Unified forms of primary accounting documents. Mandatory unified forms of primary accounting documentation

"Accounting", 2010, N 6

Tax authorities pay attention to non-use of documentation or shortcomings in their execution, which often becomes the subject of litigation. Is the use of these forms mandatory?

Unification of forms of primary accounting documentation. Tax authorities have the right to demand from the taxpayer documents that serve as the basis for the calculation and payment of taxes in the forms established by the relevant federal executive body.

What forms are we talking about and are the documents such?

The concept of unified forms of primary accounting documentation appears in the Accounting Law. It established that primary accounting documents are accepted for accounting if they are compiled in accordance with the form contained in the albums of unified forms of primary accounting documentation.

Documents whose form is not provided for in these albums must contain the mandatory details listed in Art. 9 of this Law. Albums of unified forms were approved by the State Statistics Committee of Russia, but not for all sections of accounting (Table 1). As you can see, the albums were not created for unified forms for accounting for intangible assets, materials, fixed assets, labor and its payment, construction machinery work, cash transactions, and inventory results.

Table 1

List of albums of unified forms of primary accounting documentation

The concept of “album of unified forms” is not subject to a broad interpretation, and the list of existing albums given in table. 1 is comprehensive.

Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated July 8, 1997 N 835 assigned the functions of developing and approving albums of unified forms to the State Statistics Committee of Russia, which was later transformed into the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat). However, the latter was not vested with any powers in relation to unified forms.

Recognition of decisions of federal executive authorities as normative legal acts. Let us turn to the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of August 13, 1997 N 1009, which approved the Rules for the preparation of regulatory legal acts of federal executive authorities and their state registration (Rules).

During the period of approval of decisions on unified forms, the State Statistics Committee of Russia was a federal executive body.

A resolution of a federal executive body acquires the status of a legal act subject to its registration by the Ministry of Justice of Russia. The very fact that it was published in pursuance of a decree of the Government of the Russian Federation does not yet allow it to be classified as a legal regulation. None of the decisions of the State Statistics Committee of Russia that interest us were registered with the Ministry of Justice of Russia.

Acts that do not require registration with the Ministry of Justice of Russia do not acquire the status of legal acts and do not contain legal norms mandatory for all organizations. Therefore, the unified forms approved by the resolutions of the State Statistics Committee of Russia are advisory in nature.

In this regard, the Letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 04.05.2009 N 07-02-10/24 and the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated 27.07.2009 N 3-2-09/147 deserve attention, in which it is reported that Rosstat, the Ministry of Finance of Russia, the Federal Tax Service of Russia do not have powers to explain the use of forms of primary accounting documents. Therefore, Letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 01.08.2001 N 16-00-14/364, prohibiting deviation from “landscape” forms, in our opinion, cannot be applied.

The procedure for the entry into force of laws and regulations. From clauses 8 and 10 of Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated May 23, 1996 N 763, which sets out the procedure for the publication and entry into force of acts of the President of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Russian Federation and regulatory legal acts of federal executive bodies, it follows that the legal acts of federal executive bodies , which have not passed state registration, as well as not published in the prescribed manner, do not entail legal consequences as they have not entered into force. They cannot serve as a basis for regulating relevant legal relations or applying sanctions to officials and organizations for failure to comply with the instructions contained in them. They cannot be relied upon when resolving disputes. A similar position is set out in the Determinations of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation dated 03/02/2006 N 58-O and dated 02/11/2006 N 537-O.

State registration of a legal entity involves assigning a registration number to it. Consequently, references in tax disputes to decisions of the State Statistics Committee of Russia on the approval of unified forms are unlawful.

Tax disputes regarding the use of unified forms. The use of the provisions of Decree No. 763 has more than once allowed companies to win tax disputes in arbitration courts (Table 2).

table 2

Application of Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of May 23, 1996 N 763 in tax disputes

Today, arbitration practice on the application of unified forms is developing mainly in favor of taxpayers.

