Income tax expenses: general rules
The general requirements for income tax expenses are known to everyone. According to paragraph 1 of Art. 252 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation is:
- justification of expenses;
- their documentary evidence;
- as well as the connection with the activity from which income is expected to be generated.
At first glance, everything is simple and extremely clear, and most importantly, logical. These restrictions are designed to cut off all opportunities for abuse and attempts by management or owners to obtain any personal benefit at the expense of the company and, ultimately, the budget (in the form of tax savings).
At the same time, compliance with these requirements does not seem difficult at first. However, in practice, the issue of recognizing expenses for income tax is one of the key issues in the taxation of organizations. It gives rise to no less controversy than the procedure for VAT deductions. And controllers who guard the interests of the budget carefully examine every expense of the organization and, at the slightest suspicion, try to remove expenses from the base, which leads to additional tax assessment.
Therefore, you need to not only know these requirements, but also be able to apply them in accounting work.
article will help you learn everything about the conditions for recognizing expenses for “profitable” purposes .
Read about some of the nuances of documenting expenses in the following articles:
- “When is a qualified electronic signature required?”;
- “Printing is not a mandatory attribute of the primary document”;
- “To confirm the costs of road transportation of goods, a bill of lading is required”;
- “It is impossible to confirm expenses with a facsimile document”;
- “Monthly act - how to confirm rental expenses?”
Article 270 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. Expenses not taken into account for tax purposes (current version)
5) in the form of expenses for the acquisition (for example, under a supply agreement, exchange, etc.) and (or) creation (for example, if the object is manufactured by the taxpayer of the corporate income tax) of depreciable property. It should be taken into account that:
a) in paragraph 5 of Art. 270 refers not only to depreciable fixed assets, but also to other depreciable property. In practice, a question has arisen: due to the fact that in a number of cases the legislator equates (for corporate income tax purposes) depreciable intangible assets with depreciable property, do the costs of acquiring depreciable intangible assets relate to the costs mentioned in paragraph 5 of Art. . 270? Systematic interpretation of Art. 256, paragraph 9 of Art. 258 Tax Code and paragraph 5 of Art. 270 allows us to answer this question positively. If the legislator meant the costs of acquiring (creating) only (actually) depreciable property, then, apparently, he will have to clarify the wording of Art. 258, 270 NK;
b) the composition of depreciable property, as well as the procedure for assigning it to various depreciation groups should be determined in accordance with the rules of Art. 257 - 259 NK;
6) in the form of contributions for voluntary (not excluding personal) insurance, which the taxpayer makes as an insurer, with the exception of contributions for voluntary insurance:
— means of transport;
— cargo;
— fixed assets for production purposes, as well as intangible assets, unfinished capital construction projects;
— risks associated with construction and installation work;
- inventory;
— agricultural crops and animals;
- other property and other risks specified in Art. 255 and 263 NK (see commentary to them);
7) in the form of contributions to non-state pension provision (for example, if such contributions are made by the taxpayer in favor of citizens - participants in LLCs, JSCs and other taxpayer organizations). However, the amounts of contributions from employer organizations under non-state pension agreements concluded in favor of their employees are classified as labor costs (see commentary to paragraph 16 of Article 255 of the Tax Code);
in the form of interest accrued by the taxpayer - borrower in favor of:
a) the creditor - a Russian organization - in excess of the amounts specified in clause 1 of Art. 269 NK;
b) creditor - a foreign organization - in excess of the amounts calculated in accordance with clauses 2, 3 of Art. 269 Tax Code (see commentary to it);
9) in the form of amounts listed:
a) commission agent - to the principal when executing a commission agreement;
b) by an agent to a principal when executing an agency agreement;
c) by another attorney (for example, when executing orders under contracts of agency, commercial mediation, commercial representation, etc.) - in favor of the principal;
10) in the form of amounts of deductions to reserves for the depreciation of investments in securities created by organizations in accordance with the laws on joint-stock companies, securities, banks, regulations of the Central Bank of Russia, the Federal Commission for the Securities Market of Russia and in other cases when such deductions are provided for by current legislation (except for cases specified in Article 300 of the Tax Code, see commentary to it);
11) in the form of guarantee contributions made in cases directly provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation (for example, the Law on Banks, the Law on Securities), in case of:
— implementation of clearing activities by the organization, i.e. activities to determine mutual obligations (collection, reconciliation, adjustment of information on transactions with securities and preparation of accounting documents for them) and their offset for the supply of securities and settlements on them. Organizations carrying out clearing for securities, in connection with settlements on transactions with securities, accept for execution accounting documents prepared in determining mutual obligations on the basis of their agreements with participants in the securities market for which settlements are made. A clearing organization that carries out settlements on transactions with securities is obliged to form special funds to reduce the risks of non-execution of transactions with securities. The minimum size of special funds of clearing organizations is established by the Federal Securities Commission of Russia in agreement with the Central Bank (Article 6 of the Securities Law);
- carrying out activities to organize trade in the securities market (i.e. activities to provide services that directly contributed to the conclusion of civil transactions with securities between participants in the securities market. This activity is carried out, for example, by stock exchanges, whose members contribute to their benefit the fees and charges provided for in Article 13 of the Securities Law). All these expenses are not taken into account when assessing corporate income tax;
12) in the form of funds transferred by corporate income tax taxpayers to their counterparties under agreements:
a) a loan (in this case, the creditor can only be the taxpayer - a bank or other credit organization);
b) a loan (in this case, other (i.e. non-bank) organizations can also act as a lender);
c) commodity or commercial credit (Articles 822, 823 of the Civil Code, see commentary to them in the book: Guev A.N. Article-by-article commentary on part two of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. 3rd edition. M.: INFRA-M , 2001);
d) dedicated to other forms of borrowing (including debt securities, such as a bill, bond, Articles 815, 816 of the Civil Code).
