What is tax monitoring? Law on Tax Monitoring

In Russian law a new term appeared - "tax monitoring" (the year 2015 was marked by the entry into force of the relevant laws). It assumes the organization of a fundamentally new mechanism of interaction between the Federal Tax Service and enterprises. What is the feature of the innovations that we are talking about? What are the advantages of the corresponding scheme for enterprises and the Federal Tax Service?

The essence of the term

What is tax monitoring? This term refers to the relatively new for Russia introduced in 2015 regime of administration of tax payments. Sometimes it is called "horizontal tax monitoring".

Key principles: the transparency of the taxpayer's activities in the aspect of reporting to the Federal Tax Service, as well as procedures within the internal control, the loyalty of the Federal Tax Service in respect of inspections - visiting or cameral. Tax monitoring assumes to be an innovative tool that allows to derive the relationship between business and the state to a new level.

One of the key aspects of the mechanism in question is the possibility of organizing the interaction of taxpayers and supervisory bodies 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 FNS with access to the necessary information reflecting the discipline of the enterprise in the aspect of reporting and transferring the necessary fees to the state. In turn, the taxpayer can use all available channels to obtain the necessary information from the agency.

Components of monitoring

Consider the components that can be considered as key components of the corresponding mode of communication between the FTS and the 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 sphere of tax payment and reporting. A motivated opinion is formed by the tax service, and if the payer of fees meets the requirements, then he may be exempt from possible fines and penalties.

Another notable 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 assumes work under a special procedure. It is expected that the FTS and taxpayers will interact in one of two ways: by submitting documents (in electronic format) to the Office or by direct access to the files of the enterprise. In addition, businessmen will be able to include in the regulations characteristics of internal control algorithms.

The emergence of monitoring in Russia

The mechanism in question in Russia has recently been consolidated at the level of federal legal acts. The law on tax monitoring in November 2014 was signed by the President of the Russian Federation. In accordance with Federal Law No. 348, which was amended accordingly 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 entered into force on January 1, 2015. But some of its provisions will become normative in 2016.

How did the business community in Russia realize that it is necessary to implement tax monitoring? According to some sources, the bill, which later became federal legal acts, was initiated by the authorities with the assistance of major businessmen and consulting brands in 2012. Direct participation in the development of the relevant law was adopted by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, namely, the working group responsible for the modernization of tax administration procedures in Russia.

Practical effectiveness of the monitoring institute

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

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

As the trial mechanisms of business communication and the Federal Tax Service showed, there was little reason for any significant differences between the parties to legal relations during the interaction under the new scheme. At the same time, the quality of mutual understanding between the tax service and entrepreneurs has increased. The workload on specialists fell from one side and the other: there was simply no need to carry out unnecessary work, typical for procedures under the old scheme.

According to experts, Russian business needed a mechanism such as tax monitoring. The bill, which later became a full-fledged legal act, was at the same time qualitatively elaborated, it included all the necessary provisions for the implementation of the new mechanism. This gave the experts a great opportunity to assess its prospects, not only from the point of view of the relevance of the regulatory provisions, but also in terms of the prospects for their practical implementation.

How to apply for a new scheme

But how can an enterprise begin its relations with the Federal Tax Service in the framework of tax monitoring? There are a number of criteria, according to which the business can rely on the privilege in question. Among the key:

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

- Business revenue in accordance with the accounting 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 us examine in more detail the specific benefits that the tax monitoring institution can bring to the state and the private market.

What does this give?

Thanks to the mechanism under consideration, bona fide tax payers who managed to build an effective system of internal financial control will be able to interact with the FTS in an order in which any difficulties will be minimized.

Among the key advantages that tax monitoring gives is, as we have already noted, the release of business from inspections by the Federal Tax Service. This circumstance allows companies, for example, to save significantly on the access to the services of lawyers and lawyers, whose assistance is sometimes simply necessary with increased attention to business by the Federal Tax Service.

Thanks to such a mechanism as a motivated opinion, the main tax risks and disagreements, characteristic for the activities of enterprises, will be resolved at the earliest possible time. Before tax monitoring was introduced in Russia and the methodology for its implementation was appropriately approved, the difficulties in communications between companies and the Federal Tax Service could be resolved for years.

Effective interaction on legal issues

The mechanism of interaction of the Federal Tax Service and enterprises stipulated by the legislation of the Russian Federation is characterized by an important advantage - the firm can, if necessary, request certain comments on the relevant sphere of legal relations in the department. Also, the staff of the Federal Tax Service, while conducting tax monitoring, will quickly study the documents relevant to the reporting and check how well they are compiled.

Thanks to the interaction with the Federal Tax Service under the new scheme, entrepreneurs were able to request clarifications regarding the transfer of fees from transactions, even before they were committed. This is a significant step forward in the interaction of business and the state in the aspect of constructive cooperation.

Participation of enterprises in tax monitoring avoids large and sometimes unpleasant for the firm's budget additional charge of fees to the treasury, which sometimes need to be paid upon the fact of on-site inspections. In the process of interaction between business and the Federal Tax Service under the new scheme, the probability of such situations is minimal.

Electronic information exchange

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

This format of communication for many businessmen is more desirable than paperwork, since in this case it is assumed that there will be much less time and labor resources needed to implement the required reporting procedures. After the institute of tax monitoring was approved, the companies received an official opportunity to completely transfer the interaction with the Federal Tax Service to the electronic format. For the agency itself, it is also convenient: there is no need to waste time employees on field events.

Voluntary format

The voluntary procedure for concluding an arrangement with the Federal Tax Service is an important aspect of such a mechanism, as appropriate type of monitoring. Tax benefits for large enterprises are not so many, and they are always happy to steps towards the state. However, many companies may need time to align their financial reporting and control systems with the required criteria. But all the resources that the company will invest in the necessary modernization of the infrastructure are likely to pay off with high probability.

Stop monitoring and unscheduled inspections

Tax monitoring is actually a privilege. In some cases, its provision can be legally discontinued. This is permissible if, for example, an organization provides false information to the Federal Tax Service or neglects the obligation to send certain documents to it.

The law also provides for scenarios whereby on-site inspections can be conducted even if the enterprise and the Federal Tax Service have entered into an appropriate agreement on the new scheme. This is possible if:

- the inspection is carried out by the higher-level structure of the Federal Tax Service, which controls the effectiveness of the work of the department's accountable units;

- the enterprise has not complied with the prescriptions contained in the reasoned opinion;

- the firm needs to submit an updated declaration for the period corresponding to the timing of the implementation of monitoring procedures, for example, due to the fact that the value of fees to pay is reduced in comparison with the amount that appears in the previously submitted document.

Also, on-site inspection can be carried out if the relevant type of legal relationship between business and the Federal Tax Service were terminated in the manner described above.

Actual tasks for the implementation of the new scheme

The introduction of a modernized scheme of interaction between enterprises and the tax service presupposes the formation of fundamentally new structural subdivisions both in the Federal Tax Service and in firms. The Office, for example, will have to create new staff units of specialists who will be competent in interacting with taxpayers online. A similar task will also be necessary for 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 in line with legislative criteria.