Three ways to increase the cost with tax benefits (Timin E.A.). How to increase the cost of production

Three ways to increase the cost with tax benefits (Timin E.A.). How to increase the cost of production

Fly-by-night is still the most popular method of increasing the cost

Cost can be increased through intra-group optimization of the tax base

Why pay out of net profit if you can not do it

Why is cost analysis needed?

In what situations is it possible to sell at reduced prices?

Consequences of selling goods below cost

How to reflect in accounting the sale of products at low prices

Fly-by-night is still the most popular method of increasing the cost

Cost can be increased through intra-group optimization of the tax base

Cost classification

Typical postings in sales accounting:

Send your good work in the knowledge base is simple. Use the form below

11.2. Product cost analysis

11.3. Analysis of the cost of individual types of products

Why do many still use the services of "one-day".
What are the tax benefits of intra-group expenses.
How to turn non-tax expenses into tax ones.

An increase in the cost of goods, works and services directly affects the company's tax obligations. An increase in tax expenses reduces taxable income. And if transactions subject to VAT are used to increase expenses, the amount of deductions for this tax also increases. Thus, from a tax point of view, it is beneficial for the company that the cost of its products tends to the selling price or even exceeds it.
However, from a financial point of view, it is obvious that not any increase in costs is beneficial for the company. After all, an organization cannot have the goal of reducing taxes at any cost, even as a result of real financial losses. Therefore, in most cases it does not make sense to spend a real ruble just to save 20 kopecks. income tax and 18 kopecks. VAT. Consequently, any tax planning measures to artificially increase the cost should not lead to financial losses.
The following types of costs fully satisfy such restrictions:
- fictitious "paper" expenses;
- expenses incurred as part of intra-group transactions;
- expenses that were actually incurred, but for some reason cannot be fully or partially taken into account in taxation without additional tricks.
Other types of costs are hardly suitable for tax planning purposes, so it makes no sense to consider them within the framework of this article.

"One-day" is still the most popular method cost increase

This group of expenses is associated with the forgery of documents, the creation and use of organizations that do not carry out real activities (one-day firms). All these actions are illegal and fraught with not only tax and administrative, but also criminal liability. Therefore, the author in no way recommends using them in practice.
At the same time, these methods are the most primitive. They require a minimum of effort from the performer, as well as professional knowledge and skills. That is why "one-day" is still so popular in tax planning.
In practice, the organizer of the scheme achieves an increase in the cost with the help of "one-night stands" by embedding such a controlled fictitious organization into his own real economic activity. As a result, this auxiliary company can act as a supplier of goods, be a trading intermediary (agent, commission agent), create costs by providing fictitious services or performing work for the organizer of the scheme, optimizing its tax obligations.
For example, "one-day" takes the position of a supplying (purchasing) organization. That is, through it, all raw materials, materials and goods begin to flow into the company. This property is acquired by the “one-day” at the market price, and sold to the organizer of the scheme at the price necessary for him to effectively reduce the amounts of income tax and VAT. Naturally, by inflating the cost of goods purchased by the organizer of the scheme, the "one-day" does not pay taxes from the tax base formed by it, either in full or in a significant proportion.
Partial payment of taxes allows in practice to delay the exposure of the scheme by the tax authorities, to use a fictitious legal entity for longer and safer to minimize taxes. Which, of course, does not make this method of tax planning legal and acceptable (Resolutions of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the West Siberian of 04/09/2013 N A45-20678 / 2012, Ural of 04/29/2013 N F09-3274 / 13 in the case of N A60-26096 / 12 and dated 04/29/2013 N Ф09-3216/13, Volga-Vyatka district dated 02/13/2013 N А79-5630/2011 and Volga region dated 03/11/2013 N А65-15309/2012 districts).
On similar principles, a "one-day" can play the role of a commission agent of the organizer of the scheme. In this case, the artificial cost increase occurs with the help of a commission, from which the "one-day" also does not pay taxes. There is an opinion that this option is safer than embedding a one-day deal in the chain of sale and purchase, since in this case the purchase or sale of goods is carried out at market prices.
However, after the repeal of Art. 40 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, determining the price in accordance with the market is important only in transactions with related companies, and only when a certain turnover limit for the year is exceeded. Whereas no one has yet canceled the verification of the economic feasibility of expenses. And this means that claims regarding the need for the commission agent or agent to participate in the transaction during the tax audit are quite likely. This is confirmed by extensive judicial practice (Resolutions of the FAS of the Far East dated 11/17/2008 N F03-5090 / 2008, East Siberian dated 09/18/2008 N A19-6738 / 07-33-F02-4498 / 08 and dated 08.20.2009 N A33-9313 / 08, Moscow of 10/18/2012 N A40-18642 / 12-20-86 and 06/10/2009 N KA-A40 / 3892-09 districts, as well as the Fourth Arbitration Court of Appeal of 06/09/2012 N A78-9016 / 2011) .
"One-nighters" are also often used by unscrupulous tax optimizers to provide fictitious services. For example, services related to the organization of the trade process, management, raising finance (credits, loans), transport services and forwarding, loading and unloading, storage services, warehouse handling of goods, services for the operation, maintenance and maintenance of premises, merchandising, marketing and advertising.
In practice, other options for artificially creating costs are also used. For example, sublease or license (franchising) payments, payment for the provided collateral or guarantee, additional payment for an increased volume or term of guarantee obligations.
As in the case of the services of a reseller (agent, commission agent), the main problem for the organizer of the scheme in this case is to prove the reality of the services provided, the direction of the expenses incurred to generate income and use in activities subject to VAT. In practice, this is far from always possible (Resolutions of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Moscow dated March 7, 2013 N A40-24312 / 12-90-109, West Siberian dated December 23, 2013 N A70-2439 / 2013 and North-West dated November 12, 2013 N A26 -10206/2011 districts).
In connection with the need to prove the reality of the operation, one of the safest ways to use the "one-day" is the payment of interest on the loan to her. From the interest received, such a shell company, violating the law, does not pay taxes, and the organizer of the scheme has interest, subject to the restrictions established by Art. 269 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation are included in tax expenses. However, this method has serious drawbacks.
First of all, in order to receive a significant amount of money from a one-day loan, this amount must first somehow appear with such an unscrupulous counterparty. That is, the organizer needs to develop another auxiliary monetary scheme. In addition, the loan relationship is not subject to VAT, so the payment of interest will only affect the income tax of the borrower.
Whatever role is entrusted to the “ephemeral” in the economic activities of the optimizer company, all financial relationships with it are fictitious. That is, all the costs of paying for goods, works, services received from it are unrealistic. In practice, this means that the funds actually transferred to the “one-day” under some auxiliary schemes that do not entail an additional tax burden are returned to the optimizer (cashing out, loans, contributions to the authorized capital, etc.).
Another option is to repay the debt not with money, but with some kind of "wrappers" - papers that have no real value (for example, bills of the same "one-day" ones, unnecessary property, etc.), or no payment goes through at all. That is, the organization has on its balance sheet accounts payable to a shell company, which no one is going to repay. After the law eliminated the requirement for payment in order to receive a VAT deduction, the latter option began to be used much more often.
The adoption by the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation of the landmark Decree N 2341/12 dated 03.07.2012 N 2341/12, concerning the company's expenses for transactions with dubious counterparties, also made life easier for unscrupulous companies. Recall that the essence of the Resolution is that if there is no documentary evidence of disputed transactions or contains significant defects, the amount of the alleged tax benefit and the costs incurred by the taxpayer when calculating corporate income tax should be determined based on market prices applied for similar transactions. Prior to this, when courts considered similar cases, companies risked losing the entire amount of disputed expenses.
At the same time, there is one difficulty, since based on a literal interpretation of the position of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation, this decision is applied only if it is proved that the disputed business transactions were carried out in reality. This position of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation is enshrined in the following decisions: Decrees of the FAS Volga-Vyatsky dated March 13, 2013 N A11-13062 / 2011, East Siberian dated May 13, 2013 N A19-18119 / 2012, Povolzhsky dated April 12, 2013 N A06-3469 / 2012 and North-Western of 19.04.2013 N A66-3676 / 2011 districts.
However, as already mentioned, in the case of "one-day" this presents certain difficulties. In addition, this approach cannot be used for the purposes of calculating other taxes, in particular VAT. In case of defects in documentary evidence, deductions for this tax are likely to be lost.