Income not taken into account for corporate income tax purposes also includes amounts allocated to repay such borrowings (but not to repay interest; in the latter case, you must follow the rules of Article 270 of the Tax Code and include expenses for repaying interest as non-operating expenses );
13) in the form of amounts of losses for the objects specified in clause 13 of Art. 270. However, as expenses not taken into account for corporate income tax purposes, the amounts of these expenses are included only to the extent that they exceed the amount of ordinary expenses calculated in accordance with subparagraph. 32 clause 1 art. 264 NK. The concepts of service production facilities, housing and communal services or social and cultural spheres for taxation purposes with corporate income tax are legally defined in subparagraph. 32 clause 1 art. 264 Tax Code (see commentary to it);
14) in the form of property (including goods (works, services), property rights (for example, rights of claim), transferred by the corporate income tax taxpayer to its counterparties in the form of prepayment (for example, if the goods were paid for before they were actually received by exchange agreement). However, this rule applies only to those taxpayers who use (to determine their income and expenses) the accrual method (see commentary to Articles 271, 272 of the Tax Code);
15) in the form of amounts of voluntary membership (including entrance) contributions from taxpayers of corporate income tax:
a) who are members of any public organizations. Let us remind you that in accordance with Art. 8 of the Law on Associations:
“A public organization is a MEMBERSHIP-based public association created on the basis of joint activities to protect common interests and achieve the statutory goals of united citizens.
Members of a public organization, in accordance with its charter, can be individuals and LEGAL ENTITIES - PUBLIC ASSOCIATIONS, unless otherwise established by this Federal Law and the laws on certain types of public associations" (emphasis added - A.G.).
In this regard, the question arose: if the taxpayer participates in the activities of public associations of other forms (for example, a public foundation, a social movement), then do the rules of paragraph 15 of Art. 270 for the contributions he makes? When answering this question, you need to consider that:
- in other types of public associations there is no membership, therefore there are no membership fees (Articles 5 - 7, 9 - 12 of the Law on Associations);
- however, both these and other public associations have entrance fees;
- unfortunately, the literal interpretation of paragraph 15 of Art. 270 shows that its rules apply to cases where the taxpayer makes membership and entrance fees only to public organizations. It is obvious that in paragraph 15 of Art. 270 there is a gap, until which is filled the costs of making entry fees to public funds, movements, etc. are included in the expenses mentioned in paragraph 49 of Art. 270;
b) who are members of unions (associations). It should be borne in mind that commercial organizations, in order to coordinate their business activities, as well as to represent and protect common property interests, can, by agreement among themselves, create associations in the form of associations or unions, which are non-profit organizations. In a number of cases (for example, this is provided for in Article 13 of the Law on Associations), unions and associations can also be created by non-profit organizations. Entry fees from taxpayers to such unions, as well as membership fees aimed at maintaining the management apparatus of the union (association) (Articles 121 - 123 of the Civil Code), for the normal functioning of the union (association), etc., are not taken into account when determining the tax base on income tax;
16) in the form of the value of property (goods, work, services, property rights) transferred free of charge by the taxpayer, as well as expenses (for example, transportation, storage) associated with such transfer. It should be taken into account that:
— gratuitous transfer in relations between commercial organizations is not allowed if the value of the transferred property exceeds 5 minimum wages, i.e. currently 500 rub. (Article 5 of the Law on Minimum Wages). However, if in violation of Art. 575 of the Civil Code (containing such a prohibition) such a gratuitous transfer took place, then for tax purposes with corporate income tax, both the amount of transferred benefits and the expenses incurred during the transfer are not taken into account when determining the tax base;
- donation - a type of gratuitous transfer (Article 582 of the Civil Code). In this regard, the question that has arisen in practice is whether the rules of paragraph 16 of Art. 270 for a donation should be answered positively;
17) in the form of the value of property transferred within the framework of targeted financing in the form of:
— grants transferred to other organizations and individuals;
— investments transferred during bidding;
- funds of shareholders accumulated in the accounts of the organization - the developer;
- other amounts, funds, property (but not works, services, property rights) mentioned in subparagraph. 15 clause 1 art. 251 NK (see commentary to it);
18) in the form of a negative difference resulting from the revaluation of precious stones (diamonds, emeralds, rubies, etc.) on the organization’s balance sheet when price lists change (the fact is that the prices for these stones are regulated and their the change is carried out by authorized federal executive authorities in the manner determined by the Government of the Russian Federation);
19) in the form of amounts of taxes (for example, VAT, excise taxes), which are presented to taxpayers of corporate income tax - buyers of goods (purchasers of property, property rights, etc.) under contracts by their counterparties (for example, a supplier, other sellers);
20) in the form of funds transferred by an organization that is a taxpayer of corporate income tax to trade union organizations. In this case, you need to follow the rules:
- Art. 232 of the Labor Code (that organizations are obliged to contribute funds to trade unions for cultural, mass and physical education work);
- Art. 233 of the Labor Code (on the free provision to trade unions of the premises necessary for their functioning with equipment, lighting, heating, cleaning, security, etc. and vehicles);
- Art. 234 of the Labor Code (on the provision of buildings, structures, parks, pioneer camps, etc. to trade unions for conducting health, sports, cultural and educational, etc. work among employees of enterprises and organizations).
