What is tax monitoring? Law on tax monitoring

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

A new term has appeared in Russian law - "tax monitoring" (2015 was marked by the entry into force of the relevant laws). It involves the organization of a fundamentally new mechanism for interaction between the Federal Tax Service and enterprises. What is the peculiarity of the innovations in question? What are the benefits of the relevant scheme for businesses and the FTS?

Essence of the term

What is tax monitoring? This term refers to a relatively new regime for the Russian Federation for the administration of tax payments introduced in 2015. It is sometimes referred to as "horizontal tax monitoring".

Key principles: transparency of the taxpayer's activities in terms of reporting to the Federal Tax Service, as well as procedures within the framework of internal control, loy alty to the Federal Tax Service in relation to inspections - field or office. Tax monitoring is supposed to become an innovative tool to bring the relationship between business and the state to a new level.

One of the key aspects of the mechanism in question is the ability to organizeinteraction between taxpayers and regulatory authorities in electronic form. This implies, first of all, a higher speed of making the necessary decisions.

Among the main ideas of the concept of tax monitoring is the possibility of providing the Federal Tax Service with access to the necessary information that reflects the discipline of the enterprise in terms of reporting and transferring the necessary fees to the state. In turn, the taxpayer himself can use all available channels to obtain the necessary information from the agency.

Monitoring components

Let's consider the components that can be considered as key components of the appropriate mode of communication between the Federal Tax Service and business. First of all, it is worth noting such a tool as a motivated opinion. With its help, the parties can resolve possible disputes and disagreements related to legal relations in the field of tax payment and reporting. A motivated opinion is formed by the tax service, and if the payer of fees complies with the instructions, then he can be exempted from possible fines and pen alties.

Another noteworthy component, which includes tax monitoring, is the establishment of a contractual scheme for information interaction between the entrepreneur and the Federal Tax Service. This mechanism involves work according to special regulations. It is expected that the Federal Tax Service and taxpayers will interact according to one of two options: by submitting documents to the department (in electronic format) or by direct access of the Federal Tax Service to filesenterprises. In addition, businessmen will be able to include in the regulation the characteristics of internal control algorithms.

The emergence of monitoring in Russia

The mechanism in question has recently been enshrined in Russia at the level of federal legal acts. The law on tax monitoring was signed by the President of the Russian Federation in November 2014. In accordance with Federal Law No. 348, according to which appropriate amendments were made to the Tax Code, enterprises were given the opportunity to work with the Federal Tax Service in a new way. The Law on Tax Monitoring came into force on January 1, 2015. But some of its provisions will become normative in 2016.

How did the business community in Russia come to the realization that it is necessary to introduce tax monitoring? The bill, which later became federal legal acts, was allegedly initiated by the authorities with the assistance of large businessmen and consulting brands in 2012. The Agency for Strategic Initiatives, namely, the working group responsible for the modernization of tax administration procedures in Russia, took direct part in the development of the relevant law.

Practical effectiveness of the monitoring institute

Some enterprises, as well as research agencies, implemented trial schemes for interaction between the Federal Tax Service and business, which showed the high efficiency of tax monitoring mechanisms. What results have been achieved during these activities?

Thus, many businesses were impressed by the fact that inIn the process of electronic interaction with the Federal Tax Service, they have the opportunity to quickly receive advice on a particular issue. Also, some researchers noted that during the communications in question, informal communication was practiced, free from official terminology, which was unthinkable under the old scheme. However, without unnecessary officialdom, as it turned out, many issues were resolved more efficiently. Before the advent of the tax monitoring institute, many Russian companies lacked such an opportunity.

As shown by the trial mechanisms of communication between business and the Federal Tax Service, the grounds for any significant disagreements between the parties to legal relations in the course of interaction under the new scheme were observed infrequently. At the same time, the quality of mutual understanding between the tax service and entrepreneurs has improved. The work load on specialists from both sides has decreased: there was simply no need for extra work, typical for the procedures according to the old scheme.

According to experts, Russian business really needed such a mechanism as tax monitoring. The bill, which later became a full-fledged legal act, was well developed, it included all the necessary provisions for the implementation of the new mechanism. This gave the specialists a reason to highly appreciate its prospects not only in terms of the relevance of the regulations, but also in terms of the prospects for their practical implementation.