Cost can be increased by intragroup optimization of the tax base

More cautious companies are trying not to use "one-day" to increase the cost. After all, a reduction in the company's tax liabilities, albeit not so significant, can also be achieved using legal methods. For example, you can create a group of companies that includes low-tax entities. By this term we mean companies that can legally pay tax at lower rates than a company under the general regime that needs to optimize its tax liabilities.
Such companies apply special regimes (STS, UTII, UAT) or have various kinds of tax benefits and residents in low-tax or offshore jurisdictions. True, the management of a group of companies is a task much more difficult than forging documents on behalf of a "fly-by-night" and requires a much higher qualification of the staff. In addition, when creating a group of companies, it is worth remembering that such a step should have a business goal that is not related to tax optimization. For example, optimization of business processes, spin-off of non-core business, entry into new markets. Otherwise, the tax authorities have the right to consider the aggregate tax benefit received by the group of companies as unreasonable (Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation of October 12, 2006 N 53).
However, if the business split has a clear business purpose, no one is entitled to consider it a scheme. According to the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation, even if auxiliary companies under a special tax regime are created on the basis of existing business processes, in order to determine possible tax abuses, it is necessary to evaluate not only the resulting tax savings, but also other factors (Decree of 04/09/2013 N 15570/12) .
In addition, in practice, very often the presence of a group of companies is not advertised. Optimizers try to avoid the slightest sign of interdependence among group members. This allows you to exclude many tax claims in advance and not invent legends about the business goal, but it seriously reduces both business manageability and control over cash flows.
In general, low-tax entities in the group of companies are used in the same way as "one-day" ones. That is, the tax base of a company applying the general taxation system is artificially transferred to them. But unlike "one-day" low-tax entities pay all legally established taxes. They just do it at lower rates. In addition, the same "one pocket" principle is used here, when the expenses seem to be actually incurred, but the recipient of the money is a company controlled by the same persons as the payer. That is, the funds, in fact, are shifted from one pocket to another, reducing the total tax payments of the entire group along the way.

Note. Some companies increase the cost of goods on the principle of "one pocket" - money is transferred from the pocket of the company to the pocket of its owner, his relatives or other persons indicated by him.

For example, a friendly company that applies a simplified taxation system based on "income" becomes a trading and purchasing agent of the company under the general regime. As a result, the entire trade margin goes to such a "simplified" in the form of remuneration and is subject to a single tax at a rate of 6 instead of 20% income tax. However, such optimization will not affect VAT, since the agent on the "simplified" system does not pay this tax. This shortcoming occurs with any embedding of special regimes in the economic activities of the organizer of the scheme, whether it is the provision of any other services or procurement activities. That is why firms that use a special regime in a group of companies are often used not to increase the cost of the scheme organizer, but to reduce its income. This allows, in addition to transferring the tax base for income tax, to reduce VAT charges.
Another disadvantage of using friendly companies that use the simplified tax system, UTII or ESHN is the legal restrictions established for them on the amount of revenue, the composition of the founders, the amount of property, the number of personnel and types of activity. Not exempt from this kind of shortcomings and companies that use the benefits of income tax or VAT.
That is why medium and large businesses often use offshore or low-tax companies as the subject of a group of companies. As a result, interest on loans paid in their favor, royalties, payment for various kinds of consulting services, subject to certain conditions, can reduce Russian income tax to almost zero.

