On VAT taxation of transactions for the sale of transport and forwarding services when organizing the transportation of goods across the territory of the Russian Federation

Today, commercial cargo transportation rarely occurs without a forwarder, which, in principle, is understandable.

Delivering cargo without even leaving the border of Russia, and only in direct road traffic, is much more difficult than simply bringing it from point A to point B: it involves choosing the best route, and finding a carrier that meets all the requirements, and issuing transportation and shipping documents. documents, and prepare the cargo for shipment, and track its movement...

All this requires time and effort, which the forwarder is called upon to eliminate: being a professional participant in the cargo transportation market, he is aware of the current situation there (tariffs, etc.) and is able to predict all possible problems that may arise during cargo transportation.

What kind of deal is this?

Reference. Freight forwarding services are services provided by a certain company to organize the delivery of cargo to the desired point.

Those. the company provides you with services related to transportation, but does not directly transport anything. The Civil Code has a separate chapter for relations arising in connection with the implementation of a transport expedition. The Civil Code in Article 801 establishes:

Under a transport expedition agreement, one party (the forwarder) undertakes, for a fee and at the expense of the other party (the client - the shipper or consignee), to perform or organize the performance of services specified in the forwarding agreement related to the transportation of goods.

As a result of the agreement, the company assumes responsibility for:

Building a route.
Conclusion of contracts for the provision of transport services in the field of freight transportation.
Organization of loading and unloading, cargo escort, storage.
Formalities, payment of customs duties, cargo insurance.

Accordingly, the customer is freed from a whole layer of work. It should be noted that only legal entities can provide forwarding services, while there are no restrictions on their consumption.

Accounting and income tax

The provisions of the transport expedition agreement affect the accounting procedure and the calculation of income tax. In other words, depending on the terms of the transport expedition agreement, the accountant will reflect in accounting and tax accounting the proceeds from sales and expenses associated with the fulfillment of obligations under the agreement.

If the provisions of the transport expedition contract are similar to the contract for the provision of services, then the proceeds from the sale will be the cost of all services provided to the client under the contract, including the cost of transportation. It does not matter whether the transportation is carried out by a carrier or a forwarder. In this case, sales revenue is recognized by the forwarder based on all receipts under the transport expedition agreement. The cost of forwarding services includes all costs incurred in connection with the execution of the contract.

Example. The organization Transexpedition LLC entered into a transport expedition agreement with Stroypromtorg LLC to organize the transportation of construction materials. According to the terms of the contract, the freight forwarder may involve third parties to fulfill obligations under the contract. According to the transportation agreement concluded by the forwarder with Transway LLC, the costs of paying for the carrier’s services amounted to 47,200 rubles, including VAT - 7,200 rubles. Option 1 (a contract for the provision of services has been concluded). The amount of the forwarder's remuneration under the contract is 59,000 rubles, including VAT - 9,000 rubles. The client does not compensate the forwarder for the costs of paying for third party services. In this case, the forwarder does not transfer to the client the documents received from the carrier. The following entries must be made in the accounting records of Transexpedition LLC: Debit 20 Credit 60 - 40,000 rubles. — expenses for payment of carrier services are reflected; Debit 19 Credit 60 - 7200 rub. — the amount of “input” VAT is taken into account; Debit 68, subaccount “Calculations with the budget for VAT”, Credit 19 - 7200 rubles. — the amount of “input” VAT is claimed for tax deduction; Debit 62 Credit 90-1 - 59,000 rubles. — revenue from the sale of services under the expedition agreement is reflected; Debit 90-3 Credit 68, subaccount “Calculations with the budget for VAT” - 9000 rubles. — VAT has been accrued and must be paid to the budget; Debit 90-2 Credit 20 - 40,000 rub. — expenses for payment of carrier services are written off; Debit 90-9 Credit 99 - 10,000 rub. (59,000 - 9000 - 40,000) - reflects the profit from the sale of forwarder services. In tax accounting, the forwarder includes in sales income all receipts from the client (50,000 rubles), and payments to the carrier (40,000 rubles) he can take into account as expenses, provided that the client does not compensate for these costs (Letters from the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated June 14 .2011 N 03-07-08/185, dated 02/16/2009 N 03-03-06/1/65).

If the provisions of the transport expedition agreement are similar to the intermediary agreement, then the proceeds from the sale will be the forwarder’s remuneration without taking into account the cost of transportation. In this case, the client compensates the forwarder for the expenses incurred under the transportation contract and other expenses.