Similar deductions (and the provision of the mentioned property) are provided for in Art. 28 of the Law on Trade Unions. All expenses of the organization associated with this are not taken into account when assessing corporate income tax;
21) in the form of expenses for any types of remuneration provided by the organization to management (for example, members of the collegial executive body of an LLC, the board of directors of a JSC, etc.) or employees, in addition to remunerations paid on the basis of employment agreements (contracts).
Applying clause 21 of Art. 270, you need to take into account that:
a) the composition of remunerations paid on the basis of an employment agreement (contract) should be determined in accordance with Art. 255 of the Tax Code and the Instructions on Payroll;
b) other remunerations include, in particular, remunerations paid to members of the board of directors for participation in board meetings, and bonuses paid to members of the audit commission who are not on the staff of the organization, etc.
22) in the form of bonuses paid to employees (i.e. persons in labor relations with the organization, and not in civil legal relations) at the expense of special-purpose funds or targeted revenues (for example, if funds were received from the budget for bonuses to employees of the organization for fulfilling a special task of the Government of the Russian Federation);
23) in the form of amounts of material assistance to employees. It should be taken into account that:
— employees include persons who have an employment relationship with the organization. In practice, questions arose:
if financial assistance is provided to part-time workers, then are these expenses subject to the rules of paragraph 23 of Art. 270? Yes, they do, because part-time workers also have labor relations with the organization;
if financial assistance is provided to a person performing work under a contract to organize work, should one be guided by the rules of paragraph 23 of Art. 270? No, it should not, however, in this case, expenses are also not taken into account when assessing corporate income tax (in accordance with paragraph 49 of Article 270);
- the list of circumstances (in connection with which the employee was provided with financial assistance) is indicated in clause 23 of Art. 270 in a non-exhaustive manner, and material assistance provided to employees for other reasons is also not included in the expenses taken into account when determining the tax base.
In practice, the question arose: are there any contradictions between the rules of Art. 220 of the Tax Code (stating that amounts spent on the construction of a residential building, apartment, including amounts used to repay interest on mortgage loans, etc. are not subject to personal income tax) and the provisions of paragraph. 23 Art. 270? No, there are no contradictions. The fact is that in Art. 220 of the Tax Code we are talking about property tax deductions used in determining the tax base for personal income tax, and in paragraph 23 of Art. 270 - about expenses not taken into account when determining the tax base for another tax - corporate income tax;
See about this in the book: Guev A.N. Article-by-article commentary to part two of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. Book 1. Ed. 2nd. M.: CONTRACT, INFRA-M, 2001.
24) in the form of amounts to pay for additional vacations provided in accordance with the collective agreement:
a) women raising children;
b) other categories of workers.
Additional holidays should be considered, the provision of which is not provided (mandatory) by the norms of the current labor legislation (for example, Articles 66 - 68, 165 - 168, 190 - 199 of the Labor Code).
