home Diseases Expenses that reduce income tax. Reduction of the single tax for fixed income. Reorganization with merger of an unprofitable enterprise

Expenses that reduce income tax. Reduction of the single tax for fixed income. Reorganization with merger of an unprofitable enterprise

It is important for an entrepreneur to know that to reduce income tax payments, there are many legal, that is, instruments provided for by law. Let's consider how and in what cases they can be applied.

How to reduce corporate income tax

The main way to reduce income tax is to not pay it at all. However, this method involves either something illegal, or a transition to other taxation systems - simplified tax system, UTII, or becoming an individual entrepreneur and buying a patent. But these are radical ways to get rid of the obligation to pay income tax.

If you need to pay tax, for example, the size of the business does not allow you to simplify your own taxation system, and the enterprise operates according to the basic taxation system (OSNO), then in this case, too, it is possible to “reduce the cost” of the tax component of the business. Therefore, we will consider how to reduce income tax under OSNO.

Reducing OSNO income tax means reducing the tax base. This can be achieved in two ways:

reduce income: what we are not interested in due to illegality (for example, not recording revenue) or because it contradicts the very nature of commercial activity;
increase costs: legal ways to reduce income tax provide tools for competent work with the costs of the enterprise. But this should not be a wholesale increase in costs, because in the end it will be more profitable to pay the tax than to inflate the cost. We are talking about the redistribution of expenses that already exist, but were not previously taken into account when taxing profits, that is, they did not reduce the tax base.

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The main way to reduce tax is to convert capital costs into current ones

The company cannot immediately write off capital costs as cost. This applies to the acquisition of fixed assets, machinery, equipment, buildings and structures that the entrepreneur uses in commercial activities.

In this case, capital costs are not written off as cost immediately, but gradually, over the useful life of this capital property.

This happens through depreciation. For example, if the service life of a building is 20 years, then the costs of its acquisition or construction will be written off as cost over the entire 20 years. Cars, equipment, and machines are usually written off within 5-10 years.

Convert major repairs to current ones

When it is necessary to carry out a major overhaul of an office space - change windows, add an entrance, redesign something, then the costs of this overhaul increase the cost of the building itself and will also be written off along with the cost of the building.

That is, if you spend a certain amount this month on major repairs, you can write it off as expenses over several years. Although it is economically feasible to write off immediately and, accordingly, receive a reduction in income tax in the current year, and not over the next few years.

This can be done, for example, by concluding an agreement with a construction (repair) organization to provide services not for capital repairs, but for current repairs.

It would seem that the amount spent on major repairs will in any case be written off as expenses and, in any case, will reduce the cost and it seems - what difference does it make when this happens? The general rule of the value of money applies here: money today is always more expensive than tomorrow.

Important! By saving money on income taxes now, you can use it for development tomorrow!

However, in the case of transferring “capital” into current expenses, you need to be careful: not all expenses can be written off as current expenses - there is a clear division of which expenses go where and the gap for making a decision “overhaul or routine repairs” is actually small.

The tax inspectorate may have questions that you will have to answer and prove the correctness of your actions.

Convert fixed assets into leased ones

To do this, you need to transfer (or sell) your fixed assets, including buildings and structures, to another company, and then rent them from that company.

You will continue to use your equipment in your normal activities, but you will write off its cost not in small parts over several years, but in the form of rental payments, which are significantly greater than depreciation amounts.

A company that you create yourself can act as a lessor; this company will operate under a simplified taxation system. In this case, it will not yet be subject to property tax paid on the residual value of fixed assets.

Of course, the amount of rental payments that you write off as the cost of your company will at the same time be the income of your other company operating under the simplified tax system. But even taking into account paying 6% on the income of that company, your savings will be impressive.

And if you transfer to that company fixed assets for which depreciation has already been completed, then you will receive a double benefit effect: you will write off as expenses the cost of renting property, the cost of which was already taken into account in the cost price and when reducing income tax.

When applying this scheme, it is necessary to take into account that all costs written off as cost and reduced by income tax must be economically justified.

The fact is that the tax service may recognize the transaction of transferring property to another company and leasing it back as imaginary and you will have to pay income tax “in full.” To prevent this from happening, you will need to prove that everything you did was justified.

To do this, you can make sure that the established company operating under the simplified tax system does something else besides renting out your property to you, and uses this property in this other activity.

How to reduce income tax for individual entrepreneurs

Tax reduction due to leasing

If you are going to purchase fixed assets or equipment, it is better to do it on lease. Leasing, or financial lease, allows you to apply accelerated depreciation to the acquired property, writing it off as expenses and thereby reducing income tax faster and in a larger amount than writing off the cost of fixed assets as expenses according to the usual depreciation scheme.

Accelerated depreciation is not applied by you, but by the leasing company from which you purchase the fixed asset. You write off the lease payments you make as expenses in the same period when you pay.

Using leasing, you write off the property as a cost during the term of the leasing agreement (usually 1-3 years). If you purchased the property yourself and wrote it off using normal depreciation rates, then this write-off would take you 10 years or more.

One of the advantages of using leasing is that you do not spend the entire amount necessary for this on purchasing property at once, but in parts. And even by paying the leasing company its commission (ensuring its profitability of work) and compensating it for the interest on the bank loan, which the leasing company most often uses, you still remain in the black.

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Other ways to reduce income taxes

Reducing taxes by creating reserves

A firm may have a situation where it will have a lot of specific costs over a period of time. This could be, for example, a planned repair of fixed assets or the holiday season, when the majority of employees go on vacation in the summer and vacation pay needs to be paid to almost everyone at once.

A reserve is a kind of piggy bank when a company saves money in small amounts throughout the year, and then spends everything accumulated at once.