End of the example. Option 2 (a mediation agreement has been concluded). The amount of the forwarder's remuneration under the contract is 11,800 rubles, including VAT - 1,800 rubles. The client compensates the forwarder for the costs of paying for third party services. In this case, the forwarder transfers to the client the documents received from the carrier. The following entries must be made in the accounting records of Transexpedition LLC: Debit 76 Credit 60 - 47,200 rubles. — expenses for payment of carrier services subject to compensation by the client are reflected; Debit 62 Credit 90-1 - 11,800 rubles. — revenue from the sale of services under the expedition agreement is reflected; Debit 90-3 Credit 68, subaccount “Calculations with the budget for VAT” - 1800 rubles. — VAT has been accrued and must be paid to the budget; Debit 90-9 Credit 99 - 10,000 rub. (11,800 - 1800) - reflects the profit from the sale of forwarder services. In tax accounting, the forwarder includes only his remuneration (10,000 rubles) in income. Funds received from the client and transferred to the carrier as payment for transportation services (RUB 47,200) are not recognized for tax purposes as either income or expense (clause 9, clause 1, article 251, clause 9, article 270 of the Tax Code RF, Letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated May 24, 2012 N 03-03-06/1/270, dated March 30, 2005 N 03-04-11/69).

Note. We believe that, for correctness, the example should be supplemented with a condition about the absence of the forwarder’s own costs in both options for executing the contract.

Kinds

The forwarder, depending on the client’s wishes, can perform the following functions:

Organize the transportation of cargo along the route chosen by the forwarder or customer.
Conclude a contract for the carriage of goods on your own behalf or on behalf of the customer.
Ensure dispatch and transportation of cargo.
Obtaining documents necessary for import/export/transit of goods.
Settlement of customs or other formalities.
Checking the safety and quality of cargo, loading and unloading it.
Payment of duties, fees and other expenses.

Important! The forwarder can provide both the full range and a separate part of them.

Responsibility of the freight forwarding company

First of all, it is worth emphasizing: the law “On transport and forwarding activities” (Article 803 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation) establishes a presumption of guilt of the forwarder. What it is? Like the presumption of innocence, but in reverse. The freight forwarder will always and under almost any circumstances be guilty of loss of cargo. According to the contract, in addition to responsibility for his own actions, he is responsible for the actions of third parties, therefore their mistakes also do not in any way relieve him of responsibility.

When transporting cargo across the territory of the Russian Federation for lost, damaged, missing, etc. cargo, if the company’s fault is proven, the forwarder must pay the owner the full cost of the cargo - in the amount of either the declared or actual (documented) value.

However, if the transportation was carried out in an international format (i.e., went beyond the borders of our country), then the forwarder’s liability is limited to two units of account per kilogram of the total weight of the missing cargo (under Article 7 of the Law “On Freight Forwarding Activities”).

In addition, along with compensation for actual damage, the forwarder must also compensate the client for lost profits caused by loss, shortage or damage to the cargo, and if this is established by the transport expedition agreement, return the previously paid remuneration.

Of course, there are certain circumstances in which the freight forwarder can be found not guilty, but their formulation is somewhat vague: “those that together have signs of emergency and objective unpreventability.” What these circumstances are is not completely clear. Even natural factors cannot be a clear justification. Thanks to terrain reports and weather forecasts, in theory, they could be predicted.

However, what actually relieves the forwarder of responsibility is the client’s omissions: that is, his failure to indicate in the application the specifics of the cargo, the special conditions that its transportation requires, the provision of incomplete and unreliable information about the cargo.

True, even here the law managed to somewhat tighten the rules of the game. The Yarovaya Package obliges forwarders to double-check the data provided by the client for the presence of all necessary information, its truthfulness and the validity of all properties of the cargo.

Attention! Those. If during the provision of a service unexpected expenses arise that are not included in the contract, then they fall on the shoulders of the forwarder. This happens because he is the person responsible for the contract.

Consumer rights in case of improper service

The rights of the consumer when providing services of inadequate quality are defined in Art. 29 of the Law of the Russian Federation “On the Protection of Consumer Rights”. The carrier may be presented with the following at the consumer's discretion:

Demands for gratuitous elimination of deficiencies.
Corresponding reduction in the price of the service.
Reimbursement of expenses incurred by him to eliminate deficiencies on his own or by third parties.
Termination of the contract and full compensation for losses if the detected deficiencies are significant or were not eliminated by the contractor within the prescribed period.

In addition, the consumer has the right to demand full compensation for losses caused to him due to deficiencies in the service provided.
Reference. It should be remembered that claims regarding the quality of services can be made upon discovery, during the provision of transportation services, or upon completion of the transaction.

Even if the troubles occurred due to the fault of the participants involved in the process, and the quality of service turned out to be lower than stated, the customer’s requirements can be addressed exclusively to the forwarder due, again, to his responsibility for the contract. (In turn, on the basis of his own agreements with the participants in the process, he presents his claims to them).