Unified forms for cash transactions. According to clause 12 of the Procedure for conducting cash transactions in the Russian Federation, approved by the Bank of Russia dated September 22, 1993 N 40 (Procedure), cash transactions are formalized using standard interdepartmental forms of primary accounting documentation for enterprises and organizations, which are approved by the State Statistics Committee of Russia. The procedure is considered a normative legal act on the basis of Order of the Bank of Russia dated December 1, 1992 N 02-209. It follows from it that the resolution of the State Statistics Committee of Russia approving standard forms of primary documentation is of an interdepartmental nature. Clause 13 of the Regulations on Accounting and Financial Reporting in the Russian Federation identifies standard forms with unified ones.

But Resolution of the State Statistics Committee of Russia dated August 18, 1998 N 88 was not registered with the Ministry of Justice of Russia. Consequently, the Unified forms for cash transactions, in our opinion, are not mandatory.

Are unified forms applicable to small businesses? Clause 5 of the Standard Recommendations on the Organization of Accounting for Small Businesses (Order No. 64n) states that small enterprises can use independently developed forms containing the mandatory details provided for by the Accounting Law. This position is also supported in the Determination of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated April 10, 2008 N 3856/08. Nevertheless, it is not recommended to refer to Order No. 64n. Why?

Firstly, it is not registered with the Russian Ministry of Justice, which means it is not a legal legal act. Therefore, a reference to it may be challenged by the tax authority; secondly, the Model Recommendations were developed in accordance with Federal Law No. 88-FZ of June 14, 1995, which became invalid as of January 1, 2008 due to the adoption of Federal Law No. 209-FZ of July 24, 2007.

And most importantly, the criteria for small enterprises contained in the old and new Laws do not coincide.

In conclusion, we note that accountants often underestimate the requirement of paragraph 4 of PBU 1/2008 to approve the forms of primary accounting documents in the accounting policy, which does not contain any mention of unified forms. However, it is incorrect to assume that an organization has the right to refuse to use unified forms. It is necessary to either develop your own forms or determine which details of the unified forms can be used.

The organization has no influence on the accounting policies of its counterparties. And since unified forms are not mandatory, it does not have the right to demand their compliance from counterparties. However, you can take care of the quality of the documents that the organization receives from them at the stage of concluding the contract. Fulfillment of the agreed condition can be achieved from the counterparty in court.

E.Yu.Dirkova

NIFI Academy of Budget and Treasury

The issue of registration of primary accounting documents is extremely important for business entities. After all, documents drawn up in accordance with the law, in particular, confirm for the purposes of calculating income tax the expenses incurred by the taxpayer, and also prove the validity of applying VAT deductions. Therefore, the use of documents whose forms do not comply with established requirements may lead to unfavorable consequences for business entities.

1. Drawing up primary accounting documents

In accordance with Part 1 of Art. 9 of Law N 402-FZ, each fact of economic life is recorded as a primary accounting document. Let us note that until January 1, 2013, in accordance with paragraph 1 of Art. 9 of the Federal Law of November 21, 1996 N 129-FZ “On Accounting” (hereinafter referred to as Law N 129-FZ), the specified document was drawn up for each business transaction. However, the concepts of “business transaction” and “fact of economic life” are not identical.

A fact of economic life is a transaction, event, operation that has or is capable of influencing the financial position of an economic entity, the financial result of its activities and (or) cash flow (clause 8 of Article 3 of Law No. 402-FZ). Law No. 129-FZ did not define the concept of “business operations”, but from paragraph 2 of Art. 1 of this Law it followed that all operations carried out by organizations in the course of their activities were recognized as such.

Thus, the concept of “fact of economic life” contained in Law No. 402-FZ is broader than the concept of “business transaction”, which was used in Law No. 129-FZ. And here the main question that worries specialists arises: what facts of economic life can be documented in primary accounting documents, which are compiled according to forms independently developed by the organization, and when does the use of unified forms remain mandatory? After all, the resolutions of the State Statistics Committee of the Russian Federation, which approved unified forms of primary accounting documentation, have not been canceled.

