What to do if the tax service is interested in you? Algorithm of actions for individuals, individual entrepreneurs and self-employed

Who is called and why?

Tax authorities can exercise the above right in relation to:

taxpayers;
fee payers;
tax agents.

They are called to the tax office to give explanations on:

completeness and timeliness of payment (withholding plus transfer) by them of certain mandatory payments;
a tax audit, say, to find out the position of the person being audited regarding the violations identified by the audit;
in other situations that relate to the implementation of fiscal legislation. For example, if there are facts and circumstances that indicate that the taxpayer received an unjustified benefit.

In what cases do they call

Interrogation of a nominee director (drop, physicist, etc.) without a lawyer at the tax
office. During the interrogation, the inspector can raise any questions about the payment of taxes. In conversations, the topics of reducing the tax base, late payments, falsification of reports, and low load indicators are often raised.

Interrogation is important evidence for the court and further proceedings. The method is used to identify violations in the payment of taxes. When imposing penalties on the taxpayer, reference will also be made to the results of the interrogation conducted with the merchant himself or employees of his company.

As an example, it is worth analyzing the situation. The tax office suspects 2 companies of fictitious transactions. Department employees had doubts about the reality of the existence of goods supplied by one company to another. You should wait for a summons for interrogation:

drivers of organizations;
accountants;
company managers;
warehouse workers.

Discrepancies in readings may prompt a more thorough review. Evidence obtained during interrogation is considered important evidence. These documents are considered first.

Dismissed employees of organizations are called for a conversation for 2 reasons. An employee can remember information about the company’s activities for the period of interest to the inspector. A person may be offended by an employer. This will allow the tax office to find out more data hidden from prying eyes.

How the call happens

The taxpayer is called to provide explanations on the basis of a notification. The recipient receives it in one of the following ways:

by registered mail;
in electronic form via telecommunication channels;
in person (to the representative) against receipt.

When using the electronic version, the taxpayer, according to clause 5.1 of Art. 23 The Tax Code is obliged to generate and send to the tax authorities an electronic receipt of receipt of the notification (or, in case of technical failures, inform about the refusal to accept). This must be done within 6 working days after the Federal Tax Service sent a notice of summons to the taxpayer. Otherwise, 10 working days after the expiration of the specified period, tax collectors under clause 3 of Art. 76 Tax Codes can initiate the suspension of transactions on bank accounts.

What is a notice of summoning a taxpayer to give explanations?

The indicated notice of summons of the taxpayer has a written form, which is established by Appendix No. 2 to the Order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated 05/08/2015 No. ММВ-7-2 / [email protected] This is the form according to KND 1165009, which includes the following information:

Identification data of the person for whom clarification is required.
Name and number of the document.
Its date.
Name of the fiscal authority.
Legal justification for the call (clause 4, clause 1, article 31 of the Tax Code).
Address and room number where you need to appear.
Date and time or visiting days and hours when this needs to be done.
Detailed description of the reasons for the call.
Signature of the performer, plus his position, full name and name of the authority.
Contact phone number.
Information about who received the document.

It will be possible at the end of the article.

Since the notice does not contain information about who exactly should appear and give explanations, in the case of an organization, both its head and a representative by proxy can give them. Thus, the company can only refer its lawyer or accountant to the tax authorities.

Summoned to the tax office for questioning: what to say and what to remain silent about

“They were called to the tax office for questioning” – it’s hard to surprise anyone with this phrase in the business world lately. Entrepreneurs and their employees are regularly invited to speak with the Federal Tax Service. We tell you who inspectors can call and why, how to behave at such a meeting, and what will happen to those who ignore the invitation.

For what reasons do tax authorities call?
Now tax officials practice two forms of calling taxpayers (and their employees) to the tax office.

The first form is a summons to the Federal Tax Service as a witness.

, this procedure is regulated by Article 90 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. According to this provision, the Federal Tax Service has the right to summon for questioning any individual who may be aware of any circumstances significant for tax control.

The witness is summoned to testify at the location of the tax authority strictly by subpoena ( letter of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated July 17, 2013 No. AS-4-2/12837

). The summons cannot say “send someone.” It indicates a specific official of the organization or individual entrepreneur. A telephone call or verbal invitation from an inspector to appear before the Federal Tax Service as a witness is not considered an official summons to testify. In these cases, the witness has every right not to attend the inspection.

The second reason for calling the Federal Tax Service is to provide clarification on tax payment issues.

.
Entrepreneurs call this procedure tax interrogation. A special case of giving such explanations is passing through a tax commission ( the legal basis for calling the Federal Tax Service here is clause 4, clause 1, article 31 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation
).