Creating reserves for future large expenses does not allow one to literally reduce income tax payments at the end of the tax period (at the end of the year), but it does reduce the size of quarterly advance payments. From the point of view of the concept of the difference in the price of money between today and tomorrow, this is beneficial.

Writing off losses from previous years also leads to tax reductions

If a company made a profit in a certain year, and before that there was a loss, then this loss can be transferred to the current period, thereby reducing income tax.

Moreover, last year’s loss can be transferred in full as one amount or divided into parts and income tax reduced for 10 years: for example, last year’s loss can be written off as expenses not in the current year, but after 3 or 4 years.

Offshores help reduce taxes

There are several dozen jurisdictions (countries) in the world in which the tax system is simplified as much as possible. More often than not, all taxes come down to the payment of a single annual fee. In addition, there is no need to maintain accounting as such: it comes down to a simple calculation of income and expenses.

The offshore tax reduction system is not suitable for everyone. The fact is that the amount of duty in many offshore companies is inversely proportional to the authorized capital of the company: the larger the authorized capital, the lower the duty. It turns out that only large businesses can take advantage of low taxation offshore.

Any enterprise strives to reduce tax payments. For example, methods for optimizing income tax are widely known. True, “legal optimization” has its own nuances, which the chief accountant needs to understand well.

Find and neutralize

I. Uglanova, expert of the magazine “Practical Accounting”

Today, tax inspectors are trained to recognize “optimization methods” for income taxes. The list of these methods does not follow the law, and the essence of such “tricks” has long been known to everyone. One example would be concluding a fictitious agreement with a company to whose account funds are transferred. Then this amount is returned to the owner as a reward to the fictitious partner, and everyone is happy. But it's not that simple. We would like to assure you right away that such transactions may arouse the interest of tax inspectors if the transaction is not justified.

According to the law, for tax purposes expenses are accepted that meet the requirements of paragraph 1 of Article 252 of the Tax Code - economic justification and documentary evidence.

However, no one wants to pay high taxes, so accountants have to fantasize about “legal optimization.”

10 commandments for an accountant

As is known, the object of taxation for income tax is the profit received by the taxpayer. For Russian organizations, its amount is equal to income reduced by the amount of expenses incurred (Article 247 of the Tax Code). Chapter 25 of the Tax Code is used as a legal list of expenses. To avoid unwanted friction with tax authorities, you should not expand this list without permission. Therefore, we will consider 10 legal ways to reduce the tax base for income tax.

Useful reserves

The company has the right to create reserves provided for in Chapter 25 of the Tax Code. For example, it is allowed to make expenses for the formation of reserves for doubtful debts (Article 266 of the Tax Code), expenses in the form of deductions to the reserve for the upcoming payment of vacations to employees or for the payment of annual remuneration for long service (subclause 24 of Article 255 of the Tax Code), expenses for depreciation securities (Article 300 of the Tax Code). Here, optimization of the tax burden depends on the method established by the accounting policy for recognizing income and expenses: the cash method or the accrual method. Chapter 25 establishes the accrual method as the main method used by taxpayers. The cash method can be used by organizations with revenue amounts that for four quarters excluding VAT did not exceed one million rubles for each quarter (clause 1 of Article 273 of the Tax Code).

When using the accrual method, income and expenses for tax purposes are recognized in the reporting period in which they occurred, regardless of the actual receipt of funds (clause 1 of Article 271, clause 1 of Article 272 of the Tax Code). The procedure for the formation of reserves determines their inclusion in the expenses of the current period. In this case, using the accrual method, the company has the opportunity to evenly distribute its costs during the tax period, which will help save on advance payments of income tax.

Please note: this method, in essence, represents the possibility of deferring payment, and not evading payment. The company reduces income tax in the current period, and pays it in the next, etc.

Discounts are not easy, but golden ones. An organization can provide a discount to the buyer as a way to attract interest in its products or as a performance of the “low prices” trick; companies also provide discounts or bonuses as a bonus for timely payment for goods. Expenses in the form of a premium (discount) paid (provided) by the seller to the buyer as a result of fulfilling certain terms of the contract can be included in non-operating expenses (subclause 19.1, clause 1, article 265 of the Tax Code).

"Profitable" losses

Not every organization can do without losses. How to write them off, where and how to reduce income tax?

The Tax Code provides an explanation for this in paragraph 2 of Article 265. For example, losses in the form of losses from previous tax periods identified in the reporting (tax) period are equated to non-operating expenses (subparagraph 1, paragraph 2, Article 265 of the Tax Code).

Since 2007, Law No. 58-FZ of June 6, 2005 has removed the limitation on the amount of loss received in the previous tax period, which reduces the tax base of the current tax period for corporate income tax.

Losses must be repaid according to the statute of limitations: first the latest ones, then the earlier ones. Carrying forward a loss to the future is possible within ten years following the tax period in which it was received (clause 2 of Article 283 of the Tax Code).

Such “gifts” will cost the state a lot in the new year. Thus, in the conclusion to the draft Law “On the Federal Budget for 2007” in part 8.1.6.4., presented by the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation in letter No. 01-1196/15-10 dated September 8, 2006, it is said that this will lead to year to a reduction in the revenues of the consolidated budget of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in the amount of 35.2 billion rubles. The state will pay for everyone, as they say.

“Inflated” rental and operation

The favorite method of many companies is to inflate the costs of renting premises, as well as the costs that accompany the organization’s current activities. The prices for renting offices and premises are now really quite high, which is why such “optimization” arises. It is also possible to overestimate the costs of maintaining and operating, repairing and maintaining fixed assets and other property, as well as maintaining them in good (up-to-date) condition. Such costs relate to expenses associated with production and sales (Article 253 of the Tax Code). You can increase costs under the item “garbage removal” or “cleaning of industrial premises”.