2. Own forms of primary accounting documents

According to Part 4 of Art. 9 of Law N 402-FZ, the forms of primary accounting documents used by an organization (except for public sector organizations) must be approved by the head of the organization. At the same time, this Law does not contain a requirement for the mandatory use of unified forms. Let us recall that before January 1, 2013, it was possible to use independently developed forms of primary documents only if the required form was not available in the albums of unified forms of primary accounting documentation (clause 2 of Article 9 of Law No. 129-FZ). However, we note that even when drawing up primary documents not according to unified forms, taxpayers managed to defend in court the legality of recognizing expenses (for more details, see the Encyclopedia of Disputed Situations on Income Tax).

When developing your own forms of primary accounting documents, you can take the unified forms as a basis, adding or removing some of the details. In addition, it is advisable to use GOST R 6.30-2003 "Organizational and administrative documentation. Requirements for document preparation."

When developing, it should be taken into account that the primary accounting document must necessarily contain the details listed in Part 2 of Art. 9 of Law N 402-FZ:

Name and date of preparation of the document;

Name of the economic entity that compiled the document;

The value of the natural and (or) monetary measurement of a fact of economic life, indicating the units of measurement;

Signatures, surnames (with initials), as well as positions of the persons who made the transaction, operation and are responsible for the correctness of its execution, or the persons responsible for the accuracy of the execution of the event.

It must be borne in mind that the list of details for individual primary accounting documents can be expanded by other regulations. For example, the requirements for the details of the waybill are contained in Order of the Ministry of Transport of Russia dated September 18, 2008 N 152, adopted in pursuance of Part 1 of Art. 6 of the Federal Law of November 8, 2007 N 259-FZ “Charter of Road Transport and Urban Ground Electric Transport”.

As already mentioned, the head of the organization needs to approve the used forms of primary accounting documents (Part 4, Article 9 of Law No. 402-FZ).

It should also be noted that the primary accounting document can be compiled in electronic form (Part 5, Article 9 of Law No. 402-FZ). And as you know, to exchange electronic documents it is necessary that the participants in the electronic document flow have compatible document formats. Accordingly, when developing your own forms of documents and their formats, difficulties will arise in implementing electronic document management. Let us note that on the basis of unified forms, recommended formats for widely used documents have already been developed and approved by Order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated March 21, 2012 N ММВ-7-6/172@: invoice of goods (TORG-12) and acceptance certificate for works (services). These documents can be submitted electronically to the tax authority (to confirm expenses for the purpose of calculating income tax and for other purposes at the request of the inspectorate) and counterparties.

3. Unified forms of primary accounting documents

Since January 1, 2013, there is no requirement to use unified forms when preparing primary accounting documents in Law N 402-FZ, but their use is common for many business entities. In addition, independent development of document forms other than the unified ones requires time, special knowledge and additional costs for setting up software for new forms, and the use of such forms can cause difficulties in working both within the organization and with counterparties.

Law No. 402-FZ does not contain a ban on the use of unified forms, so they can still be applied by approving such a decision in the accounting policy or by a separate order of the manager.

In addition, refusing to use all unified forms is quite risky.

In Information No. PZ-10/2012, the Ministry of Finance of Russia noted that forms of primary accounting documents established by authorized bodies in accordance with other federal laws and on their basis remain mandatory for use (for example, forms of cash documents).

Indeed, the Regulations on the procedure for conducting cash transactions with banknotes and coins of the Bank of Russia on the territory of the Russian Federation (approved by the Bank of Russia on October 12, 2011 N 373-P) provide for the use of the following unified forms:

Receipt and expense cash orders (forms N KO-1 and KO-2);

- (form N KO-4);

Book of accounting of funds accepted and issued by the cashier (Form N KO-5);

Settlement and payment statements (forms N T-49 and T-53).

These forms are approved by Resolutions of the State Statistics Committee of the Russian Federation dated August 18, 1998 N 88, dated January 5, 2004 N 1.