Why pay out of net profit if you can not do it

The third group of ways to artificially increase the cost is, in fact, the transfer of expenses incurred for tax purposes from net profit to the category of expenses that reduce taxable income. That is, these expenses are really necessary for the company or its founders, but they are not aimed at generating income (they do not meet the criteria of clause 1, article 252 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).
As a rule, such a transfer also allows you to receive a VAT deduction. Despite the fact that the condition for the deduction is not the economic justification of the expense, but the use of goods, work, services in VATable transactions (clause 2, article 171 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation), there is a very close relationship between the justification of the expense and the legitimacy of deducting VAT in relation to it.
An example of such a transfer of expenses is the purchase of a personal car, yacht or apartment for the owner of the company. In general, in order to acquire all this, the owner must first receive dividends from the company. And they are paid after paying income tax and are not included in tax expenses (clause 1, article 270 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). In addition, dividends are subject to personal income tax at a rate of 9% (clause 4, article 224 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). After that, an individual can already spend the money received from the company on their own consumption.
It is even worse if the company simply pays for the acquisition of the property necessary for the owner at its own expense. Such expenses cannot be taken into account when taxing profits, since it is almost impossible to prove their economic feasibility. The right to deduct VAT is also doubtful, while the personal income tax rate will no longer be 9, but 13% (clause 1, article 224 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).
However, if instead of paying dividends or paying other people's expenses, the company acquires the property necessary for the owner as fixed assets that can generate income (renting it to the same founder), then depreciation and VAT deductions will also be justified. That is, the company will get rid of income tax, reduce VAT, and individuals will not pay personal income tax.
In this case, the "one-pocket" principle already described above applies. Money is transferred from the pocket of the company to the pocket of its owner, his relatives or other persons indicated by him, which, of course, cannot be considered a real financial loss.
The same principle is used when increasing the cost by paying salaries to the owner of the company instead of dividends or to other persons instead of payments from net profit. The downside of this method is that the personal income tax rate is higher than when paying dividends - 13% instead of 9% (paragraphs 1 and 4 of article 224 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). In addition, insurance premiums are charged on the amount of wages (clause 1, article 7 and clause 1, article 8 of the Federal Law of July 24, 2009 N 212-FZ).
In general, the total rate is 30% up to the limit of the base for calculating insurance premiums and 10% after. The maximum amount from January 1, 2014 is 624,000 rubles. (parts 1, 4 and 5 of article 7, part 1 of article 58.2 of the Federal Law of July 24, 2009 N 212-FZ and Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of November 30, 2013 N 1101). However, if the company applies the general taxation system, then the amounts of wages and insurance premiums can be taken into account as expenses (Article 255, paragraphs 1 and 45, paragraph 1, Article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).
Thus, the replacement of dividends (payments from net profit) with salaries will be beneficial to both the individual and the company in the aggregate if the salary amount significantly exceeds the limit on insurance premiums. Thus, it is possible to achieve that the amount of insurance premiums paid is less than the income tax savings due to the increase in cost.
In practice, this is about 120,000 - 150,000 rubles. per month. In addition, being an employee, the founder of the company will be able to receive from it various compensations not subject to insurance premiums (clause 3 of article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and article 9 of the Federal Law of July 24, 2009 N 212-FZ). And also to receive various property for official purposes (car, laptop, tablet, smartphone), spend money on representation needs, study and go on business trips at the expense of the company.

Why do many people still use ephemera. How to turn non-tax expenses into tax

However, from a financial point of view, it is obvious that not any increase in costs is beneficial for the company. After all, an organization cannot have the goal of reducing taxes at any cost, even as a result of real financial losses. Therefore, in most cases it does not make sense to spend a real ruble just to save 20 kopecks of income tax and 18 kopecks of VAT. Consequently, any tax planning measures to artificially increase the cost should not lead to financial losses.

The following types of costs fully satisfy such restrictions:

- fictitious "paper" expenses;
— expenses incurred as part of intra-group transactions;
- expenses that were actually incurred, but for some reason cannot be fully or partially taken into account in taxation without additional tricks.

Other types of costs are hardly suitable for tax planning purposes, so it makes no sense to consider them within the framework of this article.

This group of expenses is associated with the falsification of documents, the creation and use of organizations that do not carry out real activities (one-day firms). All these actions are illegal and fraught with not only tax and administrative, but also criminal liability. Therefore, the author in no way recommends using them in practice.

At the same time, these methods are the most primitive. They require a minimum of effort from the performer, as well as professional knowledge and skills. That is why ephemera are still so popular in tax planning.

In practice, the organizer of the scheme achieves an increase in cost with the help of ephemera by embedding such a controlled fictitious organization into his own real economic activity. As a result, this auxiliary company can act as a supplier of goods, be a trading intermediary (agent, commission agent), create costs by providing fictitious services or performing work for the organizer of the scheme, optimizing its tax obligations.

For example, a ephemeral takes the position of a supplying (purchasing) organization. That is, through it, all raw materials, materials and goods begin to flow into the company. This property is acquired by a one-day person at a market price, and sold to the organizer of the scheme at a price necessary for him to effectively reduce the amounts of income tax and VAT. Naturally, by winding up the cost of goods purchased by the organizer of the scheme, the one-day business does not pay taxes from its tax base, either in full or in a significant proportion.

Partial payment of taxes allows in practice to delay the exposure of the scheme by the tax authorities, to use a fictitious legal entity for longer and safer to minimize taxes. Which, of course, does not make this method of tax planning legal and acceptable (Decisions of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the West Siberian Federal Antimonopoly Service No. А45-20678/2012 dated 04.09.13, Uralsky dated 04.29.13 No. Ф09-3274/13 No. А60-26096/12 and dated 29.04 .13 No. Ф09-3216/13, Volga-Vyatka District No. А79-5630/2011 dated February 13, 2013, and District No. A65-15309/2012 dated March 11, 2013).

