many respondents believe that false information can only be provided intentionally. Therefore, if they do not distort information, then fines for false information will not affect them. However, it is not. According to clause 6 of the Regulations on the conditions for mandatory provision of primary statistical data (approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of August 18, 2008 No. 620), an unreliable report is a report prepared in violation of the instructions for filling it out, with arithmetic and logical errors.”
How to avoid mistakes? M. Prokhorov recommends carefully reading the instructions for filling out, which are approved for each form. They will help you figure out how to calculate each indicator and check the report for arithmetic and logical errors.
Amount of fines
Punishment for failure to provide primary statistical data or provision of unreliable statistical information is an administrative offense and entails the imposition of an administrative fine under Art. 13.19 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.
EXPRESS AUDIT OF ACCOUNTING STATEMENTS
Important!
Thanks to the Federal Law of December 30, 2015 No. 442-FZ “On Amendments to Article 13.19 of the Administrative Code”, which came into force on December 30, 2015, the liability of companies and individual entrepreneurs for failure to submit (late submission) of statistical information has been tightened.
Failure to provide primary statistical data in the prescribed manner or untimely provision of this data will entail fines:
- for officials in the amount of 10 thousand to 20 thousand rubles;
- for legal entities - from 20 thousand to 70 thousand rubles.
Repeated violation is punishable by large fines:
- for officials in the amount of 30 thousand to 50 thousand rubles,
- for legal entities – from 100 thousand to 150 thousand rubles.
Repeated administrative offense means that a company or individual entrepreneur has not previously submitted (or submitted in violation of the established deadline) statistical reporting forms, regardless of its type. That is, we are not talking about cases of failure to submit (or submission in violation of the deadline) of a specific form of statistical reporting (for example, form P-5 (m) “Basic information about the activities of the organization,” approved by order of the State Statistics Committee of the Russian Federation dated August 11, 2016 No. 414 ). An increased fine is applied in the event of repeated failure to submit (or submission in violation of the deadline) any form of statistical reporting.
However, payment of penalties does not negate the need to provide appropriate statistical reporting forms.
ORGANIZATION OF ACCOUNTING IN THE ENTERPRISE
Let us remind you that statistical reporting can be transmitted:
- on paper directly to the territorial statistical office or sent by mail (by registered mail with a list of attachments);
- in electronic form using a specialized electronic reporting operator or on the website of Rosstat of the Russian Federation.
In addition, in accordance with Article 3 of the Law of the Russian Federation dated May 13, 1992 No. 2761-1 “On liability for violation of the procedure for submitting state statistical reporting,” a company or individual entrepreneur that provided reporting in violation of deadlines or inaccurate data, at the request of state authorities statistics compensates for damages incurred due to the need to correct the summary results for these reports.
In practice, this rule does not work, since there are no clear criteria for calculating the damage caused by the respondent.
Fines for failure to report
Fines for failure to submit reports to statistics in 2021 are established by the Code of Administrative Offences, namely Article 13.19:
“Failure by respondents to provide primary statistical data to subjects of official statistical records in the prescribed manner or untimely provision of this data or provision of unreliable primary statistical data is recognized as an administrative offense and entails the imposition of an administrative fine:
- for officials - 10,000-20,000 rubles;
- for legal entities - 20,000-70,000 rubles.
Repeated commission of an administrative offense provided for in Part 1 of this article shall entail the imposition of an administrative fine:
- for officials - 30,000-50,000 rubles;
- for legal entities - 100,000-150,000 rubles.”3
In addition to these figures, according to Article 20.25 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, the fine for failure to provide statistical reporting in 2021 can be doubled. This applies not only to those who deliberately did not submit the relevant documents, but also to enterprises that were late in submitting them.
The absence of an audit report is also punishable by fines. According to Article 19.7 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation for different categories of entrepreneurs, the amounts are as follows:
- citizens - 100-300 rubles;
- officials - 300-500 rubles;
- legal entities - 3000-5000 rubles.
The Federal Tax and Statistical Services require a lot of documents, and their number and variety confuses even experienced specialists. The audit report requires certain material costs, and statistical reporting is provided in different forms for different types of enterprises. However, the fines for failure to provide these documents are significant, and a persistent violation can lead to your company being banned from operating.
Challenging fines
When challenging a “statistical” fine, the company must have evidence that all measures within its power to provide statistical reporting have been taken.
Thus, checking the company’s argument that the reporting in Form No. 2-C on paper was sent by registered mail, the courts pointed out that the postal receipt for payment of the corresponding postal item (which contains the unique postal identifier assigned to the postal item, allowing you to track the receipt and delivery of this postal item) the company does not have.
The courts also found that the company had the opportunity to comply with the rules and regulations of the current legislation, but no objective evidence was provided that the company took all measures within its power to comply with the rules and regulations for any independent reasons. This fact indicates the presence of guilt in the actions of the company. In such situations, the courts do not satisfy the company’s demands to cancel the decision to prosecute under Article 19.7.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation for violating the deadline for submitting annual statistical reports (Resolution of the Moscow District AS dated July 13, 2015 No. A40-190349/14).
Who should report and how?