Note that these are not all unified forms, which are still mandatory for use in 2013, despite the freedom provided to develop your own forms.

In addition, the failure to use standardized forms of documents when recording labor and its payment may lead to undesirable consequences for organizations. The next section of this special issue is devoted to the issue of using these forms.

There are other mandatory forms of primary documents. However, the requirement contained in Part 4 of Art. 9 of Law N 402-FZ, general: the forms must be approved by the head of the economic entity. Therefore, in order to avoid disagreements with regulatory authorities, it is better to approve the use of unified forms by order of the manager or provide for it in the accounting policy.

4. Features of the use of unified forms of primaryaccounting documents for labor accounting and payment

The issue of using unified forms to document events that occur in the field of labor relations (hiring an employee, granting him leave, etc.) deserves special attention.

According to Rostrud, after the entry into force of Law N 402-FZ, that is, from January 1, 2013, non-governmental organizations have the right to use forms of primary accounting documents developed by them independently (Letter dated February 14, 2013 N PG/1487-6-1) .

As an example, Rostrud mentions the employee’s personal card (Form N T-2) and notes that the primary accounting document must contain all the mandatory details established by Part 2 of Art. 9 of Law No. 402-FZ. The form of the employee’s personal card (form N T-2), as well as other unified forms of primary accounting documents for recording labor and its payment, was approved by Resolution of the State Statistics Committee of the Russian Federation dated January 5, 2004 N 1 (hereinafter referred to as Resolution N 1).

At the same time, it is necessary to take into account that the requirements for the use of this unified form for maintaining military registration are established by clause 27 of the Regulations on military registration (approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of November 27, 2006 N 719 in accordance with clause 6 of Article 8 of the Federal Law of March 28, 1998 N 53-FZ “On Military Duty and Military Service”).

Considering the issue of preparing primary documents when sending an employee on a business trip, the Ministry of Labor of Russia in Letter No. 14-2-291 dated February 14, 2013 noted that the relevant documents (in particular, a travel certificate) must be drawn up according to the forms approved by Resolution No. 1.

The Ministry of Finance of Russia in Information No. PZ-10/2012 indicated that from January 1, 2013, forms of primary accounting documents established by authorized bodies in accordance with other federal laws and on the basis of such laws remain mandatory.

In addition, it should be noted that the requirements for primary accounting documents contained in Art. 9 of Law N 402-FZ can only be partially applied to documents used to document events in the field of labor relations. So, in part 5 of Art. 9 of Law N 402-FZ provides for the possibility of drawing up a primary accounting document in electronic form. At the same time, the Labor Code of the Russian Federation and other regulatory legal acts containing labor law norms do not allow such a possibility. For example, in para. 3 clause 26 of the Regulations on the peculiarities of sending employees on business trips, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of October 13, 2008 N 749, it is directly established that the employee’s report on the work performed on a business trip is submitted to the employer in writing. Unified forms of an official assignment, a report on its completion and a travel certificate are also contained in Resolution No. 1.

Taking into account the above, we can come to the conclusion that the execution of documents using independently developed forms for recording labor and its payment may cause claims from inspection authorities, since the new form may not take into account (not fully take into account) the requirements of labor legislation for a specific document.

For example, it should contain columns in which it is necessary to enter information about the work performed, transfer to another permanent job and dismissal (clause 12 of the Rules for maintaining and storing work books, producing work book forms and providing them to employers, approved by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of April 16, 2003 N 225). At the same time, this information is not included in the list given in Part 2 of Art. 9 of Law No. 402-FZ.

Thus, with regard to the preparation of documents on labor accounting and payment, at present it is more expedient for organizations to use the unified forms approved by Resolution No. 1. And, as already noted, the use of these unified forms in accordance with Part 4 of Art. 9 of Law N 402-FZ must be approved either by a separate order of the head of the organization or by an appendix to the accounting policy.