A one-day trader purchases goods at a market price and sells them to the organizer of the scheme at the price he needs to reduce income tax and VAT

On similar principles, a ephemeral can play the role of a commission agent of the organizer of the scheme. In this case, the artificial cost increase occurs with the help of a commission, from which the one-day company also does not pay taxes. There is an opinion that this option is safer than embedding one-day sales in the chain of purchase and sale, since in this case the purchase or sale of goods is carried out at market prices.

However, after the repeal of Article 40 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, determining the price in accordance with the market is important only in transactions with interdependent companies, and only when a certain turnover limit for the year is exceeded. Whereas no one has yet canceled the verification of the economic feasibility of expenses. And this means that claims regarding the need for the commission agent or agent to participate in the transaction during the tax audit are quite likely. This is confirmed by extensive judicial practice (decisions of the FAS of the Far East dated 11.17.08 No. F03-5090 / 2008, East Siberian dated 09.18.08 No. A19-6738 / 07-33-F02-4498 / 08 and dated 08.20.09 No. A33-9313 / 08, of the Moscow District of October 18, 2012 No. А40-18642/12-20-86 and of Districts No. КА-А40/3892-09 of June 10, 2009; .

One-nighters are also often used by unscrupulous tax optimizers to provide fictitious services. For example, services related to the organization of the trade process, management, fundraising (credits, loans), transport services and forwarding, loading and unloading, storage services, warehouse handling of goods, services for the operation, maintenance and maintenance of premises, merchandising, marketing and advertising.

In practice, other options for artificially creating costs are also used. For example, sublease or license (franchising) payments, payment for the provided collateral or guarantee, additional payment for an increased volume or term of guarantee obligations.

As in the case of the services of a reseller (agent, commission agent), the main problem for the organizer of the scheme in this case is to prove the reality of the services provided, the direction of the expenses incurred to generate income and use in activities subject to VAT. In practice, this is far from always possible (decisions of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Moscow dated 07.03.13 No. A40-24312 / 12-90-109, West Siberian dated 12.23.13 No. A70-2439 / 2013 and North-West dated 12.11.13 No. A26 -10206/2011 districts).

In connection with the need to prove the reality of the operation, one of the safest ways to use a one-day business is to pay interest on a loan to it. Such a front company, violating the law, does not pay taxes on the interest received, and the organizer of the scheme, the interest, subject to the restrictions established by Article 269 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, is included in tax expenses. However, this method has serious drawbacks.

The Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation noted that in the absence of documents, the amount of the expected tax benefit and costs is determined based on market prices applied for similar transactions

First of all, in order to receive a significant amount of money from a one-day loan, this amount must first appear somehow from such an unscrupulous counterparty. That is, the organizer needs to develop another auxiliary monetary scheme. In addition, the loan relationship is not subject to VAT, so the payment of interest will only affect the income tax of the borrower.

Whatever role is entrusted to the one-day business in the economic activities of the optimizer company, all financial relationships with it are fictitious. That is, all the costs of paying for goods, works, services received from it are unrealistic. In practice, this means that the funds actually transferred overnight under some auxiliary schemes that do not entail an additional tax burden are returned to the optimizer (cashing out, loans, contributions to the authorized capital, etc.).

Another option is to pay off the debt not with money, but with some “wrappers” - papers that have no real value (for example, bills of the same one-day, unnecessary property, etc.), or no payment goes through at all. That is, the organization has on its balance sheet accounts payable to a shell company, which no one is going to repay. After the law eliminated the requirement for payment in order to receive a VAT deduction, the latter option began to be used much more often.

The adoption by the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation of 03.07.12 No. 2341/12, concerning the company's expenses for transactions with dubious counterparties, also made life easier for unscrupulous companies. Recall that the essence of the resolution is that if there is no documentary evidence of disputed transactions or contains significant defects, the amount of the expected tax benefit and the costs incurred by the taxpayer when calculating corporate income tax should be determined based on market prices applied for similar transactions. Prior to this, when courts considered similar cases, companies risked losing the entire amount of disputed expenses.

At the same time, there is one difficulty, since, based on a literal interpretation of the position of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation, this decision is applied only if it is proved that the disputed business transactions were carried out in reality. This position of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation is enshrined in the following decisions (decrees of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Volga-Vyatka of 13.03.13 No. A11-13062 / 2011, East Siberian of 13.05.13 No. A19-18119 / 2012, Povolzhsky of 12.04.13 No. A06-3469 / 2012 and North-Western of 19.04.13 No. А66-3676/2011 districts).

However, as already mentioned, in the case of ephemerals, this presents certain difficulties. In addition, this approach cannot be used for the purposes of calculating other taxes, in particular VAT. In case of defects in documentary evidence, deductions for this tax are likely to be lost.

More cautious companies try not to use ephemera to increase costs. After all, a reduction in the company's tax liabilities, albeit not so significant, can also be achieved using legal methods. For example, you can create a group of companies that includes low-tax entities. By this term we mean companies that can legally pay tax at lower rates than a company under the general regime that needs to optimize its tax liabilities.

Such companies apply special regimes (STS, UTII, UAT) or have various kinds of tax benefits and residents in low-tax or offshore jurisdictions. True, managing a group of companies is a task much more difficult than forging documents on behalf of a one-day business and requires much more highly qualified personnel. In addition, when creating a group of companies, it is worth remembering that such a step should have a business goal that is not related to tax optimization. For example, optimization of business processes, spin-off of non-core business, entry into new markets. Otherwise, the tax authorities have the right to consider the aggregate tax benefit received by the group of companies as unjustified (Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation of October 12, 2006 No. 53).