If the organization does not have a collective agreement in force (has not concluded), and additional vacations (by decision of management) are provided, then such expenses are also not included in the expenses taken into account when determining the tax base;
25) in the form of pension supplements, one-time benefits, etc. payments mentioned in paragraph 25 of Art. 270. For the correct application of the rules of paragraph 25 of Art. 270 you need to keep in mind that:
a) they comprehensively indicate allowances, allowances, payments that are not taken into account when assessing corporate income tax: tax authorities do not have the right to interpret it broadly;
b) the amount of bonuses, benefits, etc. (even extremely insignificant) mentioned in paragraph 25 of Art. 270, for tax purposes the corporate income tax does not play a role;
c) the provision of amounts of compensation in connection with the increase in the cost of special food provided in accordance with the norms of the current labor legislation or with the terms of the employment agreement (contract) concluded with a specific employee is included in wage costs (Article 255 of the Tax Code);
26) in the form of expenses for travel to the place of work and back (to the place of residence or stay, for example to a residential building, apartment, dormitory):
a) public transport (for example, shuttle buses, trolleybuses, trams);
b) special routes (for example, minibuses, river boats);
c) departmental transport (for example, delivering employees to work by organization bus, special cars in railway organizations). However, the rules of paragraph 26 of Art. 270 do not apply to expenses that are included in the costs of production and sale of goods (work, services) (see the commentary on them to Articles 252, 253 of the Tax Code) due to the technological features of production (for example, if the work is carried out on a rotation basis) . The issue is resolved in a similar way in cases where the employment agreement (contract) concluded with an employee stipulates that he will be transported to and from his place of work (or reimbursed for travel expenses). In the latter case, there are labor costs (Article 255 of the Tax Code);
27) in the form of expenses for paying price differences when an organization sells goods (works, services) to its employees at preferential rates and prices (i.e. lower than market prices). In practice, a question has arisen: if the level of prices used by an organization to sell goods (work, services) to third-party organizations and citizens is lower than the level of market prices, and the organization sells goods (work, services) to its employees at even lower prices, then is it covered? payment of such price differences under the rules of clause 27 of Art. 270? Yes, it does: the conclusion was made on the basis of a systematic interpretation of paragraphs 27, 49 of Art. 270;
28) in the form of expenses for payment of price differences when selling at preferential prices the products of subsidiary farms for the organization of public catering. In practice, the question has arisen: if preferential prices are applied when selling these products to socially vulnerable segments of the population (for example, large families, disabled people, pensioners, etc.), do such costs relate to expenses not taken into account when taxing corporate income taxes? Systematic interpretation of clauses 28, 29, 49 art. 270 allows us to answer this question positively;
29) in the form of expenses for paying for vouchers, subscriptions, etc. expenses mentioned in paragraph 29 of Art. 270. It should be taken into account that:
- expenses incurred by the organization for the purposes mentioned in clause 29 of Art. 270, are listed in a non-exhaustive manner;
- even if specified in clause 29 of Art. 270 expenses are incurred not in favor of the organization’s employees, but other persons (including citizens and legal entities), such expenses are not taken into account when assessing corporate income tax;
30) in the form of amounts of negative exchange rate differences arising from settlements in foreign currency (any quoted by the Central Bank, and not just freely convertible currency) under contracts with suppliers of goods and materials, works, services:
a) from commission agents carrying out commission orders of the principal (Articles 990 - 1004 of the Civil Code);
b) from agents carrying out the agency assignment of the principal (Articles 1005 - 1011 of the Civil Code);
c) from an attorney carrying out the instructions of the principal (Articles 971 - 979 of the Civil Code). In practice, a question has arisen: if commission agents (agents, attorneys) enter into - in pursuance of the instructions of the principal (principal, principal) - not supply contracts, but contract agreements, paid services, other civil contracts, settlements under which are made in foreign currency, then whether the resulting negative exchange rate differences fall under clause 30 of Art. 270? Yes, they do. Grammatical interpretation of paragraph 30 of Art. 270 shows that the legislator uses the word “suppliers” to mean both the suppliers themselves (i.e., sellers in the supply agreement) and contractors, performers, etc.
Another question arose in practice: about exchange rate differences on what date are discussed in paragraph 30 of Art. 270 - on the date of execution of the commission (agency) order or on the date of settlement, or at the end of the reporting period? Unfortunately, this question is right in paragraph 30 of Art. 270 not resolved. In this regard, tax authorities and taxpayers must proceed from the provisions of Art. 3, 108 of the Tax Code stating that any ambiguities and doubts contained in legislative acts on taxes and fees are interpreted in favor of the taxpayer;
31) in the form of expenses for operations related to the restoration and maintenance of reserves of special (radioactive) raw materials and fissile materials. For the correct application of paragraph 31 of Art. 270 it is necessary to take into account that:
a) its provisions apply only to taxpayers (mostly they are state unitary enterprises) expressly specified in paragraph 31 of Art. 270;
b) only expenses for operations related to the restoration and maintenance (including carrying out preventive, repair, etc. work) of the said stock are considered expenses not taken into account when taxing corporate income taxes. The remaining expenses influence the determination of the tax base (i.e. they are included in it as part of either material expenses or other expenses, etc.). The conclusion is made on the basis of a systematic interpretation of Art. 252, 256, 264 and 270 NK;
32) in the form of the value of shares transferred by the taxpayer - the issuer of these shares (i.e., an organization that bears on its behalf obligations to the owners of shares to exercise the rights secured by the shares), distributed:
a) between shareholders (of the same organization) by decision of the general meeting of shareholders of the JSC in proportion to the number of shares owned by them (in the manner and in cases provided for by the current Law on JSC);
b) among shareholders in exchange for the original shares. In this case, the expenses not taken into account for corporate income tax purposes include the difference between the par value of the new shares and the par value of the original shares (in replacement of which new shares are transferred to shareholders).