Primary accounting documents are important both in matters of accounting and in determining the volume of tax obligations. It is important for the company specialist responsible for drawing up primary accounting documents to clearly understand the content and forms of such documents, as well as to know the specifics of maintaining accounting registers.

The role of the primary document in accounting

Primary documents are documents with the help of which the company formalizes the economic events that occurred at the enterprise (Clause 1, Article 9 of the Law “On Accounting” dated December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ).

The first thing that accountants of any organization should clearly understand is that today there is no specific mandatory list of forms for primary accounting documents. Any company determines for itself the forms of primary documents depending on the purpose of their use.

However, for such documents a list of mandatory details is legally established (Clause 2, Article 9 of Law No. 402-FZ).

IMPORTANT! The forms used in accounting must be fixed in the accounting policy of the organization (clause 4 of PBU 21/2008, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated October 6, 2008 No. 106n).

List of possible primary accounting documents

The list of primary accounting documents in 2018-2019 may be as follows:

1. Packing list. This is a document that reflects the list of transferred inventory items. The invoice is issued in 2 copies and contains information that is subsequently reflected in the invoice. The invoice is signed by representatives of both parties involved in the transaction and certified by a seal (if the company uses it in its practice).

1. Record of acceptance. It is drawn up upon completion of certain works (services) to confirm that the result of the work meets the original requirements of the contract.

See a sample of such an act.

1. Primary documents for payment of wages to personnel (for example, pay slips).

For more information about these statements, see the article “Sample of filling out the payroll statement T 49” .

1. Documents related to the presence of fixed assets - here the company can draw up such documentation from the list of primary accounting documents:

• Certificate of acceptance and transfer of fixed assets in the OS-1 form - upon receipt or disposal of an object not related to buildings or structures.

For more information about this act, see the material "Unified form No. OS-1 - Certificate of acceptance and transfer of fixed assets" .

• If the fixed asset is a building or structure, then its receipt or disposal is formalized by an act in the OS-1a form.

For more details, see the article “Unified form No. OS-1a - form and sample” .

• The write-off of an asset is formalized by an act in the OS-4 form.

For more details, see the material “Unified form No. OS-4 - Act on decommissioning of an asset” .

• If it is necessary to document the fact of the inventory carried out, an inventory list of the fixed assets is drawn up in the INV-1 form.

For more information about such a primary document, see the article “Unified form No. INV-1 - form and sample” .

• If the inventory was carried out in relation to intangible assets, then the inventory will be compiled according to the INV-1a form.

For more information, see the material “Unified form No. INV-1a - form and sample” .

1. A separate group of primary documents are cash documents. These include, in particular, the following list of primary accounting documents for 2018-2019:

• Receipt cash order.

For more information on its compilation, see the article “How is a cash receipt order (PKO) filled out?” .

• Account cash warrant.

1. Payment order.

Read about the rules for preparing this document.

1. Advance report.

1. The act of offsetting mutual claims.

Read about the specifics of using this document.

1. Accounting information.

For information on the principles of its design, see the material “Accounting certificate of error correction - sample”.

The above list does not exhaust the entire scope of primary documents used in accounting, and can be expanded depending on the characteristics of the accounting carried out in each specific organization.

IMPORTANT! They are not primary accounting documents from the 2018-2019 list - the list was proposed above:

• Agreement. This is a document that stipulates the rights, obligations and responsibilities of the parties involved in the transaction, the terms and procedure for settlement, special conditions, etc. Its data is used when organizing accounting for the analytics of settlements with counterparties, but it itself does not generate accounting transactions.
• Check. This document reflects the amount that the buyer agrees to pay by accepting the supplier's terms. The invoice may contain additional information about the terms of the transaction (terms, payment and delivery procedures, etc.), i.e. it supplements the contract.
• Invoice. This document is drawn up for tax purposes, since on its basis buyers accept for deduction the amounts of VAT presented by suppliers (clause 1 of Article 169 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Thus, in the absence of other documents characterizing a particular transaction, it will be impossible to confirm expenses for this transaction with an invoice (letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated June 25, 2007 No. 03-03-06/1/392, Federal Tax Service dated March 31, 2006 No. 02-3 -08/31, resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the East Siberian District dated April 19, 2006 No. A78-4606/05-S2-20/317-F02-1135/06-S1).