We invite a marketer

If a company plans to expand the scope of its activities or analyze the stability of its position, it should study the market situation, potential competitors, and the possibility of risks. For these purposes, you can use consulting services, as well as the services of a marketer.

Such services are accepted as part of other expenses associated with production and (or) sales - “expenses for consulting and other similar services” (subclause 15, clause 1, article 264 of the Tax Code). As for marketing research, an accountant can write it off as expenses for ongoing study (research) of market conditions and collection of information. It should be noted that the latter must be directly related to the production and sale of goods (work, services) (subclause 27, clause 1, article 264 of the Tax Code). Otherwise, the unreasonable understatement of the income tax base will arouse the suspicions of the tax inspector. In this case, it is necessary to prove not only the validity of such costs, but also their relevance for the company in the current period.

Do you have a trademark?

Many companies are recognized by the “face” of their trademark, which is not only a specific difference from other companies, but also a “sign of recognition” among buyers.

It can be used on products, employee business cards, and for advertising purposes. At the same time, expenses associated with the use of a trademark are taken into account as periodic (current) payments for the use of rights to the results of intellectual activity and means of individualization (subclause 37, clause 1, article 264 of the Tax Code). This expense item also includes payments for the use of rights arising from patents for inventions, industrial designs and other types of intellectual property.

Please note: a company can take into account a trademark as an intangible asset, and then reduce the tax base by the amount of current payments only after registering the trademark in the manner prescribed by law (clause 3 of PBU 14/2000 “Accounting for intangible assets”). The Ministry of Finance makes the same requirement when a company takes into account the costs of purchasing from a foreign company non-exclusive rights to computer programs, know-how and a company name under a license agreement (letter of the Ministry of Finance dated November 17, 2006 No. 03-03-04/1/727). A company can include such costs as expenses if the contract is registered with the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks (Rospatent).

This makes it possible to write off costs legally.

Not just shape, but savings

The status of a company reflects not only its stable position in the market or the competitiveness of its products, but also the appearance of its employees. The buyer will be more trusting of the company that offers itself beautifully. It is worth taking care of this, and also taking into account the fact that the costs of uniforms are included in labor costs (clause 5 of Article 255 of the Tax Code).

Attention: this condition is met if uniforms and uniforms are issued to the employee free of charge or at reduced prices with the transfer of ownership to the employee.

There are specific conditions set out in the letter of the Ministry of Finance dated November 1, 2005 No. 03-03-04/2/99. Officials believe that the company's details (logo or trademark) should be directly applied to the uniform, and not to a tie or headscarf, and also require that the economic necessity of such an operation be justified.

Employment contracts should stipulate the mandatory wearing of uniforms and the purpose of such wearing. Thus, uniforms are designed to reflect the specifics of the enterprise and the employee’s affiliation with a specific company.

Learning is light, not learning is... taxes

The company can write off the costs of training and retraining of personnel as part of other expenses associated with production and (or) sales (clause 3 of Article 264 of the Tax Code). This statement is also contained in the letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated November 30, 2006 No. 03-03-04/2/252. Attention: it is possible to take into account the costs associated with advanced training of employees as the costs of training and retraining of personnel if an employment contract has been concluded with the employees.

It is allowed to send employees to Russian educational institutions that have the appropriate license, or to foreign educational institutions of the required status.

Depreciation is included in expenses

The accountant has the right to write off expenses for the liquidation of fixed assets being taken out of service, including amounts of underaccrued depreciation, expenses for dismantling, disassembling, removal of disassembled property as part of non-operating expenses in the reporting period in which the liquidation occurred (letter of the Ministry of Finance dated January 17, 2006 No. 03-03-04/1/27). The cost of materials remaining from the write-off of a fixed asset can also be included in tax expenses. Their cost will be equal to the amount of income tax calculated from the market price.

Taxes according to plan

Tax planning of an organization is based on three approaches to minimizing tax payments:

use of benefits when paying taxes;
development of competent accounting policies;
control over tax payment deadlines (using a tax calendar).

However, before choosing one or another accounting method, an organization needs to justify its choice using tax calculations, the amount of which depends on the alternative accounting method, and make sure that the choice made is correct. This will help the company avoid problems with tax inspectors.

attention

As you know, there are discounts associated with a revision of the price of a product, and discounts not associated with a change in the price of a product (letter of the Ministry of Finance dated September 15, 2005 No. 03-03-04/1/190). From the letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated December 20, 2006 No. 03-03-04/1/847 it follows that the selling organization must review the amount of the buyer's debt under the purchase and sale agreement when providing a discount or bonus without changing the price of a unit of goods.

Attention: in this case, the buyer is released from the property obligation to pay for the acquired valuables in the amount of the percentage of the total amount of goods sold to him established in the contract, that is, the discount or premium received is considered as property received free of charge (letter of the Ministry of Finance dated December 20, 2006 No. 03-03 -04/1/847). By this amount, the selling company reduces the tax base for income tax.

attention

“The judges noted the following regarding the validity of the tax authorities’ claim: the tax benefit is legitimate, and the company’s declaration and reporting are reliable until the tax office proves otherwise,” comments Alexey Beklemishev, director of the auditing firm Finstatus. – In this case, a tax benefit is understood as the use of a tax benefit, tax deduction or other reduction in the amount of tax, as well as a refund (offset) or refund of tax from the budget. This broad definition of tax benefit also includes the inclusion of costs in expenses when calculating income tax.

Officials should understand as soon as possible that references to the “bad faith” term will not be accepted by the court until there is concrete evidence. It is not enough to point out the presence of a large number of business moves that are strange at first glance - it is necessary to justify that, in general, as a result of such moves, the state lost part of the taxes, and the company gained a tax benefit. Thus, the main burden of proof rests with the inspector - he is obliged to prove the grounds for making his decisions.