Rules clause 32 art. 270 are subject to application in the case when shares are distributed in connection with an increase in the authorized capital of a JSC that is an issuer (in the cases provided for in Articles 27, 28, 32 of the Law on JSC);
33) in the form of property or property rights transferred as a deposit or pledge. For the correct application of the rules of paragraph 33 of Art. 270 it is necessary to take into account that:
a) for the purposes of taxation with corporate income tax, the concepts of “property” and “property rights” are different (see commentary to Article 248 of the Tax Code), how the Tax Code differs from the Civil Code (Article 128 of the Civil Code);
b) property rights may be the subject of a pledge. The subject of the pledge can be any property, with the exception of money (Article 336 of the Civil Code);
c) a deposit is recognized only as a sum of money given by one of the contracting parties in payment of payments due from it under the contract to the other party, as proof of the conclusion of the contract and to ensure its execution (Article 380 of the Civil Code). Neither property rights nor other property (i.e. not related to money) can serve as the subject of a deposit: the conclusion is made on the basis of a systematic interpretation of Art. 336, 380 Civil Code and Art. 248, 270 NK;
34) in the form of amounts of taxes accrued by the organization to local budgets, budgets of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, the federal budget, but only on the condition that these taxes:
- were previously included by the taxpayer in expenses as amounts of accounts payable, written off and (or) reduced in another way, in cases provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation and (or) by decision of the Government of the Russian Federation (for example, as bad debts, Article 59 of the Tax Code). See also the comment about this. to sub. 22 clause 1 art. 251 NK;
- were only accrued, but not actually transferred.
In practice, questions arose:
does it go into paragraph 34 of Art. 270 are we talking about all taxes or only about the corporate income tax (taking into account that Article 247 of the Tax Code contains a clause that the word “tax” in the norms of Chapter 25 refers specifically to the income tax, see commentary to Article 247 of the Tax Code) ? Systematic analysis of Art. 59, 247, 251, 270 of the Tax Code allows us to conclude that in paragraph 34 of Art. 270 we are talking not only about the amounts of corporate income tax, but also about the amounts of other taxes;
Do the rules of paragraph 34 of Art. 270 for the amount of fees (as is, for example, provided for in Article 59 of the Tax Code)? In this case, there is ambiguity: in this regard, it is necessary to proceed from the provisions of Art. 3, 108 of the Tax Code (that all doubts and ambiguities in acts of legislation on taxes and fees are interpreted in favor of taxpayers);
35) in the form of amounts of targeted contributions for the maintenance of non-profit organizations and the conduct of their statutory activities. In this case, you need to pay attention to the fact that:
a) deductions (mentioned in paragraph 35 of Article 270) must be used for their intended purpose;
b) the types of deductions mentioned are indicated in clause 2 of Art. 251 (for example, funds received as part of charitable activities, see detailed commentary to Article 251 of the Tax Code);
c) the taxpayer is obliged to keep separate records of those mentioned in paragraph 35 of Art. 270 deductions (as expenses);
36) in the form of a loss arising as a result of the difference between:
a) the estimated value of the property (the assessment is carried out either by the participants (founders) themselves, created by the JSC, LLC, etc., and in cases provided for by the Law on JSC, the Law on LLC, other acts of the current civil legislation, also by independent appraisers, specialized organizations on property valuation, etc.) when making it as a contribution to the authorized (share) capital (fund). It should be taken into account that:
— authorized capital is created in business companies (JSC, LLC, ALC, dependent and subsidiary companies);
— share capital is created in PT and CT;
— the authorized capital is created in municipal unitary enterprises, state unitary enterprises, as well as in some non-profit organizations.
In practice, the question arose: do the rules of paragraph 36 of Art. 270 for cases of contributing property to a cooperative mutual fund? No, they do not apply: in this case, you must follow the rules of paragraph 49 of Art. 270 and
b) the value at which this property was acquired (for example, specifically for contribution to the authorized capital, while the property may not have been put on balance sheet) by the transferring party organization - a taxpayer of corporate income tax, or the value at which the property is reflected on the balance sheet of the latter;
37) costs incurred during the implementation of fruitless work on the development of natural resources. It should be taken into account that:
a) the legal definition of fruitless work (mentioned in paragraph 37 of Article 270) is given in paragraph 3 of Art. 261 Tax Code (see commentary to it);
b) as part of the expenses mentioned in paragraph 37 of Art. 270, only costs for fruitless work on the development of natural resources are included, if within 5 years before the taxpayer was granted the rights to geological exploration of subsoil and mining or other use of subsoil, similar work had already been carried out on this site (except for cases when the work was carried out based on fundamentally new technology and (or) in relation to other minerals);
38) R&D expenses that did not produce a positive result. It should be taken into account that:
— R&D that did not produce a positive result includes work that either did not produce any positive results at all, or led to different results (than those expected), which require independent research and study;