However, if the business split has a clear business purpose, no one is entitled to consider it a scheme. According to the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation, even if auxiliary companies under a special tax regime are created on the basis of existing business processes, in order to determine possible tax abuses, it is necessary to evaluate not only the resulting tax savings, but also other factors (Resolution No. 15570/12 dated 09.04.13) .

In addition, in practice, very often the presence of a group of companies is not advertised. Optimizers try to avoid the slightest sign of interdependence among group members. This allows you to exclude many tax claims in advance and not invent legends about the business goal, but it seriously reduces both business manageability and control over cash flows.

Some companies increase the cost of goods on the principle of "one pocket" - money is transferred from the pocket of the company to the pocket of its owner, his relatives or other persons specified by him

In general, low-tax entities in the group of companies are used in the same way as ephemeral ones. That is, the tax base of a company applying the general taxation system is artificially transferred to them. But unlike ephemera, low-tax entities pay all legally established taxes. They just do it at lower rates. In addition, the same “one pocket” principle is used here, when the expenses seem to be actually incurred, but the recipient of the money is a company controlled by the same persons as the payer. That is, the funds, in fact, are shifted from one pocket to another, reducing the total tax payments of the entire group along the way.

For example, a friendly company that uses a simplified taxation system based on "income" becomes a trading and purchasing agent of the company under the general regime. As a result, the entire trade margin goes to such a "simplified" in the form of remuneration and is subject to a single tax at a rate of 6 instead of 20% income tax. However, such optimization will not affect VAT, since the agent on the "simplified" system does not pay this tax. This shortcoming occurs with any embedding of special regimes in the economic activities of the organizer of the scheme, whether it is the provision of any other services or procurement activities. That is why firms that use a special regime in a group of companies are often used not to increase the cost of the scheme organizer, but to reduce its income. This allows, in addition to transferring the tax base for income tax, to reduce VAT charges.

Another disadvantage of using friendly companies that use the simplified tax system, UTII or ESHN is the legal restrictions established for them on the amount of revenue, the composition of the founders, the amount of property, the number of personnel and types of activity. Not exempt from this kind of shortcomings and companies that use the benefits of income tax or VAT.

That is why medium and large businesses often use offshore or low-tax companies as the subject of a group of companies. As a result, interest on loans paid in their favor, royalties, payment for various kinds of consulting services, subject to certain conditions, can reduce Russian income tax to almost zero.

As a rule, such a transfer also allows you to receive a VAT deduction. Despite the fact that the condition for the deduction is not the economic justification of the expense, but the use of goods, work, services in VATable transactions (clause 2, article 171 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation), there is a very close relationship between the justification of the expense and the legitimacy of deducting VAT in relation to it.

An example of such a transfer of expenses is the purchase of a personal car, yacht or apartment for the owner of the company. In general, in order to acquire all this, the owner must first receive dividends from the company. And they are paid after paying income tax and are not included in tax expenses (clause 1, article 270 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). In addition, dividends are subject to personal income tax at a rate of 9% (clause 4, article 224 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). After that, an individual can already spend the money received from the company on their own consumption.

It is even worse if the company simply pays for the acquisition of the property necessary for the owner at its own expense. Such expenses cannot be taken into account when taxing profits, since it is almost impossible to prove their economic feasibility. The right to deduct VAT is also doubtful, while the personal income tax rate will no longer be 9, but 13% (clause 1, article 224 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

However, if instead of paying dividends or paying other people's expenses, the company acquires the property necessary for the owner as fixed assets that can generate income (renting it to the same founder), then depreciation and VAT deductions will also be justified. That is, the company will get rid of income tax, reduce VAT, and individuals will not pay personal income tax.

In this case, the “one-pocket” principle already described above applies. Money is transferred from the pocket of the company to the pocket of its owner, his relatives or other persons indicated by him, which, of course, cannot be considered a real financial loss.

The same principle is used when increasing the cost by paying salaries to the owner of the company instead of dividends or to other persons instead of payments from net profit. The downside of this method is that the personal income tax rate is higher than when paying dividends - 13% instead of 9% (clauses 1 and 4 of article 224 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). In addition, insurance premiums are charged on the amount of wages (clause 1, article 7 and clause 1, article 8 of the Federal Law of July 24, 2009 No. 212-FZ).

In general, the total rate is 30% up to the limit of the base for calculating insurance premiums and 10% after. The maximum amount from January 1, 2014 is 624,000 rubles. (Parts 1, 4 and 5 of Article 7, Part 1 of Article 58.2 of the Federal Law of July 24, 2009 No. 212-FZ and Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of November 30, 2013 No. 1101). However, if the company applies the general taxation system, then the amounts of wages and insurance premiums can be taken into account as expenses (Article 255, paragraphs 1 and 45 of Article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Thus, the replacement of dividends (payments from net profit) with salaries will be beneficial to both the individual and the company in the aggregate if the salary amount significantly exceeds the limit on insurance premiums. Thus, it is possible to achieve that the amount of insurance premiums paid is less than the income tax savings due to the increase in cost.

In practice, this is about 120,000-150,000 rubles. per month. In addition, being an employee, the founder of the company will be able to receive from it various compensations not subject to insurance premiums (clause 3 of article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and article 9 of the Federal Law of July 24, 2009 No. 212-FZ). And also to receive various property for official purposes (car, laptop, tablet, smartphone), spend money on representation needs, study and go on business trips at the expense of the company.

In the activities of the organization, goods are often sold at a price below their cost. Are such transactions permitted by law? What are the tax consequences of such transactions? We will tell you what an accountant should pay attention to when selling products at a loss.

The cost of sales of goods is the current cost of the company for the manufacture of products or services. The method of calculating the indicator varies depending on the option of including costs in the price of the SOE. When pricing, the methodology for determining the full cost of production or reduced is applied. In the first case, the calculation takes into account absolutely all the costs spent in the production of goods - both direct production and indirect commercial, as well as general business. In the second, all overhead costs are distributed to the cost of the GP not directly, but in proportion to the selected base. The latter can be measured by the payroll of production workers, the cost of materials for the manufacture of products, sales indicators, etc.