Tax officials have the right to call all taxpayers, fee payers, and tax agents without exception to give explanations. Moreover, the explanations can relate to any issue related in one way or another to the payment of taxes. This is mainly due to underestimation of the tax base, low tax burden, untimely payment of taxes, falsification of tax and accounting reports.

Previously, tax commissions were held, including on issues of payment of VAT, income tax, property tax, personal income tax and other taxes. The common name for all such commissions is the commission on legalization of the tax base. A year ago ( in accordance with the letter of the Federal Tax Service dated July 25, 2021 No. ED-4-15 / [email protected]

) commissions were actually abolished.

Currently, tax authorities conduct only two types of commissions:

according to personal income tax;
on insurance premiums.

However, this does not prevent the Federal Tax Service from requesting clarification regarding all other taxes.

The summons to the commission itself is issued by a notification in the form approved by order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated May 8, 2015 No. ММВ-7-2/ [email protected] Moreover, unlike a summons to testify, any employee authorized to represent the interests of a legal entity or individual entrepreneur can be sent to the commission. To do this, the employee must issue a power of attorney.

Who can be called to the salary commission

According to the letter of the Federal Tax Service dated July 25, 2021 No. ED-4-15 / [email protected] , the following payers/tax agents for personal income tax are subject to mandatory summons to the commission:

Individual entrepreneurs who have a low tax burden for personal income tax paid “for themselves”;
tax agents who are in arrears in transferring personal income tax;
tax agents who have reduced personal income tax receipts relative to the previous reporting (tax) period by more than 10%;
tax agents paying wages below the average level for types of economic activity in the region;
Individual entrepreneurs who have declared a professional tax deduction in the amount of more than 95% of the total amount of income received during the tax period;
individuals (not individual entrepreneurs) who have not declared their income.

The list of insurance premium payers who will be called to the commission first includes:

policyholders who have arrears in transferring insurance premiums;
payers who have reduced the receipt of contributions relative to the previous reporting (calculation) period with a constant number of employees;
policyholders who reduced the number of employees during the reporting period by more than 30% compared to the previous period;
payers who in previous periods calculated contributions at additional tariffs of 9% or 6%, but in the current period applied different tariff rates.

Legal guarantees for witnesses

Attending the inspection at the legal request of the tax authorities is mandatory.

.
Moreover, even in cases where an individual does not have the necessary information as a witness. However, the legislation does not contain provisions that would allow tax officials to forcibly bring citizens to testify. Therefore, tax officials cannot force a person to testify against his will
. Administrative and criminal liability of a witness in a tax offense case is not provided for.

At the same time, witnesses are provided with a number of legal guarantees. An individual summoned to the inspection as a witness must remember his rights enshrined in the Constitution and the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. So, in certain cases you can simply refuse to testify. By law, no one is required to testify against himself, his spouse or close relatives

(
Article 51 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation
). Refusal to testify in such cases will not entail any sanctions.

Along with this, everyone is guaranteed the right to receive qualified legal assistance ( Article 48 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation

). Therefore, if you understand that the interrogation may turn against you, it is better to take advantage of constitutional guarantees and come to the inspection together with a lawyer.

At the same time, Art. 90 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation establishes a list of persons who generally cannot be questioned as a witness:

persons who, due to their young age, physical or mental disabilities, are not able to correctly perceive circumstances that are important for the implementation of tax control;
persons who received information in connection with the performance of their professional duties, and such information is classified as professional secret (in particular, lawyers and auditors, although).

It should also be remembered that Art. 128 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation establishes liability only for the failure of a witness to appear at the Federal Tax Service without good reason. If there are such reasons, a witness who does not appear to testify will not be fined. The legislation does not contain a list of valid reasons for failure to appear at the inspection. Therefore, they can be recognized, for example, as illness or a business trip. In any case, the presence of valid reasons should be reported to the Federal Tax Service in advance.

How to behave at the tax commission

If an organization or individual entrepreneur raises suspicions from the Federal Tax Service, a month before the commission they will be sent an information letter indicating specific claims and a list of questions that are expected to be answered during the commission.

The letter will also specify the taxpayer’s procedure for resolving the dispute. For example, you may be asked to clarify the information contained in the declaration and pay additional tax. Accordingly, you have a month to prepare to provide explanations or objections regarding the stated claims.