— R&D expenses carried out for the purpose of creating new or improving existing technologies, creating new types of raw materials and supplies (even if R&D did not produce positive results) are subject to inclusion in expenses associated with production and sales (this conclusion follows from the analysis of Art. 253, 262 of the Tax Code) for 3 years in an amount not exceeding 70% of the actual expenses incurred (see the commentary on this to Article 262 of the Tax Code). However, expenses exceeding the specified 70% are not taken into account when assessing corporate income tax;
— expenses for other types of R&D (besides those mentioned above) are also not included in the expenses taken into account when assessing corporate income tax;
39) expenses in the form of amounts of paid allowances (for example, when employees move to work in another area together with the organization) in terms of exceeding the standards established by current legislation;
40) expenses aimed at compensation for the use of personal cars for business purposes and for other purposes expressly specified in paragraph 40 of Art. 270. For the correct application of paragraph 40 of Art. 270 it is necessary to take into account that:
- the expenses mentioned in it, if they do not exceed the established norms, are included in other expenses (see the detailed commentary on Article 264 of the Tax Code about this and the amounts of the current norms);
- only if the amounts of the mentioned compensations exceed the above norms, expenses in part of such excess are not taken into account when assessing corporate income tax;
41) in the form of payment in excess of the tariffs approved in the prescribed manner (for example, in accordance with Articles 4 - 6 of the Law on State Duties, see the commentary on this to subparagraph 16, paragraph 1, Article 264 of the Tax Code):
— notary of a state notary office;
- to a private notary, if the latter exercised his right (in the cases provided for in Article 22 of the OZN) to set a higher rate than the tariffs established for state notary offices. In practice, the question arose: are there any contradictions between the rules of paragraph 41 of Art. 270, on the one hand, and the rules sub. 16 clause 1 art. 264 Tax Code and Art. 22 OZN (that notaries of a state notary office must apply tariffs approved by the state)? Of course, a certain contradiction is evident: in any case, it must be borne in mind that expenses in the form of fees to a state notary in excess of the tariffs approved in the established manner should not occur;
42) in the form of contributions, deposits and other obligatory payments paid by taxpayers:
a) being exclusively commercial organizations (other organizations (payers of contributions), in particular, non-profit organizations are not included in either subparagraphs 29, 30, paragraph 1, article 264 of the Tax Code, or paragraph 42, article 270). In practice, the question arose: do the rules of sub. 29, 30 p. 1 art. 264 and paragraph 42 of Art. 270 of the Tax Code to cases where the mentioned fees, deposits, etc. Do foreign organizations pay Russian corporate income tax? Yes, they do, because no exceptions have been established for them (see also the commentary on this to Articles 306, 307, 309, 310 of the Tax Code);
b) non-profit and international organizations. However, if these expenses are caused by the fact that the payment of fees, deposits, etc. mentioned in paragraph 42 is a prerequisite for the activities of the corporate income tax payer himself, or is necessary for this, then the amounts of these expenses are included in other expenses (see commentary to subparagraphs 29, 30 of Article 264 of the Tax Code). In practice, the question arose: do we also mean payments to foreign non-profit organizations? Yes, in paragraph 42 of Art. 270 of the Tax Code also deals with this kind of payments;
43) in the form of expenses directly listed in paragraph 43 of Art. 270. Moreover, for the correct application of paragraph 43 of Art. 270 need to be taken into account:
- rules sub. 43 and 44 paragraph 1 art. 264 NK (see about them, as well as about
that relates to periodicals, the media,
book products, etc., comment. to Art. 264 NK);
- included in expenses not taken into account for tax purposes
corporate income tax, includes any other expenses
(unless they are specified in subparagraphs 43, 44, paragraph 1, article 264 of the Tax Code),
related to the replacement of defective copies of publications, with
replenishment of other losses of printed products;
44) in the form of entertainment expenses. Wherein:
- legal definition (for tax purposes with tax on
profit of organizations) entertainment expenses are contained in clause 2
Art. 264 NK;
- expenses that are not taken into account for tax purposes
profits of organizations include expenses in the amount that
exceeds 4% of the taxpayer’s expenses for wages for the reporting (tax) period when the mentioned expenses took place (see also commentary to Article 255 and paragraph 2 of Article 264 of the Tax Code);
45) in the form of taxpayer expenses associated with the organization (during the training and retraining of personnel) entertainment, recreation or treatment. Expenses related to the maintenance of educational institutions or the provision of free services to them, payment for education in universities and secondary specialized educational institutions, and when they receive higher and secondary specialized education are also not included in the expenses taken into account when assessing the corporate income tax (see also commentary to paragraph 3 of Article 264 of the Tax Code);
46) in the form of expenses of the taxpayer of the corporate income tax related to:
a) purchasing (for a fee) or producing (including on our own) prizes awarded to winners during mass advertising campaigns;
b) other types of advertising - in part exceeding 1% of the taxpayer’s revenue.