The organization does not have to, but has the right to present evidence of its innocence.” (Resolution of the Supreme Arbitration Court of October 12, 2006 No. 53 “On the assessment by arbitration courts of the validity of a taxpayer receiving a tax benefit”).

Any modern educated financier understands that the value of money paid in the future is not equal to the value of the same amount of money spent now. By now we will mean the next 12 months, based on the classical concepts of short- and long-term periods. For those who left the institute long ago and do not have the opportunity to attend modern trainings and courses, we would like to remind you that if a company managed to delay the outflow of cash resources into the future, then it received two big pluses in its treasury of values:

She will pay less in the future due to the factor of money depreciation over time (the effect of inflation);
In the present, there are free funds that can be used for purposes that are much more useful for the development of the company, increasing its internal value, than paying taxes.

Well, in our country, in addition to the temporary factor of the cost of money, one should also take into account the fact that we must try to “create” such reporting, the indicators of which will not attract undue attention from tax inspectors, because not a single manager or accountant will be happy to see representatives of the Federal Tax Service at home visiting for a surprise inspection or being called in for questioning regarding fluctuations in the company’s financial performance. So our accountants work day and night during reporting periods so that the figures not only do not contradict the tax code, but also are not interesting to inspectors. Moreover, it is dangerous to show both a sharp profit and a loss here.

When deciding whether to show a sharp increase in profits in post-crisis periods, we can advise you to pay attention to how public companies act in this regard in their reports available on the company’s websites: if the organizations’ field of activity coincides with yours, and they are mostly boldly show the growth of financial indicators, then your unprofitable statements or statements that differ little from the previous crisis year will look somewhat strange. Conduct a survey of the work of your colleagues and acquaintances from other companies, what they do and why, well, if you have in your notebook the phone number of a tax specialist you know, then you are very lucky, you can consult with him in an informal conversation about what you should do.

So, there are two possible situations: you start from the economic efficiency indicator when deciding on the level of the company’s profit indicator and answering the question “when to pay income tax: now or in a year, two, three..?”, give a bold and decisive answer “ the later the better." Or, afraid to stand out from the crowd, follow trends.

Let's consider the first scenario, when you need to postpone profit growth in time, because, in our opinion, it requires more careful study. We in no way urge you, dear readers, to evade paying taxes to the treasury of our state, since we understand that the quality of the social side of our lives should depend on the amount of tax revenues to the budget. But let’s try to tell you how to combine business with pleasure without risking greatly upsetting the tax inspector.

We list the areas of accounting and tax accounting in which you can look for options for temporarily reducing profits and deferring the payment of income taxes for future periods:

Creation of reserves
Depreciation
Conditions of contractual relations with clients and customers of the company

Let's take a closer look at each of the areas.

Reservation

Russian legislation provides almost unlimited freedom for companies to reserve their future expenses. We must take advantage of this opportunity while it exists, because there is a risk of tightening Russian accounting standards in this area due to the approaching of our legislation to international ones. The latter outlines clear criteria that the reserving process must meet, so manipulating profits by creating reserves and canceling them from year to year will not work if you prepare reports according to IFRS. But while this has not yet happened, a Russian accountant can create reserves and assign them to non-operating (or other - depending on the type) expenses of the current period. There are some time restrictions on the use of these reserves, so you must take this fact into account if you do not want to end up on the carpet with a tax inspector in the future to present detailed reasons why you created a reserve and did not use it. As an option, it is possible to change the accounting policy from year to year, revise the size of the reserve, partially use it, but in any case, do not put all your eggs in one basket, using only this technique to reduce taxable profit, so as not to make it very attractive for consideration tax service.

Below we present several examples of possible reserves, as well as documentation that would be good to have in the company to confirm the validity of their creation.

Reserve	Documentation
Provision for repairs of fixed assets	Plan for current and major repairs for next year
Provision for doubtful accounts receivable	The results of the inventory of receivables in the form of a statement of debtors with an assessment by management and the legal service on the likelihood of repayment, dates of debt occurrence. Letters of request to dubious debtors, confirming that the company made an attempt to force its counterparties to pay. Agreements with a payment date that is earlier than the reporting date.
Reserves for warranty repairs	Agreements for the sale of your products, which include your company's obligation to provide warranty after-sales repairs and maintenance.
Reserve for payment of future vacations	A report from the HR department on the number of unused vacation days as of the reporting date and, based on it, the calculation of the reserve.
Provision for possible losses	Assessment of the risks of possible losses (may affect different areas, but from practice it is clear that, basically, these reserves are created by credit institutions)
All reserves	Accounting policy statement on how each provision is calculated

Let us not forget to mention that enterprises that apply special tax regimes (for example, simplified companies) do not have the right to create reserves, and also that the reserve limit is enshrined in the Tax Code and is 10% of the company’s revenue for the tax period.

Depreciation

A company can use accelerated depreciation (so-called escalation rates) for fixed assets if it can prove that these fixed assets are used either very intensively or in a hostile environment. As a result, depreciation costs will be shifted in the time horizon closer to the present time, which meets the goal set above. We will not dwell on this point in detail, because... the procedure and technical side of applying this relaxation is quite clearly described by the tax code and numerous comments.

Terms of contracts

If the company would not like to recognize revenue in a given tax period, the moment of its recognition can be postponed to the future by, for example, concluding agreements with Clients under which the results of work will be accepted in the next year after signing the acceptance certificates. In other words, do not sign the deed until December 31st. It is better to stipulate the corresponding provision on the method of revenue recognition (the moment of signing the act coincides with the moment of transfer of ownership) not only in contracts, but in the company’s accounting policies.

