An invoice is encountered more often in production. Although this concept itself is well known both in the European Union and in our state since Soviet times. It is used for the same purposes of tax accounting.
Terminology
The invoice is developed and implemented in the national economy as another regulator of taxation of business entities. What is it for? With its help, a VAT tax deduction is made. Accordingly, an invoice without VAT is practically not created. However, there is a short list of exceptions.
Accounting for invoices, when viewed as a whole, boils down to the fact that they are arranged as intended: some form a shopping book, others - a sales book.
Spelling
Invoice is a rather old concept. His spelling, it would seem, is not in doubt. Moreover, its distorted spelling, as well as pronunciation, is often found. As a rule, they forget to incline the word “invoice”: “invoices”, “about invoice”. And therein lies the error.
It is likely that the declension of this word is produced by the type: “kilowatt hours”, “southeast”, in which the first part of the word cannot be declined.
But in the word “invoice” both the first part of the word and the second can be inclined. Therefore, it is correct to write: “we received a sample invoice”, “the code in the invoice has been changed”. The same rule applies to the plural: “the journal of invoices is kept with errors”, “in accounting there are always samples of filling in invoices” and so on.
Also, many mistakenly believe that the "invoice" is feminine. But the main part in this word is precisely the first part. Therefore, his gender is masculine.
Classification
According to Art. 169 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation (hereinafter - the Tax Code), invoices are of various types. It depends on the production need. They are compiled both on paper and in electronic form, to confirm the legal force of which an electronic digital signature is required.
This is how the electronic invoice form looks like, filled out using the 1C program.
In addition, for electronic document management, the parties must have not only mutual agreements on this, but also relevant technical conditions for the implementation of such a service.
Therefore, these documents, executed on paper, are still so common. Another example of an invoice.
It is needless to mention that, like any financial document, an invoice should be drawn up without errors or corrections. Otherwise, they may subsequently refuse to provide a tax deduction. And incomplete or inaccurate information, as well as the lack of a second copy, entail penalties.
In this case, you need to know that if they are added to the invoice, then, to put it mildly, it is wrong and to allow such arbitrariness in relation to yourself is unacceptable.
Depending on the purpose, various types of invoices are used: advance payment, corrected, corrective, etc.
Each type of such documents has design features due to the need to reflect this or that information. However, this classification is not exhaustive.
Classification Features
In the course of business, it happens to make mistakes or indicate incomplete information in the invoice. By the decision of the Constitutional Court of February 15, 2005 N 93- such documents are usually called defective, and tax deductions cannot be made on their basis.
Therefore, if the seller made arithmetic errors or he made a re-grading of the goods, which led to the introduction of changes to the invoice, then such an invoice is called “fixed”.
The adjustment is made in case of changes in the value or volume of the subject of the agreement of the parties. Samples of filling out invoices are legislatively fixed.
Form and Rules
Like any other tax reporting document, an invoice has the required details. The person filling this form is not entitled to change their places or fill out at their own discretion. At the same time, if the production necessity requires it, it is legally permitted to supplement the sample form used by your company with additional elements important for the enterprise (Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation in Letter No. ED-4-3 / 1193 of 01/26/2012).
In this case, you will combine several in one document. This will bring efficiency and optimization to the life of your office.
The requirements for the form of the document form are enshrined in article 169 of the Tax Code. And in the decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of 12.26.2011 N 1137 even samples were proposed.
What consequences await a person who has violated the requirements for this document? It will not be accepted for execution by the tax authority. In some cases, related to the incompleteness of filling out the form or entering incorrect information into it, a fine is possible.
The timing
A period of 5 days is provided by law for the presentation of an invoice for execution (
Article 168 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). This period shall be calculated in calendar form. If the invoice is submitted after this time, then a tax deduction may be refused.
The date range for this period begins on the day following the day on which the obligation under the contract is fulfilled and ends on the expiration of the last days of the normative period.
2017 Amendments
Monetary relations are developing, and the samples of filling in invoices are periodically amended.
VAT payers are aware that from July 1, 2017, the forms and rules for filling out invoices have changed. They should be compiled in a new way both on paper and in electronic form.
Such innovations became possible due to the entry into force of the amendments introduced by the Government Decree of May 25, 2017 No. 625 to the existing Resolution No. 1137, in the appendix of which there are also samples of invoices.
The addendum in the form of line 8 makes it necessary to indicate information on the identification number of the contract or contract, if it is concluded with the state structure.
For what purposes was this measure made? Naturally, as part of the fight against corruption in government agencies, the additional numbering of contracts makes the actions for their implementation more transparent. It will be easier for the statistical office to consider such documents for accounting purposes.