Wherein:
- the rules on such excess also apply to the definition
expenses not taken into account for income tax purposes
organizations in relation to the costs of acquisition (manufacturing)
the mentioned prizes;
— revenue (mentioned above) is determined in accordance with the rules of Art. 249 NK. See also comment. to Art. 249 and paragraph 4 of Art. 264 NK;
47) in the form of contributions to the funds mentioned in paragraph 47 of Art. 270. In practice, a question has arisen: if the taxpayer makes contributions to other funds (i.e. not directly specified in paragraph 47 of Article 270, for example, to the fund for supporting small construction enterprises in the field of construction, created in a constituent entity of the Russian Federation), include Are such expenses not taken into account for corporate income tax purposes? Yes, they do, but in accordance with paragraph 49 of Art. 270 NK;
48) in the form of a negative difference resulting from the revaluation of securities (for example, shares, bonds, etc.) at market value (see the detailed commentary on this to Articles 280 - 282 of the Tax Code);
49) in the form of other expenses, if they:
a) relate to justified (i.e. economically justified costs, the assessment of which is expressed in monetary form);
b) documented;
c) are associated with activities aimed at obtaining income (profit) by the taxpayer. See also the comment about this. to Art. 252 NK. About examples of expenses mentioned in paragraph 49 of Art. 270, see above.
Classification of expenses for tax purposes
The list of income tax expenses and their classification are also defined in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. First of all, they are divided:
- for production and sales costs;
- non-operating expenses;
- expenses that are not taken into account for income tax purposes.
They can be divided differently:
- into direct and indirect;
- taken into account and not taken into account when calculating income tax.
The correct attribution of expenses within a particular classification directly affects the amount of tax payable. Without exception, all materials in this section are designed to help you correctly determine the nature of expenses and the procedure for their accounting in the tax base. Let's look at some in a little more detail.
What expenses can be included in calculating the tax base for income tax?
The company's expenses taken into account when calculating income tax are divided into two groups: those associated with production and sales and non-operating expenses.
When calculating income tax, economically justified and documented costs can be included in the expenses taken into account when calculating the tax base. This can be done provided that they were produced to perform activities that are aimed at generating income (clause 1 of Article 252 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). If any of the above conditions are not met, then such costs cannot be taken into account when calculating tax.
It is clear that, like income, the company’s expenses must be taken into account in monetary form (clause 3 of Article 274 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).
It will not be possible to take into account expenses that are directly named in Article 270 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation “Expenses not taken into account for tax purposes.” In addition, the legislation establishes a list of expenses that are taken into account when calculating tax within the established norms. For example, such expenses include advertising and entertainment expenses (clause 16 of article 255, article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).
The company's expenses taken into account when calculating income tax are divided into two groups (clause 2 of Article 252 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation):
- Costs associated with production and sales (clause 1 of Article 253 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). In particular, these include:
- expenses associated with the production, storage and delivery of goods, performance of work, provision of services, purchase and sale of goods;
- expenses for maintenance and operation, repair and maintenance of fixed assets and other property;
- expenses for the development of natural resources;
- R&D expenses;
- insurance costs (compulsory and voluntary);
- other expenses.
- Non-operating expenses.
Company expenses can be recognized in one of two ways provided by law (Articles 272, 273 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation):
- accrual method;
- cash method.
Let us recall that if an organization uses the accrual method, then income should be included in the calculation of the tax base in the period in which they arise, and expenses - in the period to which they relate.
If the company uses the cash method, then income should be recognized in the period in which they are received, and expenses in the period in which they are paid. That is, expenses under the cash method must be recognized on the day of payment of money from the cash register, debit from the current account or disposal of property (clause 3 of Article 273 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).
In practice, it happens that a company's expenses are expressed in foreign currency. Such expenses must be converted into rubles at the Central Bank exchange rate on the date of their recognition in tax accounting. The organization's expenses, expressed in monetary units, must be recalculated at the rate established by the agreement (clause 5 of Article 252 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).
3 months free use all the features of Kontur.Extern
Try
Production costs
So, classification group I of costs is expenses for core activities. These include the following:
- Material costs. These are expenses for the purchase of all types of raw materials, materials, components, equipment, works and services of a production nature, etc.
The features and nuances of accounting for these expenses are described in detail in this article .
- Labor costs. And this is not only salary, but a much wider range of accruals in favor of employees: bonuses, various additional payments and compensations, payment based on average earnings for legally unworked periods, dismissal, etc.
article is devoted to general issues of “salary” expenses .
Our other materials will help you correctly account for your expenses:
- bonuses;
For accounting nuances, see here and here ;
- vacation pay;
We wrote about them here .
- salary supplements;
this publication about them .
- and other expenses.
- Amounts of accrued depreciation. Our articles will help you decide on its method and correctly calculate the amounts:
- “What method to choose for calculating depreciation in tax accounting?”;
- “Linear method of calculating depreciation of fixed assets (example, formula)”;
- “A practical example of using the non-linear depreciation method”;
- “The essence and features of the application of the accelerated depreciation method.”
- Other expenses. These are all other expenses in addition to those listed above. For example, for rent, business trips, etc.
Find the main issues of their accounting in this article .
Non-operating expenses
This group of expenses includes expenses that are not related to production and sales, as well as some losses.
Read more here .
One of the types of non-operating expenses that are quite often encountered in practice is interest on debt obligations, for example, on loans and borrowings. For them Art. 269 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation provides for a special accounting procedure.
Read more about this procedure here and here.
The current economic situation is not entirely favorable. In times of crisis, the risk of non-payments always increases. This means that the question of accounting for doubtful and bad debts arises much more often. Of course, we couldn't ignore it.