It should be borne in mind that the unified forms of primary accounting documents given in the list are not mandatory for use, since since 2013 (after the adoption of Law No. 402-FZ), forms of such forms can be developed independently. But in most cases they continue to be used. Therefore, in 2018-2019, the list of unified forms of primary accounting documents contained in the resolutions of the State Statistics Committee continues to remain relevant.

What information should the forms of primary documents contain?

Despite the fact that there are currently no mandatory primary documents for all forms, the legislator has established requirements for the content of such documents. The list of mandatory details that must be contained in each primary document is given in paragraph 2 of Art. 9 of Law No. 402-FZ. These are, in particular:

• document's name;
• the date on which such document was drawn up;
• information about the person who compiled the document (name of the company or individual entrepreneur);
• the essence of the fact of economic life that was formalized by this document;
• monetary, numerical characteristics, measures of the event that occurred (for example, in what volume, in what units and for what amount were the products sold to customers);
• information about the responsible specialists who documented the event, as well as the signatures of such specialists.

Primary documents and accounting registers

How can primary accounting documents be classified?

If the primary document was issued by the company itself, then it can belong either to the group of internal or to the group of external. A document that is drawn up within the company and extends its effect to the compiler company is an internal primary document. If the document was received from the outside (or compiled by the company and issued to the outside), then it will be an external primary document.

The company's internal documents are divided into the following categories:

• Primary administrative documents are those with which a company gives orders to any of its structural units or employees. This category includes company orders, instructions, etc.
• Executive primary documents. In them, the company reflects the fact that a certain economic event has occurred.
• Accounting documents. With their help, the company systematizes and summarizes information contained in other administrative and supporting documents.

After a business event has been documented as a primary document, it is then necessary to reflect the event in the accounting registers. They, in fact, are carriers of ordered information; they accumulate and distribute the characteristics and indicators of business transactions.

The following registers are distinguished by their appearance:

• books;
• cards;
• free sheets.

Based on the method of maintaining the register, the following groups are distinguished:

• Chronological registers. They record the events that happened sequentially - from the first in time to the last.
• Systematic registers. In them, the company classifies completed transactions by economic content (for example, a cash book).
• Combined registers.

According to the criterion of the content of information reflected in the registers, the following are distinguished:

• synthetic registers (for example, a journal order);
• analytical registers (payroll);
• combined registers, in the context of which the company carries out both synthetic and analytical accounting.

For more information about accounting registers, see the article “Accounting registers (forms, samples)” .

Results

At present, there are no mandatory forms and lists of primary accounting documents: any business entity has the right to independently determine for itself the forms of primary documents that it will use in its activities.

At the same time, the most common primary accounting documents are those that have analogues among the unified forms approved by the State Statistics Committee.

After the primary document is drawn up, it is necessary to transfer information from it to the accounting register.

Every accountant should know which documents belong to primary documents. This is due to the fact that it is this documentation that is the basis for accounting. They prove the fact of carrying out business transactions. A novice accounting specialist needs to understand what it is, why primary documents are needed, how to compile and store them. Otherwise, problems with regulatory authorities cannot be avoided.

Legal entities and private entrepreneurs can transfer funds to each other only on the basis of certain primary documentation. It is assumed that the primary report is drawn up even before the business transaction has taken place, however, the legislation does not exclude the possibility of its drawing up after the completion of the transaction, however, there must be good reasons for this.

Both primary and summary accounting documents must include the following details: name of the form; the date and place where it was compiled; the full name of the company that prepared it; what accounts are used to transfer funds; full name of the responsible official, etc.

What are they needed for

Primary documents (PD) are a mandatory component of accounting. They are compiled during business transactions and serve as evidence that such transactions have been completed. When conducting a transaction, a different number of primary documents may be involved: it depends on the specifics of its implementation.

