Almost any enterprise in the course of its economic and financial activities there is a need to carefully control and correctly take into account transportation costs. The procedure for their accounting is determined by the terms of contracts with buyers and sellers. If the contract reflects the condition that the buyer independently compensates for all transportation costs, the amount of compensation is the income of the supplier. Payment for the delivery of goods by rail by the supplier is an expense that reduces the tax base. So, if compensation is exceeded over expenses incurred in delivering goods to the buyer, the company has a tax base for income tax.
There are 2 types of transportation costs:
1. Those that are included in the cost of delivery of the goods, while the delivery price already includes all costs of delivery to the consumer.
2. Those that, when coordinating the sale price with the condition “supplier’s warehouse” are highlighted in a separate line. The buyer pays the cost of delivery of goods in addition to their very cost specified in the contract. The supplier must provide the buyer with primary documents, which confirm the fact of such expenses and their payment. At its core, the supply contract is divided into 2 parts. The first contains the terms of sale; the second contains the elements of a contract for the provision of transport services. In this case, the supplier is the delivery agent, and the buyer is the principal.
Transportation costs for the delivery of marketable products are often a significant part of its cost. Therefore, in the invoices for goods issued by suppliers, such costs are often allocated as a separate line, although they can be simply included in the price. In this case, it is clear that the buyer pays the seller's shipping costs. The display of such operations in accounting depends on the paperwork.
If transportation costs under the contract of the carrier are not compensated by the buyer, they are included in selling expenses. If, under the contract, the carrier’s expenses are reimbursed by the buyer, they are reflected in account 76 “Settlement with various debtors and creditors”.
Transportation costs, the wiring of which in accounting depends on the delivery conditions, are reflected as follows:
- performed by the supplier’s transport and own resources - in the credit of account 44, on which sales are taken into account;
- performed by a transport organization, aviation, rail , sea and river transport or other transport companies - on a loan account 76 (not reflecting them in the revenue). They can be taken into account in transit settlement accounts. To maintain such an account, the seller must document that he performs only the functions of an intermediary and does not provide transport services on his own.
When selling goods with the services of transport organizations and reflecting the relevant transactions, the following are also made:
- Dt 60 Kt 51 - paid for by the carrier;
- Dt 76 Kt 60 - reflects the debt of buyers for the transportation of goods;
- Dt 51 Kt 76 - receipt of money to reimburse transportation costs.
Transportation costs are:
- direct (costs for the delivery of marketable products to the warehouse, not included in the price of goods). Direct costs, which relate to stock balances, are determined by the average interest for the month, taking into account the balance at its beginning.
- indirect (all others).
Thus, the costs that are involved in the formation of the value of goods and are reflected in the original document as a separate line are allocated for taxation to the balances of marketable products in the warehouse. Transportation costs not allocated as a separate line need not be allocated.
Transportation costs, which are recorded on the account. 44 include the cost of goods sold by direct method. If such a distribution is not possible, these costs are distributed between different names of goods by their volume or weight, production cost.
Transportation costs for the delivery of marketable products to the warehouse, together with the amount paid under the contract to the supplier, represent the actual cost of purchasing the goods and increase the cost of all unsold products.
When purchasing inventory items, an enterprise incurs various associated costs, such as insurance and cargo transportation costs, port services, customs payments, and broker's commissions. These costs are called transport and procurement. Their accounting is kept on the account intended for the accounting of goods (281, 286, 282). Actual cost of materials includes:
- the cost of the material;
- transportation and procurement costs (TZR).
To facilitate the distribution of these costs, you can take the following methods:
1. If TZR is not more than 10% of the cost, their amount is completely debited to the production accounts and the cost of materials sold.
2. TZR in the current month are distributed by specific gravity (in% of the cost of materials) prevailing at the beginning of the month.
3. TZR relate according to the norm enshrined in the planned estimates, to the cost of the materials used.
4. TZR monthly write off to the cost of released (used) materials (if their specific gravity is up to 5%).