For those organizations that are engaged in long-term work, it is possible to recognize revenue not according to the percentage of completion, but according to the share of expenses incurred. This will give the company some freedom to manipulate the amount of revenue recognized from period to period. The amount of expenses for the current period is a field for reflection by the accountant and the head of the company.

Well, and, of course, there is another area in which company management can show their own unique creative abilities to minimize the tax burden - this is the area of expenses that reduce taxable income. This will not release additional free funds here and now, as discussed above, but it will undoubtedly be able to increase the value of the company. Let's consider several interesting, in our opinion, options.

The company can reduce taxable profit for expenses associated with personnel training, if such training is economically justified and expedient, that is, employees will be able to apply the knowledge acquired during the training process in their professional activities. Do you need an assistant payroll accountant, but an administrative assistant with a higher education has been asking for a long time to be transferred to the financial service of the company? So, instead of paying an agency to find you a new specialist, why not transfer the current one and pay for accounting courses for him. As a result, you receive three bonus points for the company in the form of:

A – a motivated, qualified and satisfied employee,

B - costs under the item “personnel training” rather than “consulting”, which attracts less attention from the tax inspector and is easier to explain,

B – a bold reduction in the tax base for these expenses.

A company can outsource any internal function - for example, an accounting service, paying not just wages, but services for maintaining accounting and tax records. At the same time, control over operations does not extend beyond the company, but allows you to somewhat “distribute” profits across several organizations, helping to achieve the goal of reducing the strength of the negative reaction of the tax service to profit growth. Here we can also talk about managing the flow of money over time, paying for the services of this service organization at a “convenient” time.

Another interesting option for justified costs during a crisis can be considered payment for the services of crisis management consultants. Do you need to optimize your internal business processes, and paying for overtime of internal staff is associated with complex personnel administration, or are there simply no such specialists on staff? Then it would be a sin not to use the services of an external company, counting this type of expense against taxable profit. By the way, let’s not forget to mention that the tax inspectorate will not allow the remuneration of members of your board of directors, if you have one, for solving anti-crisis problems to be taken into account when calculating taxes - such a paradox!

With this, we allow ourselves to finish our thoughts on the topic of finding options for reducing taxable profit in the reporting period, although, in our opinion, it is almost limitless. And the more experienced, qualified and, most importantly, creative personnel work in its financial structures, the more opportunities a company has in this area. Let’s also hope that the new head of our country’s federal tax service will listen to the government’s recommendations and be able to redirect the energy of his valiant inspectors to building more constructive relationships with business. Then company managers and accountants will finally be able to get rid of the need to artificially adjust reporting indicators for fear of receiving an additional request or audit from the tax service, and Russian business will move closer to emerging from the shadows.

What is the essence and meaning of profit tax optimization?

The concept of “optimization” in the context of calculating income tax is very capacious. Relevant optimizations could be:

actions aimed at reducing the financial burden on the enterprise;
reduction of costs associated with the calculation of income tax;
minimizing the payment of income tax through the use, whenever possible, of special tax regimes.

Let us agree that our enterprise is an inevitable payer of income tax and all costs for its calculation have been reduced. In this case, all that remains is to reduce the resulting financial burden. This can be done with:

Legally justified reduction of the tax base by including additional expenses in its calculation.
This reduction can be achieved by:
- creating a reserve for overdue debts;
- optimization of schemes for cashing out profits in the form of salaries and dividends;
- application of the method of non-linear depreciation on fixed assets.
Justified reduction of the calculated tax.
Here, the taxpayer will be helped by optimizing the business model, aimed primarily at increasing the use of various tax benefits. The legislation of the Russian Federation allows a number of companies to pay profit tax at a zero rate.
Reducing the inflationary burden on the enterprise while maintaining the same size of the tax base.

Here, the company will be helped by optimizing tax planning in terms of:

creating conditions for the preferential use of the accrual method when accounting for income and expenses, on the basis of which the tax base is formed;
developing a policy for relations with counterparties in terms of drawing up contracts adapted to the use of the accrual method when accounting for income (provided that such agreements will, in turn, be beneficial to counterparties).

These methods can be combined with each other, and sometimes complement each other.

Let's study how you can reduce corporate income tax using the above methods.

How to optimize the current tax base taking into account the influence of inflation?

It is more profitable to pay any tax as late as possible relative to the occurrence of the grounds for its assessment. This is primarily due to inflationary reasons: while the nominal payment remains unchanged, the purchasing power of the corresponding amount decreases over time.

You can “push back” the moment of tax calculation and payment by calculating income with maximum emphasis on the combination of:

Accrual method (when tax is calculated “according to documents” - without reference to the period in which the revenue was received).
Prepayment schemes for settlements with customers (in which the delivery of goods is postponed for as long as possible and at the same time a reasonable period that suits both parties).

Thus, the tax can be calculated much later than the receipt of revenue in the cash register of the enterprise. As a result, such revenue, temporarily exempt from taxation, can be put into circulation in order to maintain purchasing power.

With this scheme, the financial burden on the enterprise at the time of tax payment will be lower in terms of inflation than if the counterparty paid for the goods upon delivery (and income tax would have to be paid faster).

The application of the accrual method must be timely: before the beginning of the year, it is enshrined in the accounting policy (Article 313 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Of course, the company's managers will also have to work on optimizing the expense recognition policy so that they are incurred at the most convenient moment. One of the possible tools for solving this problem is concluding supply contracts in conventional units at the “manual” rate. Let's study this option in more detail.

How to reduce tax using conventional units?