“Procedure for forming reserves for doubtful debts” will help you to correctly form a “ .
And about what’s new in the formation of the reserve since 2017, read the article “The procedure for calculating the reserve for doubtful debts has changed .
We devoted a separate article to the procedure for writing off overdue receivables.
All the details are here .
Direct and indirect income tax expenses: list
Costs are divided into direct and indirect based on their connection with production. The general procedure for such division is enshrined in Art. 318 Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
Thus, direct costs include material costs, wages of production personnel and depreciation of production assets. All other costs are indirect.
The company determines the specific list of direct expenses independently.
Read about how to do this here .
Proper allocation of expenses is extremely important because the period for recognizing direct expenses is completely different than indirect expenses. This means that an error in qualification can lead to incorrect allocation of expenses between periods, underestimation of the tax base in one of them and overpayment of tax in another. That is why we did not limit ourselves to just one material on this topic.
Another article on our site is devoted to the division of costs into direct and indirect.
Looking ahead a little, we note that you should divide expenses into direct and indirect, taking into account the specifics of your activity and economic justification. Otherwise, tax authorities will recalculate the tax as they see fit, and, most likely, they will prove their case in court.
See, for example, “Rent of industrial premises may not be recognized as an indirect expense .
Are you sure you don’t need to split the costs?
The issue of dividing costs into direct and indirect ones was also raised in the case in which the Supreme Court ruled on December 21, 2020 No. 302-KG18-21175.
During the audit, the tax authorities reduced the loss and assessed additional income tax due to the lack of division of expenses into direct and indirect. But there was another problem in this case - the re-qualification of the nature of the company's activities.
The essence of the dispute: The company performing seismic survey work regarded its activities as the provision of services. And all expenses - for profit tax purposes - were recognized immediately - in the period when they arose.
The tax office insisted on reclassifying the nature of the activity as “work”), highlighting direct and indirect expenses.
In accordance with paragraph 4 of Article 38 of the Tax Code, work for tax purposes is recognized as activity whose results have a material expression and can be implemented to meet the needs of an organization and (or) individuals. A service is recognized as an activity, the results of which do not have material expression, are sold and consumed in the process of carrying out this activity (clause 5 of Article 38 of the Tax Code.
The court agreed with the tax authorities' arguments:
Tax legislation does not contain an exact list of activities that are classified as works and which are classified as services. The decisive factor is the achievement of results in material terms.
From the controversial contracts for seismic exploration work and acceptance certificates, it was clear that the contractor transferred to the customer the result of seismic exploration work, which consisted of seismograms, 3D diagrams and reports on paper and electronic media.
The courts have recognized that the result of seismic exploration has a material expression, since it is transferred to the customer in paper and electronic form. The purpose of concluding contracts is for the customer to obtain a result, expressed in the transfer of relevant documentation.
Therefore, the controversial activity is recognized as work. This is not a service. And recognizing expenses in full for profit tax purposes—without taking into account “incomplete”—is illegal.
From the definition of the Supreme Court and the decisions it reviewed, it is indicative: the courts support the approach of tax authorities to the distribution of costs into direct and indirect. And they confirm the reclassification of the nature of the activity into “work”.
Standardized income tax expenses in 2017–2018
Some expenses do not reduce income tax completely, but within certain limits - according to the standards established by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. For example:
- representative;
Their accounting is described in detail in this article .
- advertising;
Read about them here .
- to create some reserves, etc.
Expenses in excess of the norm are taken into account against profit after tax.
You need to know the types of standardized costs, the size of standards and the procedure for calculating them so as not to inflate costs and not underestimate taxes.
We have compiled the standards for you into a single table “Standards provided for by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation” .
Under what circumstances is VAT taken into account as an expense?
Value added tax (VAT) is an independent tax liability. In most cases, VAT is not included in income tax expenses (Clause 19, Article 270 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).
However, under certain circumstances, the law allows the amount of this tax to be included in costs:
There is another situation when VAT is included in expenses: it was accrued, but was not presented to the buyer. Then the income tax base for such VAT will be reduced as part of other expenses (subclause 1, clause 1, article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). The Ministry of Finance does not object to this approach (letter dated January 20, 2017 No. 03-03-06/1/3257).
Methods for recognizing expenses in NU
It is important not only to correctly classify expenses, but also to determine the correct date for their inclusion in the tax base. And this date depends on which method of accounting for income and expenses you have chosen. There are 2 such methods:
- accrual method, when expenses are recognized in the period in which they are incurred, regardless of the payment period;
- cash method - based on payment.
Each of them has its own characteristics, advantages and disadvantages. In addition, there is a very clear limitation on the use of the cash method of recognizing income and expenses.
The following articles in this section will help you choose the optimal method:
- “Accrual method and cash method: main differences”;
- “What is the procedure (conditions) for recognizing income and expenses using the cash method?”.
These articles are just a small part of what is presented in this subsection of our website. It is constantly updated with new relevant and useful materials. Visit it often and you will know everything about expense accounting.