Depending on the chosen method, the procedure for the application of which should be fixed in the accounting policy of the legal entity, an account of the cost of sales is formed - with the attribution of account. 26 on count. 90 immediately or through the account. 20, 29 and 23. In financial analysis, the cost of sales of GP or services is considered one of the key indicators of financial activity - in the report f. 2, line 2120 reflects information on the amounts of seb / s for a given period. Used in conjunction with line 2110 revenue to calculate the gross profit or loss of the business. In this case, the accountant should fix the cost indicator relative to similar income, and in the case when the enterprise has several types of revenue in one period, the number of values \u200b\u200bfor lines 2110 and 2120 is broken down.

In the process of economic activity in organizations, the subject of cost accounting is the breakdown of costs by items or elements. The specific gradation depends on the industry, the scale of the business, the type of goods or services produced. Classification by elements is carried out in the context of:

Material costs - includes used materials, raw materials, fuel, semi-finished products, energy, components, third-party services, etc.
Payroll costs - this includes settlements with the organization's personnel, including salaries, sick leave, benefits, vacation pay, bonuses, compensation payments, supplements and allowances, surcharges, etc.
Social contributions - here the costs of paying insurance mandatory contributions are collected. These are amounts to be transferred to the budget and off-budget funds for injuries, pension, medical and social insurance.
Depreciation charges - include depreciation of fixed assets and intangible assets.
Other costs - all other types of costs that are not included in the main elements are accumulated here. For example, these are interest on credit lines, taxes, various fees, lease payments, advertising expenses, consulting services, hospitality expenses, etc.

The classification by calculation items consists of indicators:

Material and raw material costs.
Recyclable waste deductions.
Fuel and energy costs.
Expenses for purchased semi-finished products, components, third-party services for industrial purposes.
Payroll expenses for production personnel.
Insurance expenses for deductions for OPS, OSS, OMS, injuries.
General production costs.
Commercial and marketing costs.
General business expenses.
Expenses for the development and use of production capacities.
Other expenses.

Note! If the enterprise participates in the activities of other organizations, the costs associated with this will be recognized as expenses for ordinary activities (paragraph 5 of PBU 10/99). Accordingly, income from participation in other organizations is either an independent type of other income (clause 7 of PBU 9/99) or an integral part of the enterprise's revenue if such economic activity is classified as the main one (clause 5 of PBU 9/99). In the report f. 2 such an indicator is entered under line 2310 (for other income) or line 2110 (for ordinary revenue).

An increase (increase) in the cost of sales or a decrease (decrease) in the value is important when conducting financial analysis and planning in order to increase production efficiency, profitability and profitability of the organization. How to make calculations? There are many methods - horizontal or vertical analysis by elements (items) of the cost with factor decomposition of data, research of the structure with the calculation of absolute and relative deviations, determination of the break-even point when breaking down costs into fixed and variable, comparison of indicators by periods, normative analysis, etc. .

Analysis allows you to identify trends in cost changes; find reserves for saving assets, cash, other property; control the implementation of the given plan; evaluate the quality of the production cycle; check the level of work of responsibility centers and personnel, including executive officers. When analyzing the production cost, the waste (costs) of an enterprise are evaluated in terms of expenditure in the manufacture of products and the establishment of the optimal price for goods. When analyzing the total cost, you can comprehensively calculate how much the company spent on the production of a particular type of product so as not to sell the product at a loss.

Selling products at a cost below the costs spent is possible with the formation of excess stocks that are present in your warehouse; when demand falls and, as a result, obsolescence of goods; as a result of the expiration of the established expiration date. In addition, the refusal of the original buyer to fulfill the contract of sale may lead to such forced measures; change in the organizational structure of the enterprise during reorganization or liquidation; testing of prototype products, etc.

Whatever reasons force the company to sell goods at reduced prices, the transaction is carried out in accordance with the norms of the Civil Code. In stat. 454, it is determined that the sale and purchase is carried out on the basis of a concluded agreement, where among the main conditions there is a specific selling price. At the same time, such a cost is determined by the seller at his own discretion, except for exceptional situations regulated by the state (clause 4 of article 421). Accordingly, the company has the right to set any price for products, in particular, to provide discounts for goods in accordance with the current marketing policy.

Many accountants are concerned about the question: Are such actions with prices legal? What are the tax consequences for the company? Can the tax authorities control such implementation? For an answer, let us turn to the norms of stat. 105.3 of the Tax Code, where we are talking about controlled transactions. It says here that verification of prices for compliance with market prices is possible only when it comes to related parties. If the parties to the transaction do not have signs of dependence, the value of the contract is initially recognized as corresponding to the market value and you are not threatened with any verification.

But there is also Article 40 of the Tax Code known to many, which deals with the deviation of contract prices by more than 20% (in the direction of decrease or increase) relative to comparable transactions for a short period. This article is still valid, however, it applies only to mutual settlements that arose before 01/01/12, that is, transactions concluded before this date. Consequently, the prices under contracts of a later period can no longer be recalculated by the tax authorities, since this norm of the Tax Code is no longer valid in relation to such contracts.

For ordinary companies, when selling products at a reduced cost, there are no tax consequences. Taxes will have to be recalculated (on their own or at the request of the IFTS) for those enterprises that are recognized as dependent in accordance with Art. 105.1. What types of fiscal payments are subject to recalculation? These are income tax and VAT - calculations are made from new market prices.

They are not required to recalculate the amount of the company on the simplified tax system or UTII. And the Federal Tax Service is not entitled to make claims to organizations in special regimes, since according to paragraph 4 of Art. 105.3. It is possible to carry out a tax audit only for MET, VAT, income tax or personal income tax in terms of business income. Simplified or imputed tax, paid from fixed incomes, does not fall under the control of related transactions.