The taxpayer and his counterparty, when concluding an agreement in conventional monetary units, have the right to set their own exchange rate for them in terms of rubles (paragraph 3, paragraph 8, article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, information letter of the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated November 4, 2002 No. 70). At the same time, the parties are not prohibited from entering into additional agreements that will establish an adjustment course.

Thanks to this option, the taxpayer has the opportunity to:

Deliver goods to the counterparty and agree with him to pay for the goods at an inflated rate in order to reduce economic risks.
After receiving payment, conclude with the supplier additional agreement on the recalculation of the exchange rate of conventional units in favor of their reduction in price relative to the ruble. As a result, the taxpayer will have the obligation to return part of the proceeds received to the counterparty.

Both actions can be performed in the same billing period. In this case, the taxpayer will be able to reduce the tax base for a given period by declaring “accrued” expenses under the relevant additional agreement.

The economic effect of such actions will be that:

the taxpayer will receive more revenue in the billing period, which can be put into circulation in order to maintain purchasing power;
the taxpayer will be able, if he agrees on this with the counterparty, to postpone making expenses (despite the fact that they will already be taken into account when calculating the tax) and also put the corresponding amount into circulation until it is transferred to the counterparty.

This scheme is a good way to protect against economic risks, protect the company’s capital from inflation, and build a trusting partnership with a counterparty.

How to apply expenses in the form of reserves for doubtful debts?

Another common way to optimize the tax base is the use of “quick” expenses, that is, those that can quickly reduce the corresponding base and thus reduce the calculated tax in the current period.

One of the most accessible methods of such optimization is the formation of reserves for overdue accounts receivable. The amounts used to form these reserves are included in the non-operating expenses of the company on the last day of the reporting period (clause 3 of Article 266 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Provisions for doubtful debts may be:

100% of the receivable if it is not repaid for more than 90 days;
50% of the receivable if it is overdue by 45-90 days.

The maximum amount of the reserve cannot exceed 10% of the company’s income for the tax or reporting period preceding the one in which the reserve is formed.

If the doubtful debt is nevertheless repaid, then the reserve is restored, which, in turn, generates income for the organization. The reserve cannot be restored or spent in any other way (clause 4 of Article 266 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

If the existing reserve is less than the bad debt that should be written off, then the amount of such excess is also included in non-operating expenses (clause 5 of Article 266 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Of course, any company has the right not to use the reserve, but to write off bad debts recognized as such in the reporting period as expenses directly (subclause 2, clause 2, article 265 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Choosing the optimal moment to write off such debt is another possible factor in reducing income taxes.

Nonlinear depreciation as a scheme for using “fast” expenses: nuances

The next common scheme for optimizing an organization’s income tax through “quick” expenses is non-linear depreciation of fixed assets. It allows you to write off depreciation amounts as expenses in volumes that significantly exceed the rate of normal depreciation.

The following amounts are calculated according to the formula (clause 4 of Article 259.2 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation):

CA = TC × (K / 100),

CA is the amount of depreciation;

TC is the current value of an asset (group of assets);

K is the coefficient corresponding to the norm for a specific depreciation group (determined in accordance with clause 5 of Article 259.2 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Example

Innovation-Lux LLC bought a car worth 1 million rubles. It has a useful life of 36 months and belongs to the 3rd depreciation group, for which the depreciation rate is set at 5.6.

Nonlinear depreciation for the 1st month for it will be:

CA (1 MONTH) = 1,000,000× (5.6 / 100) = 56,000 rub.

For the 2nd month:

CA (2 MONTH) = 944,000× (5.6 / 100) = 52,864 rubles.

For the 3rd month:

CA (3 MONTH) = 891,136× (5.6 / 100) = 49,903 rubles. 62 kopecks

Thus, the company has the right to write off 158,767 rubles as expenses. 62 kopecks for 3 months (let’s agree that this is the tax reporting period).

For comparison: with the linear method, monthly depreciation would be carried out in equal shares and amount to 27,777 rubles. 78 kop. For the first 3 months - 83,333 rubles. 34 kopecks could be written off as an expense.

ATTENTION! Taxpayers have the right to apply increasing factors to depreciation rates, but subject to the restrictions and requirements established by Art. 259.3 Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

The disadvantage of non-linear depreciation is that by the end of the useful life of the asset, its value will not be zero and depreciation will need to be continued until other grounds arise for writing off the asset at its residual value as expenses.

Opening “preferential” branches as a way to reduce income tax

Russian legislation establishes preferential, or even zero, income tax rates for enterprises in many industries, for example:

in education, medicine (the procedure for applying benefits in such areas is explained in Article 284.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation);
in investment management (Article 284.2, 284.2.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation);
in the field of social services for citizens (Article 284.5 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation);
in the field of tourism in the Far East (Article 284.6 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Many types of benefits are applied taking into account the provisions of regional legislation, for example, when determining the rate for enterprises participating in regional investment projects that have the status of a resident of the port of Vladivostok (Articles 284.3, 284.3-1, 284.4 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

How to use these preferences in the context of a method for optimizing an organization's income tax?

Firms that do not have grounds for these benefits can nevertheless open subsidiaries in “preferential” regions and transfer there the maximum possible part of their competencies. Afterwards, pay tax on the relevant areas of activity at a reduced, or even zero, rate.

One of the possible alternative scenarios is investments in companies located in “preferential” regions, on the terms of purchasing a stake in the management company (up to and including obtaining a controlling stake or votes). Afterwards, competences will be transferred to them through profitable outsourcing or within the framework of other partnership formats.

Part of the competencies, of course, can be transferred by the taxpayer for a “preferential” type of activity by opening a subsidiary (purchase of an existing business), which will be located in the taxpayer’s region and pay a reduced, if not zero, income tax.