How to arrange work according to the new scheme

But how does an enterprise startrelationship with the Federal Tax Service in the framework of tax monitoring? There are a number of criteria under which a business can count on the privilege in question. Among the key ones:

- the company transfers 300 million rubles to the state in the form of taxes, excises and other fees. and more during the year;

- business revenue in accordance with the financial statements is 3 billion rubles. and more during the year;

- the total price of the company's assets - 3 billion rubles. and more as of December 31 of the reporting year.

Let's take a closer look at what specific benefits the institution of tax monitoring can bring to the state and the private market.

What does it do?

Thanks to the mechanism under consideration, conscientious payers of fees to the treasury, who have managed to build an effective system of internal financial control, will be able to interact with the Federal Tax Service in a manner that minimizes any difficulties.

Among the key benefits that tax monitoring provides is, as we noted above, the exemption of businesses from inspections by the Federal Tax Service. This circumstance allows companies, for example, to significantly save on the services of lawyers and lawyers, whose help is sometimes simply necessary with increased attention to business from the Federal Tax Service.

Thanks to such a mechanism as a motivated opinion, the main tax risks and disagreements specific to the activities of enterprises will be resolved as soon as possible. Before tax monitoring was introduced in the Russian Federation and the methodology for its implementation wasappropriately approved, communication difficulties between companies and the Federal Tax Service could take years to resolve.

Effective communication on legal issues

The mechanism of interaction between the Federal Tax Service and enterprises provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation has an important advantage - the company can, if necessary, request certain comments from the department regarding the relevant area of legal relations. Also, employees of the Federal Tax Service, conducting tax monitoring, will promptly study documents related to reporting and check how correctly they are drawn up.

Thanks to interaction with the Federal Tax Service under the new scheme, entrepreneurs have the opportunity to request clarifications regarding the transfer of fees from transactions, even before they are completed. This is a significant step forward in the interaction between business and the state in terms of constructive cooperation.

The participation of enterprises in tax monitoring allows avoiding large and sometimes unpleasant for the company's budget additional charges to the treasury, which sometimes need to be paid upon field inspections. In the process of interaction between business and the Federal Tax Service under the new scheme, the likelihood of such situations is minimal.

Electronic Information Exchange

Among the obvious advantages of the agreement between the Federal Tax Service and entrepreneurs that monitoring of tax revenues will be carried out within the framework of the scheme in question is the possibility of a full-fledged electronic exchange of documents.

This communication format is more desirable for many businessmen than paper workflow, since in this case much less time and labor costs are expected to carry out the necessary reporting procedures. After the institution of tax monitoring was approved, firms received an official opportunity to completely transfer interaction with the Federal Tax Service to an electronic format. It is also convenient for the department itself: there is no need to waste the time of employees on field events.

Voluntary format

Voluntary procedure for concluding an agreement with the Federal Tax Service is an important aspect of such a mechanism as the appropriate type of monitoring. There are not so many tax incentives for large enterprises, and they are always happy to take steps towards the state. However, many companies may need time to bring their financial reporting and control systems in line with the required criteria. But all the resources that the company will invest in the necessary infrastructure upgrades will most likely pay off.

Stop monitoring and unscheduled inspections

Tax monitoring is actually a privilege. In some cases, its provision may be legally terminated. This is acceptable if, for example, the organization provides false information to the Federal Tax Service or neglects the obligation to send certain documents there.

The law also provides for scenarios in which on-site inspections can becarried out, even if the enterprise and the Federal Tax Service have entered into an appropriate agreement under the new scheme. This is possible if:

- the inspection is carried out by the higher structure of the Federal Tax Service, which controls the efficiency of the reporting departments of the department;

- the company did not comply with the requirements contained in the reasoned opinion;

- the company needs to provide an updated declaration for the period corresponding to the timing of the implementation of monitoring procedures, for example, due to the fact that the amount of fees payable is reduced in comparison with the amount that appears in the previously provided document.

Also, an on-site inspection can be carried out if the corresponding type of legal relationship between the business and the Federal Tax Service was terminated in the manner we mentioned above.

Actual tasks for the implementation of the new scheme

The introduction of a modernized scheme of interaction between enterprises and the tax service involves the formation of fundamentally new structural units both in the Federal Tax Service and in firms. The agency, for example, will have to create new full-time units of specialists who will be competent in interacting with taxpayers online. A similar task will also need to be addressed by many enterprises. Taxpayers, as we noted above, in many cases will have to invest in upgrading the infrastructure of internal corporate reporting procedures in order to bring them into line with legislative criteria.