Specifics of transportation costs

When taking into account the costs associated with transportation, the following things deserve attention:

The vehicles used must be reflected in the accounting: on the balance sheet, if they are owned or leased and taken into account on the balance sheet of the recipient, or off the balance sheet, if they are rented or leased and taken into account on the balance sheet of the lessor. This will allow us to reasonably take into account all the costs of their maintenance.

We will talk about off-balance sheet account 001 “Leased fixed assets” in this article.

Vehicles must be registered with the carrier: permanent, if the vehicles are owned, or temporary, if they are rented or leased. The presence of this registration (even when it is temporary) obliges the carrier to charge and pay transport tax.

Find out how to calculate transport tax by following the link.

ATTENTION! From January 2021, starting with the payment for 2021, tax authorities will independently calculate the amount of tax for your company. You no longer need to submit a transport tax return. Details are here.

What to do if you do not agree with the tax calculation is described in a typical situation from ConsultantPlus. Get free demo access to the K+ legal reference system to find out all the details of this procedure.

The inclusion of fuel and lubricants necessary for the operation of vehicles into expenses is carried out in accordance with the approved standards for their write-off. These standards are either approved by law (and must be applied to certain industries) or developed by the company independently. This requires the organization of accounting for fuel consumption for each vehicle and the application of an appropriate write-off algorithm with attribution of excess consumption to costs that do not reduce the profit base.

For the procedure for accounting and writing off fuel and lubricants, see here.

The safety of vehicles in winter conditions depends on the use of special tires designed for more than one winter. It will become necessary to organize not only the repeated issuance of these tires from the warehouse, but also their acceptance for storage for the summer period with the appropriate reflection of these operations in accounting.
Indispensable components of costs will be the following expenses: for vehicle insurance, which will be included in the costs in parts during the validity period of the insurance policy;
periodic technical inspection of vehicles;
carrying out regular maintenance;
mandatory initial (upon hiring) and pre-trip medical examinations of persons driving vehicles;

Learn the nuances of medical examinations for transport company employees from the material “Pre-trip medical examination of drivers.”

payment for special breaks in work intended for rest for persons driving transport;
services for loading and unloading, weighing cargo, cleaning vehicles;
payment for travel on toll roads, for entering the territory of enterprises, storage of goods, use of access roads, delivery of wagons.

Documentation of the transaction

There are several options for agreements, the type of which determines the list of services provided and the responsibilities of the parties.

Forwarding agreements

The most common are the following:

Contract-order. It is assumed that the forwarder has a power of attorney from the client, while maintaining the responsibility of the customer. It is required not only to compensate for all expenses incurred during the provision of the service, but also to pay the appropriate remuneration.
Commission agreement. This scheme involves the carrier acting on its own behalf, but with the redistribution of all bills to the client. He also pays remuneration for the amount of work done. Given the personal responsibility of forwarding, the issuance of powers of attorney is not provided.
Agency contract. This type of contract provides the opportunity to act independently or on behalf of the client with the appropriate power of attorney. Even a scheme is allowed in which part of the transaction is carried out on behalf of the forwarder, and part - on behalf of the client of the company.

Important! In accordance with the above features, transport and forwarding services can be considered as an independent activity in which the forwarder is able to enter into contracts for the provision of transport services.

In this case, the range of services provided is not limited solely to the transportation of goods, but covers the entire related spectrum.

With this scheme, the forwarder can keep secret for the client all expenses incurred in the process of interaction with third parties involved in the transportation process. All financial settlements of the client are made only with the help of the forwarder specified in the contract, which is already settling with third parties. This scheme implies that the forwarder maintains the secret of his income and the list of partners with whom interaction is organized.

Transport services, which include aviation and railway services, are an important part of modern life. Our experts have prepared articles for you that tell you about the rules for a child traveling on public transport and about filing a claim or complaint against the driver, including against SDEK and other transport companies.

Transport expedition: documentation, accounting and taxation

Currently, activities related to the provision of transport and forwarding services are quite common. As practice shows, when concluding contracts related to the transportation of goods and placing transportation orders, many violations and inaccuracies arise. From this article you will learn about the documents used to document these transactions and how to avoid errors when recording transactions in accounting and taxation.

Legal basis

Transport and forwarding activities are regulated by Chapter 41 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, as well as Federal Law No. 87-FZ dated June 30, 2003 “On transport and forwarding activities” (hereinafter referred to as Law No. 87-FZ).

Services provided by a freight forwarder can be divided into basic (related to the transportation of goods) and additional, which may or may not be contained in the contract.