Commissions and explanations can be avoided if you submit updated declarations in a timely manner and pay off debts on personal income tax and insurance premiums

(
FTS letter dated July 25, 2021 No. ED-4-15/
[email protected] ). 10 working days are allotted for submitting “clarifications” and paying taxes from the date of receipt of the information letter from the Federal Tax Service. If you do not meet this deadline, you will still have to give explanations.

It is worth preparing in advance answers to the questions contained in the information letter, as well as justifying the reasons why the organization/individual entrepreneur came to the attention of the Federal Tax Service.

For example, low salaries can be explained by the following reasons:

employees work on a part-time basis;
attracting unskilled labor;
temporary financial difficulties of an organization with a promise to gradually increase employee salaries in the future.

Of course, all explanations must be documented.

It is worth noting that the legislation establishes liability only for failure to appear to give explanations. If a taxpayer comes to the inspectorate, but does not give any explanations, he does not face any liability

. Therefore, even in cases where there is nothing to answer on the merits of the claims presented by the Federal Tax Service, the call to the inspectorate should not be ignored.

The consequences of failure to appear to give explanations are not limited to a fine. Thus, inspectors may decide that the notice to appear at the Federal Tax Service simply did not reach the payer due to the company not being at its legal address. The company will be added to the list of unscrupulous payers and an on-site tax audit will be scheduled.

What happens if you don’t appear for a commission at the Federal Tax Service?

In addition to placing an organization or individual entrepreneur in the area of increased attention of tax authorities and the possible appointment of an on-site inspection, failure to appear at the Federal Tax Service upon a legal request will result in administrative fines.

The Tax Code of the Russian Federation stipulates liability only for failure to appear at the Federal Tax Service to give testimony. If you are called to the inspection as a witness, but you do not appear or refuse to testify, you may be fined ( under Article 128 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation

). According to this provision, failure to appear or avoidance of appearing without good reason is punishable by a fine of 1,000 rubles.

The wrongful refusal of a witness to testify will cost more - 3,000 rubles. Giving deliberately false testimony will cost the same amount. It must be remembered that a fine may be imposed specifically on a witness questioned during a tax violation case. If there is no case, then there is nothing to impose a fine for.

As for calling the tax commission to appear or to give explanations, the Tax Code of the Russian Federation does not establish liability for failure to appear. But this does not mean that failure to appear will not entail any fine. The Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation has Art. 19.4, which establishes liability for disobedience to a legal order or requirement of an official of the body exercising state supervision (control).

Tax authorities are precisely the bodies exercising state supervision ( Article 1 of Law No. 943-1 “On Tax Authorities...”

). Moreover, notification of a summons to give explanations is thus a legal requirement. Consequently, failure to appear on the basis of a notification from the tax authorities to give explanations risks a fine in accordance with the above article. The administrative fine for citizens ranges from 500 to 1,000 rubles, for officials - from 2,000 to 4,000 rubles.

Despite the insignificant fines, it is better not to ignore a call to the inspectorate

. Failure to appear will be regarded as an attempt to conceal any information and avoid cooperation. In addition, tax authorities may decide that the organization is not located at its place of registration, and will begin an on-site audit against the payer. We also draw your attention to the fact that cooperation with tax authorities in some cases actually allows you to avoid audits and additional taxes.

Express summary of the article

Organizations and individual entrepreneurs are regularly invited to speak with the Federal Tax Service, so don’t be afraid.

Tax authorities practice two forms of calling taxpayers (and their employees) to the tax office: calling the Federal Tax Service as a witness and to give explanations on tax payment issues.

Tax officials have the right to call all taxpayers, fee payers, and tax agents without exception to give explanations. Explanations may relate to any issue related in one way or another to paying taxes.

Attending the inspection at the legal request of the tax authorities is mandatory. Moreover, even in cases where an individual does not have the necessary information as a witness.

The Tax Code of the Russian Federation stipulates liability for failure to appear at the Federal Tax Service to give testimony. If you are called to the inspection as a witness, but you do not appear or refuse to testify, you may be fined.

The legislation does not contain provisions that would allow tax officials to forcibly bring citizens to testify. Therefore, tax officials cannot force a citizen to testify against his will.

Administrative and criminal liability of a witness in a tax offense case is not provided for.

As for calling the tax commission to the tax commission/to give explanations, the Tax Code of the Russian Federation does not establish liability for failure to appear. But this does not mean that failure to appear will not entail any fine. The fine will be according to Art. 19.4 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, which establishes liability for disobedience to a lawful order or requirement of an official of the body exercising state supervision (control).

Source:
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When a request comes from the tax office for clarification

A letter from the tax office requesting clarification may come in the following cases:

contradictions and errors were found in the tax return;
the company meets one (several) risk criteria that fiscal officers use when planning on-site inspections.