List of operations that must be carried out during the transaction:

1. Signing a contract with the recipient. If it is permanent, you can sign one agreement for several transactions, however, in this case, it is worth immediately discussing the timing of the work, the sequence of settlement transactions and other nuances.
2. Issuing invoices for payment.
3. Direct payment, confirmation of which is a cash receipt (or sales receipt), if we are talking about cash payment, or payment cards, if money is transferred by bank transfer.
4. When the goods are shipped, the contractor gives the invoice to the client.
5. After providing services in full, the contractor must receive a certificate of completion from the client

Existing types

There are 6 main types of PD accounting, which are used most often when conducting various transactions:

List of primary accounting documents

So, the list of primary accounting documentation looks like this:

The definition of the concept of “primary accounting document” is given by Article 60-1 of the Russian Tax Code: primary documents are documented evidence that a transaction has been completed or there is an event that gives the right to carry it out. Such documents can be in paper form or on electronic media. Accounting is carried out on the basis of such documentation.

Article 60-2 provides the forms of such documents and the requirements for their execution.

Another regulatory act that defines primary documentation and also defines its forms is the law on accounting and financial reporting.

Russia is a country in which legislation on accounting and payment of taxes changes periodically. Given the fact that the forms can be changed or supplemented, you need to track what changes are approved by various government agencies, including the Ministry of Finance. For example, at the beginning of 2019, the form of an accounting certificate was approved, which previously had a free form.

The Code of Administrative Offenses provides for a number of sanctions for the absence of primary documents in an organization; they are defined in Article 276 of the Code.

General instructions for use

PD are the basis for starting accounting for certain transactions and making entries in the accounting register. Such a document acts as written evidence of the fact that a business transaction has been completed.

Those primary accounting documents, the forms of which are not officially approved, are approved by the head of the organization, issuing an appropriate order. They must contain all the mandatory details required by law.

Such documentation must be prepared on paper and supported by the signature of the person who compiled the document. If an electronic document is used, it must be signed with an electronic signature.

Unified forms of PD are not mandatory for use. The exception is cash documents that are approved by authorized structures.

The PD form must contain the following mandatory data:

• Title of the document;
• exact date of the operation;
• what the economic operation consists of in physical and value terms;
• the name of the structure that composes the document;
• information about the persons who are responsible for ensuring that the document is executed correctly.

Such documents are divided into the following groups:

• wage accounting;
• accounting of performed cash transactions;
• accounting of fixed assets;
• accounting of construction and repair work.

Filling rules

Reporting documents should be prepared neatly and clearly.

Basic Rules:

• It is allowed to use ballpoint and ink pens, you can use computers and a typewriter;
• such documentation must be drawn up at the moment when the transaction is just planned;
• it is allowed to draw up documents after the operation, if there are objective reasons for this;
• the document reflects all possible details;
• If any information is missing, dashes can be added.

In 2019, standard forms are used to prepare PD. Documents are divided into external and internal.

The first organization receives from the outside: from government agencies, higher organizations, banking structures, tax authorities, etc. Examples of external documents: invoices, payment orders or claims. As for internal documents, they are drawn up directly in the organization.

If the document is filled out incorrectly, the organization will have difficulty determining the tax base, and this may lead to disagreements with the tax service.

Content Correction

It happens that even an experienced accountant who has drawn up a document more than once makes a mistake. It is possible to correct it only when the document was not reflected in accounting, that is, it was not posted. You need to remember that making corrections using a stroke is unacceptable.

You can only use the following three methods:

• additional entry;
• reversal method;
• proofreading method.

The latter applies when an error was made in the accounting register, but it does not affect the correspondence of accounts. This method is appropriate to use before the balance sheet is drawn up. In this case, the incorrect number or other sign must be crossed out with a thin line, and the correct value must be indicated next to it. On the side indicate “corrected believe” and put the date and signature.