What other implications exist for below-cost contracts depends on which product is being sold. For example, if a company has its own inventories that are obsolete and have partially lost their initial market price, a special reserve must be created for the difference at the end of the year to reduce the current value of inventories (clause 25 PBU 5/01). In the balance sheet, such values will be reflected at cost minus the amount of the reserve. And in the event of the subsequent sale of objects, the amount of the previously formed reserve (for the sold reserves) is subject to recovery. Typical wiring is as follows:

D 91.2 K 14 - reflects the creation of a reserve at the expense of the financial results of activities.
D 14 C 91.2 - the reserved amount was restored.

Note! It is allowed not to create reserves for reducing the price of goods and materials for those companies that use a simplified accounting methodology, including the formation of accounting records (clause 25 PBU 5/01).

The proceeds received as a result of the sale of goods are classified as ordinary income (paragraph 5 of PBU 9/99). The value accepted for accounting is recognized as equal to the receipt of funds (other property) in payment for inventories (other objects) or the formed receivables (clause 6 PBU 9/99). In this case, it is necessary to take into account all discounts granted on the basis of contractual conditions.

D 62 K 90 - revenue from the sale operation was generated.
D 90 K 41 - reflects the write-off of goods sold under the contract.
D 90 K 68 - the accrual of the VAT transaction is reflected, it is not required to restore the tax amounts previously accepted for deduction (in the closed paragraph 3 of Article 170 of the Tax Code there is no such basis).
D 51 K 62 - funds for products are credited to the seller's account.
D 99 K 90 - a loss was formed on the sale of goods at a reduced cost. In terms of income tax, such a loss is accounted for by the accountant as a single amount (paragraph 2 of article 268).

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

Students, graduate students, young scientists who use the knowledge base in their studies and work will be very grateful to you.

Cost intensity (costs per ruble of output) a very important generalizing indicator that characterizes the level of production costs as a whole for the enterprise. Firstly, it is universal: it can be calculated in any industry and, secondly, it clearly shows a direct relationship between cost and profit. This indicator is calculated by the ratio of the total cost of production and sales of products (3 total) to the cost of manufactured products in current prices. At its level below one, production is profitable, at a level above one, it is unprofitable.

Table 11.4. Dynamics of the cost intensity of manufactured products

Year	Analyzed enterprise		Enterprise-competitor		Industry average
Year	Indicator level, kop.	Growth rate, %	Indicator level, kop.	Growth rate, %	Indicator level, kop.	Growth rate, %
xxx1	84,2	100	85,2	100	90,4	100
xxx2	83,6	99,3	85,0	99,7	88,2	97,6
xxx3	82,9	98,5	84,0	98,6	86,5	95,7
xxx4	82,5	98,0	83,8	98,4	85,7	94,8
xxx5	81,25	96,5	82,0	96,2	84,5	93,5

The analysis should examine implementation of the plan and the dynamics of the cost intensity of products, as well as to conduct inter-farm comparisons for this indicator (Table 11.4).

Based on the data presented, it can be concluded that the cost intensity of products at the analyzed enterprise is decreasing at a slower rate than that of a competing enterprise and on average for the industry, however, the level of this indicator remains still lower.

It is also necessary to study the change in the level of cost intensity of products for individual cost elements (Table 11.5).

After that, it is necessary to establish the factors of change in the total cost intensity, reflected in Fig. 11.4.

Table 11.5. Change in the cost intensity of products by cost elements

Cost elements	Costs per ruble of products, kop.
Cost elements	t0	t i	+, -
Salary with deductions	22,78	21,26	-1,52
Material costs	43,75	45,45	+1,70
Depreciation	7,00	6,98	-0,02
Other	8,97	7,56	-1,41
Total	82,5	81,25	-1,25

The following factorial model can be used to calculate their influence:

The calculation is made by the chain substitution method given in Table. 11.3 and the following data on the cost of manufactured products.

The calculation of the influence of factors on the change in the cost intensity of products is given in table. 11.6. Table 11.6. Calculation of the influence of factors on the change in the cost intensity of products

Costs per ruble of products	Calculation	Factors
Costs per ruble of products	Calculation	Volume of production	Production structure	Amount of consumed resources	Prices for resources (services)	Selling prices for products
IE 0	66 000: 80 000 = 82,50	t0	t0	t0	t0	t0
IE COND1	63 675: 76 000 = 83,78	t1	t0	t0	t0	t0
IE CONV2	67 285: 83 600 = 80,48	t1	t1	t0	t0	t0
IE CONV3	64 700: 83 600 = 77,39	t1	t1	t1	t0	t0
IE CONV4	81 510: 83 600 = 97,50	t1	t1	t1	t,	t0
IE 1	81 510: 100 320 = 81,25	t1	t1	t1	t1	t1
ΔIE total = 81.25-82.50 = -1.25; in including through:

Analytical calculations given in table. 11.6 show that the cost per ruble of products has changed due to the following factors:

decrease in production volume: 83.78 - 82.50 = +1.28 kopecks;

changes in the structure of production: 80.48 - 83.78 = -3.30 kopecks;
the amount of consumed resources 77.39 - 80.48 = -3.09 kopecks;
growth in prices for resources: 97.50 - 77.39 = +20.11 kopecks;
increase in prices for products: 81.25 - 97.50 = -16.25 kop.

Total: -1.25 kop.

After that, you can establish the influence of the studied factors on the change in the amount of profit. To do this, the absolute increases in the cost intensity of products due to each factor must be multiplied by the actual volume of sales of products of the reporting period, expressed in prices of the base period (Table 11.7):

ΔP Xi =ΔIE Xi ∑(VП i1 C i0)

Based on the data presented, it can be concluded that the amount of profit has grown mainly due to an increase in prices for the company's products, an increase in the share of more profitable products and a more economical use of resources.

