Accounting policies for tax accounting: the formation of the accounting policies of the enterprise

The document that defines the accounting policy for tax accounting purposes is similar to the document drawn up according to the accounting rules in accounting. It is used for tax purposes. It is much more difficult to compile due to the fact that there are no clear instructions and recommendations on its development in the law. Organization's tax and accountants have to develop fiscal policies in the same way as accounting, based on the norms of tax legislation. Further, we propose to pay attention to the main points that should be indicated in the accounting policy document for tax accounting purposes.

What is accounting policy in tax calculation?

This is a codebook that sets out the rules for keeping records in a company. The document fixes the methods of document circulation, assessment and control of the facts of entrepreneurial activity. A sample accounting policy for tax accounting purposes is not fixed by law. The application of the rules recorded in the accounting policy affects the result of the company and the base for calculating fiscal fees. There are three types of accounting policies:

• Accounting.
• Tax.
• IFRS

The procedure for writing an accounting policy for tax purposes is described in the Tax Code. This is the most important law for tax officials. An accounting policy for tax accounting purposes is a set of taxpayer organization that is a set of methods allowed by law to determine, evaluate and allocate income and (or) expenses, their accounting and other, required for tax accounting purposes, indicators of the organization's business activity.

Accounting Policy Period

The company is obliged to apply the accounting policy for tax accounting from the date of opening until the moment of liquidation. To adjust the adopted fiscal policy, a change is required:

• accounting methods used by the organization;
• organization working conditions;
• fiscal legislation of our country.

In the first two cases, adjustments in accounting policies for tax accounting purposes are applied from the beginning of a new fiscal period. In the latter case, from the period when the amendments enter into legal force. The VAT policy can be adjusted once a year, changes can be made from the beginning of the year following the period of its approval. New organizations should use accounting policies for tax accounting purposes from the moment they open. For income tax, no framework exists. For the need to calculate VAT, the deadline for adopting an accounting policy should be no later than the end of the first fiscal period of an organization’s business. The tax period for calculating VAT is a quarter.

The developed accounting policy for tax accounting purposes is applied until such time as adjustments are made to it. An updated tax policy is not required annually. Fiscal accounting applies a consistent principle.

The accounting policy for tax accounting is one for the entire organization and its structures. Legal entities should not submit their accounting fiscal policy to the inspection after its development. If the inspectors conduct an audit of the accounting policy for tax accounting purposes, then the company will have to submit it to the tax service within a period of not more than five days after the delivery of the requirement to provide a document. Failure to comply with this requirement may be regarded by tax inspectors as a malicious obstacle to fiscal control.

Create a consolidated accounting document

Employees of organizations can use special software to create regulations for taxation, taking into account all current changes. It is called an accounting policy designer for tax purposes. A software product, as a rule, is designed to create a small accounting policy, reflecting in it only the most necessary indicators. For each indicator, the designer provides several accounting methods, the company chooses the most suitable for itself. On sites where designers are located, as a rule, examples of accounting policies for tax accounting are given.

At the very beginning, it is necessary to determine which fiscal accounting regime the organization applies:

• general fiscal tax system (OCH);
• general fiscal regime combined with the payment of UTII;
• simplified tax system (STS);
• simplified fiscal regime combined with the payment of UTII.

After the organization is determined with the tax regime, a sample accounting policy is drawn up for tax accounting purposes.

2018 changes

The current year adjustments are not significant. They affected the new provisions of the Tax Code. One of the innovations concerned cost control for the purchase of fixed assets. For the next four years, the list of facilities to which accelerated depreciation will be applied with a coefficient of no more than three has been expanded for organizations. The raising indicator can only be applied to assets put into operation after the beginning of 2018 and only with respect to funds listed in the list approved by the Russian government. If the organization has such assets, and it intends to use the new indicator when they are depreciated, this needs to be written in the accounting policy for tax accounting in 2018.

Next, we consider in detail three more changes of the current year:

• Introduction of the concept of tax deduction for investments.
• Adjustments in accounting for R&D expenses (research and development work).
• Changes in accounting for input VAT.

Investment tax deduction

Since the beginning of this year, a new concept “tax deduction for investments” has been introduced in chapter 25 of the Tax Code. From 2018, organizations have the right to reduce the payment of income tax paid in advance by the newly introduced fiscal deduction. This may be the cost of acquiring or upgrading the main assets related to depreciation groups from third to seventh.