What will this innovation bring to the activities of an ordinary VAT payer filling out an invoice? Most likely, this will be another row for which you need to find the data in order to fill in correctly. Be that as it may, since July of this year, identifiers should fit into all samples of filling out company invoices.
By the way, new amendments to the invoice form are already ready, which will begin in effect from October 2017.
Currency
Russia is the territory of the ruble. Therefore, all transactions must be executed in this currency.
But without rules there are no exceptions. Many companies in our state have foreign capital or cooperate with many countries, supplying them with their products. How to issue invoices in this case?
There is an exit. Foreign currency transactions must be authorized by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. In addition, the contracts themselves must indicate in which currency mutual settlements will occur and how the conversion from another currency to rubles will take place (article 169 of the Tax Code).
In addition to foreign currency, obligations in transactions are often defined in arbitrary units. In such cases, the appropriate agreements must specify the method of transferring funds from conventional units to rubles.
Legislative regulation
The basic document regulating the concept, types and use of invoices, as well as other related issues, is the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
In pursuance of the requirements of his articles, a number of laws and by-laws were issued, as well as letters explaining the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation.
The main of them can be called the decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 12.26.2011 No. 1137.
Our century of information technology has modernized the routine paper industry. Now the documents have almost completely switched to electronic version, even there are resources to fill them online. Although their paper version has not yet officially departed.
This situation has become possible thanks to a series of legal acts regulating the provision of invoices in electronic form.
Firstly, this is Federal Law dated July 27, 2010 No. 229-, which, in fact, marked the transition to the procedure for the provision of electronic payments by taxpayers.
Secondly, electronic forms appeared thanks to the order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated 5.03.2012 No. MMV - 7 - 6/138. And with the publication of the order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation No. 50n from May 23, 2012, the officially permitted process of exchanging them with the tax service began. True, this is possible through a secure communication line - through the TKS channels through a special electronic document management operator.
However, these guidance documents could not provide for all the nuances of the work, which led to the appearance of numerous explanatory letters from the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Tax Service.
The rule
Invoices are drawn up at companies that trade with products subject to VAT. This rule is. Next are the nuances of compiling:
- intermediaries, if one of the parties to the contract is the payer of this tax;
- self-employment;
- for the advance payment received;
- export;
- change in cost and quantity indicators;
- rent or acquisition of state or municipal property.
This list is far from exhaustive. This is due to the fact that economic entities enter into new relationships over time, reflecting the level of their production, and the legislator is constantly changing the "rules of the game."
Exceptions
It goes without saying that you should not issue an invoice if you are not a tax payer. Other cases:
- cashless transaction, retail, catering, for cash;
- exempted from payment, including banks, private pension funds, insurance organizations;
- non-taxable transactions, for example, with securities;
- special tax treatment;
- written consent of the parties;
- blood sampling from the population and so on.
Hot issues
Paradoxical as it may seem, one of the difficult issues of invoices application is their accounting. The fact is that the volume of goods and services at each enterprise is different. Therefore, it is not possible to apply the general rules of calculation to all, or rather the numbering of invoices.
To operate with numbers with astronomical numbers is inconvenient. Many large enterprises start a new numbering every month, or quarter, or year. But this method is also capable of introducing a certain confusion.
Others try to influence the numbering in a different way: to include several transactions in one invoice form, for example, to make all the advances received for a certain period. But it will be wrong to do this, since only one value can be entered in the columns “buyer” and “seller”. The letter of the RF Ministry of Finance dated October 16, 2012 No. 03–07–11 / 427 did not clarify this issue, and it is still open.
Another pressing issue is the subject of invoicing deadlines. According to the requirements of Art. 168 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, a 5-day calendar period is established for this. By a letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated August 22, 2010 No. 03-07-11 / 370, the consequences of violation of this period, expressed in the refusal to accept an invoice issued outside the specified period, were explained. This letter tightened deadlines, but did not discipline sellers. They simply began to issue invoices retroactively.
Invoices are directly related to the possibility of obtaining a VAT deduction, and the most pressing issues are examined by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, which forms judicial practice on this topic.
If it is so difficult to handle invoices, is there an alternative? Yes there is. A deduction can be obtained without these documents. You come to this paradoxical conclusion, literally interpreting the Tax Code. And in it, in article 174, it is indicated that other documents containing the necessary information indicating the payment of VAT can be used. They are not named, so it remains to be assumed that the choice is your accountant’s account.
Of course, traditions are a great thing, and not all tax specialists will take such responsibility, but if they meet them, their actions will correspond to the spirit and letter of the law.