Salaries instead of dividends: an example of tax base optimization

Salaries and contributions accrued on them can be fully taken into account by the income tax payer as expenses. In turn, dividends cannot be used for these purposes (clause 1 of Article 270 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

No contributions are accrued on dividends. But it may be more profitable for business owners to withdraw cash not as dividends, but as a salary (or, alternatively, in the form of a bonus), if the amount of such salary is much greater than the maximum base for calculating pension and social contributions (in 2017 - 876,000 rubles and 755,000 rubles respectively).

But at the same time, business owners must fill out the documents correctly and be prepared to prove during an audit that the payment of a large bonus is economically justified and corresponds to their labor contribution to the company’s activities. Otherwise, the Federal Tax Service will not accept the corresponding expenses to reduce the tax base for income tax (resolution of the Moscow District Arbitration Court dated July 19, 2016 No. A40-118598/2015).

Let's consider an example of optimizing an organization's income tax using the approach in question.

Example

Ivanov A.S., owner of Innovation-Lux LLC, has the opportunity to cash out retained earnings in the amount of 10 million rubles in the 3rd quarter of 2017. The organization's income in this period amounted to 20 million rubles, expenses incurred - 4 million rubles.

If Ivanov withdraws profits as dividends, he will pay personal income tax on them to the budget in the amount of 1.3 million rubles. The calculated income tax will be 3.2 million rubles. The total tax burden is 4.5 million rubles.

If Ivanov withdraws the profit as a bonus (and can subsequently prove the economic justification of these expenses in court), he will pay to the budget:

Personal income tax in the amount of 1.3 million rubles;
contributions to compulsory pension insurance in the amount of 1,105,120 (192,720 + 912,400) rubles;
contributions for compulsory social insurance in the amount of 21,895 rubles;
contributions to the FFOMS in the amount of 510,000 rubles.

Total insurance premiums - RUB 1,637,015.

In this case, all salaries and contributions can be included in profit expenses, the total amount of which will be 15,637,015 rubles. (4 million rubles expenses + 10 million rubles premium + 1,637,015 rubles insurance premiums). In this case, the calculated income tax will be RUB 872,597. The total tax burden will be RUB 3,809,612. (RUB 872,597 income tax + 1,300,000 personal income tax + 1,637,015 insurance contributions) - significantly less than when withdrawing profits in the form of dividends.

Optimization of corporate income tax can be based on reducing the tax base, reducing the tax itself, preserving the purchasing power of capital used to pay the tax. The choice of one scheme or another may depend on the region of activity of the business entity.

"Practical Accounting", N 4, April 2007

Today, it is not difficult for tax inspectors to recognize “optimization methods” for income taxes. These methods are illegal, and the essence of such “tricks” has long been known to everyone. However, no one wants to pay high taxes, so accountants have to fantasize about “legal optimization.”

One illegal example would be concluding a fictitious agreement with a company to whose account funds are transferred. Then this amount is returned to the owner as a reward to the fictitious partner, and everyone is happy. But it's not that simple. We would like to assure you right away that such transactions may arouse the interest of tax inspectors if the transaction is not justified. According to the law, for tax purposes, expenses that meet the requirements of paragraph 1 of Article 252 of the Tax Code are accepted - economic justification and documentary evidence.

As is known, the object of taxation for income tax is the profit received by the taxpayer. For Russian organizations, its amount is equal to income reduced by the amount of expenses incurred (Article 247 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Chapter 25 of the Tax Code is used as a legal list of expenses. To avoid unwanted friction with tax authorities, you should not expand this list without permission. Therefore, we will consider 10 legal ways to reduce the tax base for income tax.

Useful reserves

The company has the right to create reserves provided for in Chapter 25 of the Tax Code. For example, it is allowed to make expenses for the formation of reserves for doubtful debts (Article 266 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation), expenses in the form of deductions to the reserve for the upcoming payment of vacations to employees and (or) for the payment of annual remuneration for long service (subclause 24 of Article 255 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation ), expenses for the depreciation of securities (Article 300 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Here, optimization of the tax burden depends on the method established by the accounting policy for recognizing income and expenses: the cash method or the accrual method. Chapter 25 establishes the accrual method as the main method used by taxpayers. The cash method can be used by organizations with revenue amounts that for four quarters excluding VAT did not exceed one million rubles for each quarter (clause 1 of Article 273 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

When using the accrual method, income and expenses for tax purposes are recognized in the reporting period in which they occurred, regardless of the actual receipt of funds (clause 1 of Article 271 and clause 1 of Article 272 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). The procedure for the formation of reserves determines their inclusion in the expenses of the current period. In this case, using the accrual method, the company has the opportunity to evenly distribute its costs during the tax period, which will help save on advance payments of income tax.

Attention: this method essentially represents the possibility of deferring payment, and not evading payment. The company reduces income tax in the current period, and pays it in the next period, etc.

Discounts are not simple, but golden

An organization, in order to attract interest in its products or perform a “low prices” trick, can provide the buyer with a discount; companies also provide discounts or bonuses as a bonus for timely payment for goods. Expenses in the form of a premium (discount) paid (provided) by the seller to the buyer as a result of fulfilling certain terms of the contract can be included in non-operating expenses (subclause 19.1, clause 1, article 265 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

As you know, there are discounts associated with a revision of the price of a product, and discounts not associated with a change in the price of a product (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated September 15, 2005 N 03-03-04/1/190). From the letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated December 20, 2006 N 03-03-04/1/847 it follows that the selling organization must review the amount of the buyer's debt under the sales contract when providing a discount or premium without changing the price of a unit of goods.

Attention: in this case, the buyer is released from the property obligation to pay for the acquired valuables in the amount of the percentage of the total amount of goods sold to him established in the contract, that is, the discount or premium received is considered as property received free of charge (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated December 20, 2006 N 03- 03-04/1/847). By this amount, the selling company reduces the tax base for income tax.