Table 11.7. Calculation of the influence of factors on change
profit amounts

Factor	Impact calculation	Change in the amount of profit, thousand rubles
Output volume	1,28-80 442/100
Product structure	3,30-80 442/100
Resource intensity of products	3,09-80 442/100
Prices for consumed resources	20,11-80 442/100
Change in the average level of selling prices for products	16,25-80 442/100
Total

It should also be noted that the rate of growth in prices for resources outstrips the rate of growth in prices for the company's products, which indicates a negative effect of inflation.

For a deeper study of the reasons for the change in cost, they analyze accounting estimates for individual products, compare the actual level of costs per unit of output with the planned and data of previous periods, other enterprises in general and by cost items.

The influence of first-order factors on the change in the cost of a unit of production is studied using a factor model

where C i - unit cost of the i-th type of product;
And i - fixed costs attributed to the i-th type of product;
b i - variable costs per unit of the i-th type of product;
The dependence of the unit cost of production on these factors is shown in fig. 11.5.

Using this model and the data in Table. 11.8, we will calculate the influence of factors on the change in the cost of product A using the chain substitution method.

Table 11.8. Initial data for factor analysis of the cost of product A

Indicator	according to plan	Actually	Deviation from the plan
Output volume (VBP), pcs.
The amount of fixed costs (A), thousand rubles.
The amount of variable costs per product (b), rub.
The cost of one product (C), rub.

The total change in the cost of a unit of production is

ΔC total \u003d C 1 - C 0 \u003d 4,800 - 4,000 \u003d +800 rubles,

including by changing:

a) production volume

ΔС VBP \u003d С conv1 -С 0 \u003d 3,700 - 4,000 \u003d -300 rubles;

b) the amount of fixed costs

ΔСа= С conv.2 - С conv.1 = 4 340 - 3 700 = +640 rub.;

c) the amount of specific variable costs

ΔC b \u003d C 1 - C cond2 \u003d 4 800 - 4 340 \u003d +460 rubles.

Similar calculations are made for each type of product (Table 11.9).

Table 11.9. Calculation of the influence of first-order factors on the change in the cost of individual types of products

The end of the table. 11.9

Product type	The cost of the product, rub.	Change in cost, rub.
		general	including through
			output volume	fixed costs	variable costs

B
Etc.

After that, they study in more detail the cost of production for each cost item, for which the actual data are compared with the data of the plan, past periods, and other enterprises (Table 11.10).

The data presented show growth in all cost items, and especially in material costs and the wages of production personnel.

Similar calculations are made for each type of product. The established deviations for cost items are the object of factor analysis. As a result of item-by-item analysis of the cost of production, internal and external, objective and subjective factors of change in its level should be identified. This is necessary for the qualified management of the process of formation of costs and the search for reserves to reduce them.

Table 11.10. Analysis of the cost of product A by cost items

Cost item	Product costs, rub.			Cost structure, %
Cost item
Raw materials and basic materials	1700	2115	+415	42,5	44,06	+1,56
Fuel and energy	300	380	+80	7,5	7,92	+0,42
Wages of production workers	560	675	+115	14,0	14,06	+0,06
Deductions for social needs	200	240	+40	5,0	5,0	-
Costs for the maintenance and operation of equipment	420	450	+30	10,5	9,38	-1,12
overhead costs	300	345	+45	7,5	7,19	-0,31
General running costs	240	250	+10	6,0	5,21	-0,79
Loss from marriage	-	25	+25	-	0,52	+0,52
Other operating expenses	160	176	+16	4,0	3,66	-0,34
Selling expenses

Cost elements	Amount, thousand rubles			Cost structure, %
Cost elements	t0	t1	+, -	t0	t1	+, -	t0	t1
Salary	13 500	15 800	+2 300	20,4	19,4	-1,0	16,88	15,75
Deductions for social needs	4 725	5 530	+805	7,2	6,8	-0,4	5,90	5,51
Material costs	35 000	45 600	+10 600	53,0	55,9	+2,9	43,75	45,45
Including: raw materials fuel electricity, etc.	25 200 5 600 4 200	31 500 7 524 6 576	6300 +1924 +2376	38,2 8,5 6,3	38,6 9,2 8,1	0,4 +0,7 +1,8	31,50 7,00 5,25	31,40 7,50 6,55
Depreciation	5 600	7 000	+1 400	8,5	8,6	+0,1	7,00	6,98
Other costs	7175	7 580	+405	10,9	9,3	-1,6	8,97	7,56
Full cost	66 000	81 510	+15 510	100	100	-	82,50	81,25
Including: variable costs fixed costs	46 500 19 500	55 328 26 182	9 828 +6 682	70,5 29,5		1,5 +1,5	58,12 24,38	55,15 26,10

	Cost level, rub.						Volume
View	base			current			production, pcs.
products	Total	Including		Total	Including		base	current
		change- nye	constantly nye		change- nye	constantly nye
BUT	4 000	2 800	1 200	4 800	3 260	1 540	10 000	13 300
B	2 600	1 850	750	3 100	2 100	1 000	10 000	5 700
Etc.

Expenses	Amount, thousand rubles	Cost drivers
Expenses	Amount, thousand rubles	Output volume	Product structure	variable costs	fixed costs
base period: ∑(VП i0 b i0)+A 0
base period, recalculated for the actual volume of production of the reporting period, while maintaining the basic structure: ∑(VBP i1 b i0) I VBP +A 0
according to the base level for the actual output of the reporting period: ∑(VBP i1 b i0)+A 0
reporting period with "the base value of fixed costs: ∑(VBP i1 b i1)+A 0
reporting period: ∑(VBP i1 b i1)+A 1
Change in costs

Product type

Production volume, pcs.

Fixed costs for the entire output, rub.

Variable costs per unit of production, rub.

Product type