Russian law provides for a large number of varieties of commercial relations. Among them - the commission sale of non-food products.
This type of activity is regulated by individual sources of law. What is the specificity of commission trading in the Russian Federation? How are financial transactions related to it recorded in accounting documents?
Legislative source of rules
Consider the rules of commission trade in non-food products from the point of view of regulatory legislation. The main regulatory act that establishes them is Government Decision No. 569 of June 6, 1998. This source also correlates with the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights.
Thus, commission trading is an activity that is regulated at the level of legal acts of the federal level. We study the structure of the base source that defines the rules of the corresponding type of commercial activities - Decree No. 569.
General Provisions
The main concepts approved by the considered legal act are “commission agent”, “principal” and “buyer”. The legislation regulates the relations in which these three entities participate. Consider the essence of these terms in more detail.
A commission agent, in accordance with Government Decision No. 569, is an organization or individual entrepreneur that accepts certain goods for commission and sells them in retail format. A principal is a person who gives the goods under commission for the subsequent sale purpose with the participation of the commission agent and the payment of remuneration to him. A buyer is a citizen who intends to buy or actually purchases goods for his needs that are not related to entrepreneurial activities.
Commission trading is possible if both Russian citizens and foreigners or persons who do not have citizenship in relation to any state participate in it. In relation to the principal, the right of ownership to the product is formed, which is accepted under the commission - until he sells it to the buyer. A different procedure for the exercise of property rights may be provided for by individual rules of civil law.
The commission agent is responsible to the principal for the purpose of preserving the consumer properties of the goods. He is also obliged to inform the committees and buyers regarding the name of his company, its address, mode of operation by placing a sign. Similarly, a person in the status of individual entrepreneur must provide interested parties with data reflecting the fact of state registration of the company.
Reception of goods
Consider how goods are received as part of commission communications. What to look for first? In accordance with the agreements between the commission agent and the principal, the receipt of goods should be carried out by means of a separate document. Most often this is a commission trade agreement. It can also be supplemented by invoices and other types of sources. The document in question records the date of its preparation, number, information about the parties to the transaction, the procedure for transferring a commission, the name of the product, its consumer characteristics and price. Also, additional items may be included in the source structure that should not infringe on the legal rights of the principal. If several goods are transferred, their list is formed, which should be reflected in the contract.
Vehicle trade
Commission trade in vehicles is carried out according to special rules. So, cars, motorcycles and other types of equipment that are subject to mandatory state registration can be accepted for commission only if the seller has at his disposal documents confirming ownership of them, as well as sources by which to determine the fact of removal of vehicles from accounting. The legislation of the Russian Federation also prescribes the design for transit vehicles of the “transit” type. If the vehicle is of foreign origin and its owner is located in the Russian Federation temporarily, then commission trade in this case is possible only if the necessary documents issued by customs are available.
What goods are not accepted under the commission?
There are goods that cannot be taken under commission. In the general case, these are all products that are withdrawn from circulation in the Russian Federation, as well as those whose sale is limited or completely prohibited by the Russian authorities. It is impossible to trade commissioned goods if they are not subject to return or exchange. Do not sell medicines, hygiene items, perfumes and cosmetics, underwear, socks, household chemicals. Thus, the commission trade in non-food products is sufficiently complicated due to the presence of legislative restrictions.
Clearance of goods for sale
Consider some of the nuances regarding the correct design of the product for sale. First of all, a shortcut must be attached to it. If the product has a small size, then this is the price tag in which the document number is fixed related to the procedures for accepting the product for commission.
As we noted above, in some cases a separate list of items sold can be formed. If so, then the label for the corresponding type of product should include information that describes the consumer properties of the product. For example, whether it is new or, conversely, was in use. Commissions trading rules for non-food goods require sellers to provide reliable product information to customers.
Rights and obligations of parties to a transaction
We will study such an aspect as the rights and obligations of the participants in the legal relations in question - the principal and the commission agent. What can you pay special attention to here? In accordance with Government Decision No. 569, the principal has the right at any time to refuse to execute the contract concluded with the commission agent. That is, he can cancel the order given to the partner. But at the same time, the commission agent has the right to demand compensation for losses arising from the termination of the contract. The principal shall, within the time periods specified in the contract, begin to dispose of its own property, which is temporarily under the jurisdiction of the commission agent. If he doesn’t do this, the commission agent can deliver the goods for storage - and the client will pay for this service, or sell it, but at a price that should be as profitable as possible for the partner.
Determination of the price of goods and the amount of remuneration of the commission agent
The key, perhaps, the nuance of the corresponding type of commercial relationship is the determination of the price of the goods that goes under the commission, as well as the amount of remuneration that the principal should pay to its partner. The rules for trading commissary goods do not include any recommendations regarding the pricing of products sold. In any case, partners will have to agree on an individual basis. As for the remuneration, in any case it should be paid to the commission agent. But it is quite possible that the amount of the corresponding compensation is not fixed in the contract. In this case, the amount of remuneration is determined on the basis of indicators generally accepted in a particular market segment.