"Profitable" losses

Not every organization can do without losses. How to write them off, and how to reduce income tax?

The Tax Code provides an explanation for this in paragraph 2 of Article 265. For example, losses in the form of losses from previous tax periods identified in the reporting (tax) period are equated to non-operating expenses (subclause 1, clause 2, Article 265 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Since 2007, Federal Law No. 58-FZ of June 6, 2005 has removed the limitation on the amount of loss received in the previous tax period, which reduces the tax base of the current tax period for corporate income tax.

Such “gifts” will cost the state a lot in the new year. Thus, in the conclusion to the draft Federal Law “On the Federal Budget for 2007” in part 8.1.6.4, presented by the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation in letter dated September 8, 2006 N 01-1196/15-10, it is said that this will lead to 2007 to a reduction in the revenues of the consolidated budget of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in the amount of 35.2 billion rubles. The state will pay for everyone, as they say.

"Inflated" rental and operation

The favorite method of many companies is to inflate the costs of renting premises, as well as the costs that accompany the organization’s current activities. The prices for renting offices and premises are now really quite high, which is why this kind of “optimization” arises. It is also possible to overestimate the costs of maintaining and operating, repairing and maintaining fixed assets and other property, as well as maintaining them in good (up-to-date) condition. Such costs relate to expenses associated with production and sales (Article 253 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). You can increase costs under the item “garbage removal” or “cleaning of industrial premises”.

We invite a marketer

Such services are accepted as part of other expenses associated with production and (or) sales - “expenses for consulting and other similar services” (subclause 15, clause 1, article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). As for marketing research, an accountant can write it off as expenses for ongoing study (research) of market conditions and collection of information. It should be noted that the latter must be directly related to the production and sale of goods (work, services) (subclause 27, clause 1, article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Otherwise, the unreasonable understatement of the income tax base will arouse the suspicions of the tax inspector. In this case, it is necessary to prove not only the validity of such costs, but also their relevance for the company in the current period.

Do you have a trademark?

Many companies are recognized “by their face” - their trademark, which is not only a specific difference from other companies, but also a “sign of recognition” among buyers.

It can be used on products, employee business cards, and for advertising purposes. At the same time, expenses associated with the use of a trademark are taken into account as periodic (current) payments for the use of rights to the results of intellectual activity and means of individualization (subclause 37, clause 1, article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). This expense item also includes payments for the use of rights arising from patents for inventions, industrial designs and other types of intellectual property.

Attention: a company can take into account a trademark as an intangible asset, and then reduce the tax base by the amount of current payments only after registering the trademark in the manner established by the legislation of the Russian Federation (clause 3 of PBU 14/2000 “Accounting for intangible assets”). The same requirement is made by the Ministry of Finance when a company takes into account the costs of purchasing from a foreign company non-exclusive rights to programs for EPM, know-how and a company name under a license agreement (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated November 17, 2006 N 03-03-04/1/727 ). A company can include such costs as expenses if the contract is registered with the Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks (Rospatent).

This makes it possible to write off costs legally.

Not just shape, but savings

Attention: this condition is met if uniforms and uniforms are issued to the employee free of charge or at reduced prices with the transfer of ownership to the employee.

There are specific conditions set out in the letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated November 1, 2005 N 03-03-04/2/99. Officials believe that the company's details (logo or trademark) should be directly applied to the uniform, and not to a tie or headscarf, and also require that the economic necessity of such an operation be justified.

Employment contracts should stipulate the mandatory wearing of uniforms and the purpose of such wearing.

Thus, uniforms are designed to reflect the specifics of the enterprise and the employee’s affiliation with a specific company.

Learning is light, and ignorance is...taxes

The company can write off the costs of training and retraining of personnel as part of other expenses associated with production and (or) sales (clause 3 of Article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). This statement is also contained in the letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated November 30, 2006 N 03-03-04/2/252. Attention: it is possible to take into account the costs associated with advanced training of employees as the costs of training and retraining of personnel if an employment contract has been concluded with the employees.

It is allowed to send employees to Russian educational institutions that have the appropriate license, or to foreign educational institutions of the required status.

Depreciation - included in expenses

The accountant has the right to write off the costs of liquidation of fixed assets being taken out of service, including the amount of underaccrued depreciation, costs of dismantling, disassembling, removal of disassembled property as part of non-operating expenses in the reporting period in which the liquidation occurred (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated January 17, 2006 No. N 03-03-04/1/27). The cost of materials remaining from the write-off of a fixed asset can also be included in tax expenses. Their cost will be equal to the amount of income tax calculated from the market price.

Taxes according to plan

Tax planning of an organization is based on three approaches to minimizing tax payments:

Use of benefits when paying taxes;

Development of competent accounting policies;

Control over tax payment deadlines (using a tax calendar).

I. Uglanova, expert "PB"

Expert opinion

A. Vasiliev, chief accountant:

“Any enterprise strives to reduce tax payments. Conventionally, all methods can be divided into several groups. Firstly, methods for optimizing income tax are widely known. A well-designed accounting policy can significantly reduce the tax base. That is, by legal means, an organization can “defer” the payment of tax at a later date. The time factor plays a significant role here. Secondly, there are methods for minimizing tax payments. Most taxpayers use them. Often, enterprises try to overstate the amount of expenses taken into account when calculating income tax. Difficulties arise in confirming their validity. And , finally, evasion of income tax, or deferment of transfer. Previously, enterprises quite often did not make timely payment of advance payments, since the legislation did not provide for any sanctions for this. But since January 1, 2007, the situation has changed. Now the amount is untimely penalties are also charged on advance payments made."