A complete list of such criteria is given in the Order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated May 30, 2007 No. MM-3-06/ [email protected] For example, the following are present there:

the taxpayer's fiscal burden is below its average level in a particular industry;
during several tax periods losses are reflected in accounting or tax reporting;
reporting contains significant amounts of tax deductions for a certain time;
expenses for the sale of goods (works, services) grow faster than income.

What is this requirement?

This is a document established by Appendix No. 1 to the Order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated 05/08/2015 No. ММВ-7-2/ [email protected] , forms according to KND 1165050. Structurally, it is close to the notification discussed above, but there are the following differences:

In the name.
In legal justification (Article 25.14, or 105.29 Tax Code).
Within the period within which explanations must be provided.

The document will be available at the end of the article.

Preparing for interrogation

It doesn’t matter who the tax authorities summoned for questioning - an ordinary citizen or the head of a large enterprise. In any case, they need additional evidence in court about a tax offense. Before visiting the inspection, you should prepare clear and concise answers to possible questions from inspectors:

It is better to recall dates, numbers, names, circumstances that may be of interest to employees using real documents, or make inquiries to obtain reliable information.
Identification of problem areas in business and reporting, which theoretically could become a subject of interest to regulatory authorities.
Developing a clear position on every possible problematic issue.

If the company or business has a significant scale, then in order to avoid the negative consequences of a visit to the inspection, a preliminary internal audit may be necessary, which should identify in advance those moments in matters, the transfer of information about which to inspectors is undesirable. But hiding the truth by providing false data is not the solution. Knowingly false information can cause a negative reaction from judges and loss of position in a legal dispute.

What to do after receiving a request

If the reason for the requirement was errors and inaccuracies in fiscal data and calculations, the Federal Tax Service must send copies of documents on the activities of your company or partners (if necessary) for the period specified in the requirement, plus a covering letter indicating the number of its sheets and numbering (when they are some). Copies of documents are bound and certified with the signature of the head and the seal of the organization.

If the requirement is caused by certain risk criteria, the company’s work needs to be adjusted. To do this, you can conduct a financial analysis, check your partners and business patterns. If there are no positive changes in the company's activities, tax authorities may visit you for an inspection.

Notification

Situations that require tax authorities to testify

The requirement to provide explanations to the tax office differs from the sample notification document presented above.

The request form comes in the following cases:

Presence of errors or inconsistencies in declarations;
The presence of one or more risk parameters in the company’s work, which are used by fiscal authorities during the on-site procedure.

A list of such parameters is listed in a special order document.

These include the following criteria:

The burden of the taxpayer's fiscal sample does not correspond to the average level in a particular area.
Reflection of data on losses in reporting documents over several tax payment periods.

Significant indications of tax deductions for a certain period of time.
The amount of expenses exceeds the amount of income.

Have you been called to the tax office?

It happened, it didn't happen

The essence of the requirement to provide explanations to the tax office

The document is based on the legal grounds of the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation. The structure of the document requesting clarification is similar to the sample notification form.

Differences:

Document's name

Legal basis

Deadline for clarification

Necessary actions in case of receiving a request

If the request for clarification is caused by errors and inaccuracies in calculation or fiscal data, then it is necessary to provide the tax authorities with copies of documents that reflect the activities of your company or partners for the period of time specified in the request. An accompanying message must be attached to it, indicating the number of sheets with numbering. Copies must be bound and certified by the head of the company (signature and seal).

If the requirement is caused due to the presence of risk criteria, then it is necessary to make adjustments to the company's activities. To do this, they analyze the financial situation and check the partners’ work patterns. In the absence of positive dynamics, the tax authorities have the right to conduct an on-site audit.

Tips for taxpayers who are called to provide explanations

In order for the interrogation to go in favor of the taxpayer, you need to take into account some tips.

One of the best solutions is to send a trusted person (lawyer, lawyer or accountant). Tax authorities do not have the right to prevent you from using legal support. Tax officials ask representatives a lot more questions.

An article of the Constitution enshrines the right not to testify against one’s loved ones and relatives. In some cases, it is better to remain silent instead of giving up yourself and your loved ones.

When providing explanations, the tax office is obliged to provide all the information, which the prosecution should listen to very carefully and, if necessary, make amendments. The defendant has the right to turn on the recording device.

After the end of the interrogation, you must ensure that you receive a copy of the protocol. It will be sent to the address provided.

Provided you follow simple rules, you don’t have to worry about a tax audit.