The indicated costs can be deducted one hundred percent: up to nine tenths from the regional part of the collection, up to one tenth from the federal. The size of the investment deduction for the part of the fee paid to the regional budget cannot exceed the difference between the calculated amount of the fiscal fee without applying the deduction and the tax calculated at the rate of 5%. That is, 5% will need to be paid to the regional budget. If the deduction exceeds the fiscal fee, then the unused portion will be transferred to future periods. The investment deduction applies to the fiscal collection, starting from the period in which the main asset is put into use or its value is changed.

According to the accounting policy, for the purposes of tax accounting in 2018, objects due to which the fiscal deduction for investments was used are not depreciated. In the case of the sale of the main facilities in respect of which the deduction was used, after the end of the period of its use, the entire amount under the contract will be recognized as income. If the main asset, on which the investment deduction was applied, is sold before the end of its useful life, the organization will have to restore the fiscal amounts not paid due to the deduction. At the same time, the cost of the fixed asset upon acquisition will be taken into account in the costs.

When deciding on the use of the fiscal deduction for investments, it is necessary to take into account that the inspector has the right to request clarifications and materials on the use of the deduction when checking the tax return. Transactions of the organization applying the deduction with its dependent person will be recognized as subject to control if the income on them exceeds the amount of 60 million rubles. At the moment, it is legal that taxpayers entitled to a deduction will be determined at the regional level. Subjects can independently determine the conditions for granting an investment deduction. Given that such changes improve the situation of organizations, entities can adopt appropriate standards and extend their effect from the beginning of this year. The decision to use the deduction should be spelled out in the accounting policies of the organization for fiscal accounting purposes.

R&D

There have been changes in the legalized rules for accounting for R&D costs:

• The list of R&D costs has been supplemented.
• The procedure for recognizing the costs of scientific and research work, which can be taken into account in fiscal taxation with a factor of 1.5 increased, has been clarified. At the moment, these expenses of the organization have the right to take into account other expenses of the reporting fiscal period in which work or their individual stages were completed. However, from the beginning of the year, expenses will form the initial price of intangible depreciable assets, exclusive rights to the results of intellectual labor resulting from the performance of work. In the tax accounting policy of the organization, it is required to consolidate the selected procedure for recognizing costs.

Input VAT

At the beginning of 2018, amendments were adopted concerning organizations that have operations that are taxable and not taxable. When conducting operations, the company is required to keep separate records of the input fiscal fee for taxable and non-taxable operations. If the costs of non-taxable transactions in the amount do not exceed 5%, the organization has the right to not keep separate records and accept the entire amount of the fiscal fee for deduction.

Changes to the law will no longer allow companies not to share input VAT accounting when conducting taxable and non-taxable operations. Only the right to deduct the total fiscal fee for deduction is retained. Thus, the model of accounting policies for tax accounting for 2018 according to the organization’s OSNA in the field of VAT accounting needs to be adjusted in accordance with legislative changes.

Accounting policies for companies under OCO

For tax accounting purposes, company policy should include the following points:

• Rules for calculating income tax. The document must specify the procedure for allocating income and expenses. For organizations engaged in commercial activities, this issue is the main one. Non-profit organizations have a problem to solve when writing a tax policy due to the separate accounting of taxable and non-taxable income and expenses for all works. This is one of the main parameters of the accounting policy of tax accounting.
• Accounting separately. There is a requirement to maintain this accounting for organizations receiving funding for specific purposes. If there is no such accounting for the company that received these funds, income is considered taxable from the date it is received. How to make separate accounting of income and expenses made at their expense is not specified in the law, therefore, at the moment, the financial specialist should clarify in the accounting policy for tax accounting purposes using the example of an organization. For example, if in an organization income and expenses are divided between the statutory and revenue-generating activities, then accounting registers in accounting can be used as tax ones. If, in accounting, there is no necessary information, then the organization has the right to supplement them with details. It is important to separate the costs of managing the organization and indirect costs, financed by non-taxable income, as they are associated with the statutory activities. Although part of the indirect costs can be paid for by commercial activities. Differentiation of indirect costs is based on the actual volume of their payment.
• Property subject to depreciation. The procedure for determining such assets is prescribed by law. In the accounting policy for tax purposes on the example of the organization should determine the method of depreciation. There is a linear method and non-linear. The choice in carrying out entrepreneurial activity is often made in favor of a linear, simpler way of calculating depreciation. The method chosen by the company applies to fixed assets, regardless of the date of purchase. Regardless of the method chosen in accounting policies for tax purposes, the linear method is used in relation to buildings and assets included in the eighth, ninth and tenth depreciation groups, regardless of the period of their operation. This is easily verified when conducting an audit of accounting policies for tax accounting purposes. All estimates in the organization must occur in accordance with the accounting tax policy. So, for example, the accounting policy for tax purposes allows the calculation of depreciation at rates lower than legalized, if this is stated in the document. The decision to apply a lowering indicator in business is prescribed in the policy with the choice of the depreciation method. When selling depreciable property by organizations using reduced depreciation rates, their final value is determined based on the depreciation rate used.
• Depreciation bonus, which means the costs of fixed assets, which can be accounted for in the amount of not more than 10% of the original cost of the organization’s fixed assets or costs incurred in cases of changes in fixed assets due to reconstruction, liquidation or modernization. An exception is fixed assets received free of charge. In particular, a depreciation bonus is provided for property that is subject to depreciation. Meanwhile, the property of organizations engaged in non-profit activities, received as income for certain purposes or purchased from such funds and used to carry out activities in accordance with the charter, is not depreciated. The use of the premium is the right of the organization, the use of which should be fixed in the accounting document of the organization for the purposes of taxation with a fiscal fee. In the accounting document it is necessary to prescribe the size of the premium and a list of objects that use it.
• Material costs. When calculating the cost of writing off materials and raw materials spent for the provision of services, one of the selected valuation methods for raw materials and materials is prescribed in the fiscal policy: at the cost of a unit of inventory, at the average cost, at the cost of the first-time acquisitions (FIFO). In the same manner, the company's financial specialist can evaluate the goods purchased for resale, which is also prescribed in the accounting policy for the calculation of fiscal fees.
• Direct and indirect costs. If the organization has chosen the accrual method for determining income and expenses, the costs of production and sales made during the reporting period are divided into direct and indirect. The organization itself lists the direct costs in the accounting policy for tax calculation. Note that the division of costs into direct and indirect is required for all organizations, both producing or selling products, and performing work or providing services. Service providers may attribute direct or indirect costs incurred during the reporting period to the total reduction in the result from commercial activities.
• Reservation of expenses. If the organization is engaged in non-commercial activities, then it may create a reserve for future expenses related to its business activities and taken into account when determining the basis for calculating taxes. The state organization itself decides to create reserves for future expenses or not to create and determines in the taxation policy the types of costs in relation to which the reservation of funds will be used. Of the most common costs, it is possible to single out expenditures on the repair of fixed assets, as well as on staff remuneration (including vacations, most of which occur in the summer). Separately, in the accounting policy for tax purposes, it is necessary to prescribe a provision for doubtful debts. It is created not to evenly write off the organization’s costs, but to write off part of the debt in advance. This debt is still subsequently from the category of doubtful, most likely will go into the category of hopeless. In fiscal policy, when creating a reserve for debts, it is advisable to refer not to the general for non-profit organizations, but to a special norm. , . .
• VAT. . . .

, " ", , . , " ", . , , .

, , :

• ;
• , ;
• ().

. , , , .

, .

The table shows the main points that need to be written in the sample accounting policies for tax accounting for 2018.

Accounting for individual entrepreneurs

The accounting policy for tax accounting purposes for entrepreneurs is formed in the same way as for organizations.

If the entrepreneur is at OSNO, then he needs to register:

• Accounting procedure for calculating fiscal fees.
• The procedure for accounting for assets and liabilities.
• The possibility of applying a tax deduction for employees.
• A method for evaluating materials and goods purchased for sale (sale).

If the entrepreneur is on the simplified tax system, then the following is reflected in the fiscal accounting policy:

• The method of accounting and books of income and expenses.
• The section on accounting for fixed assets indicates the cost of acquiring property related to fixed assets and the procedure for allocating them to the expenses of the organization.
• Control of materials and goods, reflecting the calculation of their value and the procedure for writing them off to costs, rationing of combustible materials, the procedure for reflecting the fiscal fee for value added.
• Cost control for the sale of goods, including the costs of their storage and maintenance, rental costs of premises and advertising costs, as well as the procedure for accounting for them for tax purposes.
• Loss accounting, describing the procedure for attributing financial losses of previous years and exceeding the smallest amount of tax over the calculated for the financial result of the organization of the current year.

A document containing all of the above information is approved by an order on the accounting policy of tax accounting at the end of the previous period or the beginning of the current year. According to the administrative document, the control of the implementation of the policy is carried out by the responsible person. As a rule, this employee is the entrepreneur himself.