Clause 2 art. 6 of Law No. 282-FZ defines categories of business entities for which statistical observation is mandatory. These include:
- organizations and enterprises;
- bodies of state power and local self-government;
- representative offices of foreign companies;
- individual entrepreneurs.
A simplified reporting procedure is provided for representatives of small businesses. Continuous observations of their activities by statistical bodies are carried out once every 5 years. Sample observations are carried out quarterly for small enterprises and annually for micro-enterprises.
They provide statistical data using special forms approved by Rosstat. The due date and reporting period are indicated on the title page; there are annual, quarterly and monthly reports. They can be submitted on paper or electronically. Statistical forms and instructions for filling them out must be presented on the official website of Rosstat, and upon request of organizations they must be provided free of charge.
If the last reporting date falls on a weekend or holiday, the deadline is moved to the first working day after the weekend. Depending on the option for submitting reports, the date of their submission is considered to be the date:
- transfer of forms to the statistics body;
- sending a registered letter;
- directions of the email.
Clause 6 of Resolution No. 620 recommends that heads of organizations appoint responsible persons who will monitor the timely provision and correct execution of statistical forms.
It should be noted that responsibility comes not only for failure to submit statistical reports, but also for inaccurate information in it. Arithmetic or logical errors, as well as incorrectly completed forms, are considered invalid data. Instructions for their execution are contained in the orders by which they were approved.
If errors are discovered by a statistical agency, it is obliged to notify the organization that provided the data in writing within three days. He, in turn, provides the corrected forms within 3 days after receiving the notification.
The same should be done if unreliable data is identified independently. You should not neglect correcting errors, as this will lead to a serious fine.
Statute of limitations
A decision in a case of an administrative offense, by virtue of Article 4.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, cannot be made after two months (in a case of an administrative offense considered by a judge - after three months) from the date the administrative offense was committed. In practice, this means that the territorial bodies of Rosstat of the Russian Federation will be able to bring companies or individual entrepreneurs to administrative liability under Article 13.19 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation within 2 months from the expiration of the deadline for submitting statistical reports.
AUDIT'S REPORT ON STATISTICS
Responsibility for failure to provide
Read: How to submit a petition to the tax office to reduce the fine?
According to Art. 13.19 of the Code of Administrative Offenses applies penalties to organizations and individual entrepreneurs that have not submitted statistical reports, violated deadlines, or provided false information. The amount of the penalty is:
- from 10 to 20 thousand rubles in relation to officials;
- from 20 to 70 thousand rubles for organizations.
If the offense is repeated, the fine will increase:
- from 30 to 50 thousand rubles will have to be paid to the official;
- from 100 to 150 thousand rubles will be collected from the organization.
Important! Penalties apply for each reporting form!
A subject is considered guilty of an offense if it is revealed that he had the opportunity to comply with legal norms, but did not take all measures within his power to comply with them on the basis of Part 2 of Art. 2.1.Administrative Code.
They can be brought to justice within 2 months after the deadline for submitting statistical forms in accordance with clause 1 of Art. 4.5 Code of Administrative Offences. A repeated offense is considered if the subject already has an administrative punishment under this article and a year has not yet elapsed from the date of its appointment.
Moreover, it does not matter which form the subject failed again: the same one or another. The increased amount of the fine will be applied to the very fact of failure to submit a report. In addition, organizations, enterprises and institutions, on the basis of Law No. 2761-1, when providing distorted information or violating the deadlines for submitting reports, are obliged to compensate the statistical authorities for the damage that arises in connection with the need to adjust the consolidated data
In addition, organizations, enterprises and institutions, on the basis of Law No. 2761-1, when providing distorted information or violating the deadlines for submitting reports, are obliged to compensate the statistical authorities for damage that arises in connection with the need to adjust the summary data.
Since the fines for violating legal requirements for the provision of statistical reporting are significant, business entities need to take this responsibility responsibly.
Download Russian Government Decree No. 620
Form P-4 (NZ)
This form discloses information about underemployment and worker movement. It is due quarterly, no later than the 8th day after the reporting quarter.
Who should take P-4 (NZ)
It is filled out by organizations whose average number of employees in 2021 was more than 15 people. This also takes into account part-time workers and those working under GPC contracts. Small businesses do not provide this form. And separate units rent it out separately.
Newly created organizations provide reports this year regardless of the average number of employees.
The updated form P-4 (NZ) is given in Rosstat Order No. 404 dated July 15, 2019 – Appendix 6.
Instructions for filling out form P-4 (NZ).
Report on form No. 1-T
In this case, we mean reporting for each year, for which information is provided on the number and wages of employees.
Form No. 1-T is not required to be submitted to small businesses. But it is filled out by legal entities of all types of economic activity and forms of ownership that did not provide Form P-4 (information on the number and wages of employees) in the reporting year.
The report must be submitted by January 30 after the reporting period.
Officials authorized to provide primary statistical data on behalf of a legal entity are appointed by the head of the legal entity.
The updated form No. 1-T is presented in Rosstat Order No. 404 dated July 15, 2019 - Appendix 1. When filling out, you should rely on the rules in the instructions.