An additional entry would be appropriate if the amount of the transaction being carried out was underestimated.

The reversal method involves correcting an incorrect entry using a negative number. The wrong number is indicated in red ink, and the correct entry is immediately made, which is written in normal color.

Clarifications about the reconciliation report

Reconciliation acts do not legally relate to primary documents, and therefore are not regulated by regulatory documents. They display mutual settlements made for a certain period between companies that have the status of a legal entity, or individual entrepreneurs.

This type of document is used on the initiative of accountants, since with its help it is possible to resolve a number of controversial issues, which protects the interests of the organization.

In what cases is it important to draw up a reconciliation report:

• when the seller offers a wide selection of goods;
• in case of granting a deferment on payments;
• if the price of the product is high;
• if there is a relationship between the parties that is regular in nature.

This document can be used in court in the event of a controversial situation between the parties.

Shelf life

The provision for storing primary documentation is enshrined at the legislative level.

Different storage terms are provided for different types of documents:

Primary document It is customary to refer to any documents that confirm transactions carried out by the taxpayer related to the economic activities of the organization and having a certain economic effect. Primary documents mean both accounting “primary” documents and documents necessary for tax purposes (that is, to confirm expenses, deductions, benefits, etc.).

For accounting purposes, a narrower concept of “primary accounting document” is used (Federal Law dated December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ “On Accounting”). This norm states that the primary accounting document must be drawn up for each fact of the economic life of the organization immediately when it occurs, and if this is not possible, then immediately after its completion. For these purposes, a fact of economic life is understood as a transaction, event, operation that has or is capable of influencing the financial position of the company, the financial result of its activities and (or) cash flow (clause 8 of Article 3 of the Accounting Law).

Paragraph 2 of Article 9 of the Accounting Law contains a list of mandatory details of the accounting “primary”. The absence of at least one of them deprives the document of the status of a primary accounting document. Therefore, it is important to monitor the presence of all required items in the document. To make this easier, the document should be divided into three parts: introductory, substantive and final:

in the introductory part of the accounting "primary" the following must be indicated: the name and date of preparation of the document, as well as the name of the person (organization or individual entrepreneur) on whose behalf the document was drawn up;

the final part reflects the data of the responsible person (job title, surname and initials of the person who completed the transaction, operation and responsible for its execution, or the person responsible for the execution of the accomplished event). The registration of the primary accounting document is completed by affixing the signature of the responsible person. If there are several responsible persons, then the details of all these persons must be indicated and their signatures must be affixed.

Is the primary invoice

An invoice is required to deduct VAT (clause 1 of Article 169 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation), i.e. the purpose of creating this document does not correspond to the purpose of compiling a primary accounting document. An invoice is not the basis for reflecting any data in accounting registers. It is also necessary to take into account that the invoice is drawn up not during the execution of a business transaction and not even immediately after its completion, but within five calendar days from the date of shipment of goods (delivery of work, services) or from the date of receipt of the advance (clause 3 of Art. 168 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

At the same time, the details of the shipping invoice largely coincide with the details of the primary document for the transfer of goods (work, services) to the buyer (customer). Therefore, the Federal Tax Service of Russia has developed a universal transfer document, which, in addition to the information from the invoice, contains additional details characteristic of the primary accounting document (Appendix No. 2 to the letter of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated October 21, 2013 No. ММВ-20-3/96@). Based on the rules of the Accounting Law, a universal transfer document should be drawn up at the time of the transaction or immediately after its completion. Only in this case, the UPD, which contains the invoice indicators, will be regarded as a primary accounting document. A regular invoice does not apply to the “primary” invoice.

Is the primary agreement

Consignment note - preparation of a consignment note is required by paragraph 2 of Article 785 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, and the form is approved by the Rules for the transportation of goods by road (approved by Government Decree No. 272 ​​of April 15, 2011).

Forms of invoices and adjustment invoices(which are tax accounting documents) approved by the Government of the Russian Federation. When using other forms, the counterparty will not be able to receive a deduction for