How is the sale
Above, we examined what the basic requirements for a product put up for sale are - the presence of price tags and other elements that inform the buyer about the properties of the products he purchases. Now we can consider how the sale of goods that are accepted on the commission is carried out in more detail. What is useful to pay attention to here?
The rules in accordance with which commission retail trade is carried out require the relevant entities of the considered commercial activities to start selling the goods on the next business day after they are accepted. If this does not happen, then the principal has the right to rely on the penalty from the partner. Moreover, it is decent - 3% of the amount that should be paid to the commission agent as a reward. In this case, partners can agree on higher values of the penalty.
The agent is obliged to sell the goods on terms that are most beneficial to his partner. Corresponding criteria can be determined by the principal and fixed in the contract, and if they are absent, one must be guided by the customs adopted in a particular segment of the business. Moreover, the commission agent may deviate from the established criteria if this is in the interests of the partner, and also provided that it is not possible to agree on the changes for objective reasons. However, as soon as the seller gets in touch with the principal, he must inform him of the relevant adjustments to the sales policy.
If a new product falls into the commissioner's order and there are flaws in it that were not noticed during the process of placing it on sale, then the corresponding product must be returned to the partner. The parties may agree on a different procedure for interaction on similar issues. If the product is returned to the principal, then he does not pay the commissioner any compensation for the storage of his property.
Warranty & Returns
Goods with a warranty period must have documents confirming it. This can be the appropriate type of coupon, data sheet or, for example, a service book from the manufacturer. If the buyer bought a low-quality product and was not warned about its shortcomings by the commission agent, he may demand the replacement of the product with a similar one, products of a different brand (with recalculation of the price), cost reduction, immediate repair or reimbursement of the costs of correcting the product’s defects.
However, the law determines that the buyer is also entitled to demand a refund of the money paid for the product. At the same time, of course, he must return the goods to the seller. We may well note that a citizen purchasing commissioned goods has a fairly wide range of rights.
Are commission services sold?
Is commission trading in services possible? In accordance with the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, any legal transactions may be concluded within the framework of the relevant legal relations mechanism. A commission agreement is possible for both goods and services.
However, when concluding such contracts, the parties to the transaction should be guided to a greater extent by the provisions of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, in particular, its 51st article, and not by Decree No. 569, which regulates only one aspect of commission relations - namely, the turnover of non-food products in the appropriate format .
Accounting support
Consider another noteworthy aspect that characterizes commission trading - accounting. What will interest us first of all? Financial calculations - an element that almost always includes commission trading. Postings, therefore, must be correct. We study their specifics.
Acceptance of goods under contracts of the corresponding type is fixed by the following posting:
- Debit 004, that is, "Goods accepted for commission."
If it is necessary to reflect the write-off of sold products, their return or markdown in accounting, you must record the following posting:
If we are talking about recording in the accounting registers the fact of cash receipt at the cash desk as a result of the sale of goods received or for storage services, then the following transactions must be made:
- Debit 50, that is, "Cashier".
- Credit 90, that is, "Sales", then subaccount 1 "Revenue" (reflects the amount of cash receipts for products sold).
- Credit 91, that is, “Other income and expenses” (reflects the calculations for the storage of goods).
The accountant also needs to charge VAT on the products sold. This must be done using the following postings:
- A debit of 90, that is, “Sales,” then subaccount 3, that is, “VAT.”
- Credit 68, that is, "Calculations for taxes and fees."
If it comes to writing off costs, then this is recorded in the following transactions:
- A debit of 90, that is, “Sales,” then subaccount 2, that is, “Cost of sales.”
- Credit 44, that is, “Cost of sale”.
The transfer of funds to the customers for the products sold must be reflected through the following posting:
- A debit of 90, that is, “Sales,” then subaccount 2, that is, “Cost of sales.”
- Credit 76, that is, “Settlements with debtors and creditors”.
The accountant may be tasked with comparing the debit and credit turnover in relation to the subaccount indicators for account 90 in order to determine the financial results from the sale of goods. How to solve it? Using the following postings:
- A debit of 90, that is, “Sales,” then sub-account 9, that is, “Profit or loss on sales.”
- Credit 99, that is, "Profit and loss."
In some cases, the committees must receive a penalty. It is fixed in the postings:
- Debit 91, that is, “Other income and expenses”.
- Credit 50, that is, "Cashier".
This is the specificity that characterizes commission trading. Accounting is conducted in accordance with standardized criteria. Relevant commercial legal relations have a stable legislative base. If an accountant needs to fix certain financial transactions, which include commission trading, the transactions provided for this are quite accessible and logical.