Writing off accounts payable USN rate currency. The procedure for writing off bad accounts receivable. Documentary support of the write-off procedure

Date the article was posted: 10.08.2012

O. Privolova

If a debt, be it a "receivable" or a "payable", is determined to be uncollectible, it is written off. Taking into account the cash method of recognizing income and expenses, when applying the simplified tax system, this event, in theory, should not have any tax consequences. However, there are still exceptions to this rule.

According to Art. 346.17 of the Tax Code, income and expenses when applying the simplified tax system are recognized in tax accounting on a cash basis. So, according to clause 1 of this article, the date of receipt of income is the day of receipt of funds in bank accounts and (or) in the cash office, receipt of other property (work, services) and (or) property rights. According to paragraph 2 of Art. 346.17 of the Code, expenses of a taxpayer are recognized as costs after their actual payment. Meanwhile, when writing off a debt, whether it is "accounts receivable" or "creditor", no movement of funds or property (work, services), as well as property rights occurs. This creates the illusion that there is no reason to recognize income or expense in such a situation. However, it should be borne in mind that, among other things, the date of receipt of income on the simplified tax system is the day of repayment of the debt (payment) to the taxpayer in any other way (clause 1 of article 346.17 of the Tax Code). And payment for goods (works, services) and (or) property rights means the termination of the obligation of the purchaser of goods (works, services) and (or) property rights to the seller (clause 2 of article 346.17 of the Tax Code). In this sense, the cash accounting method, on the contrary, can play with the "simplified", as they say, a very "cruel joke" when it comes to debt to be written off.

Income and expenses from writing off the "creditors"

Clause 1 of Art. 346.15 of the Tax Code stipulates that regardless of the selected object of taxation, the "simplified" in calculating the single tax take into account income from sales and non-operating income, determined in accordance with Art. Art. 249 and 250 of the Code, respectively. In turn, among the non-operating incomes to be included in the tax base under paragraph 18 of Art. 250 Tax Code, the amounts of accounts payable were introduced, written off due to the expiration of the limitation period or on other grounds. The exception is written off debts on the payment of taxes and fees, as well as penalties and fines to budgets of different levels, as well as arrears in insurance premiums and the corresponding amounts of penalties and fines to off-budget funds (clause 21, clause 1 of article 251 of the Tax Code). And if the "creditor" to be written off does not belong to such, it is accounted for as part of income on the simplified tax system. The specialists of the Ministry of Finance of Russia insist on this in Letters dated December 25, 2008 N 03-11-05 / 314, dated July 3, 2009 N 03-11-06 / 2/118. Experts of the Federal Tax Service adhere to a similar point of view in their Letter dated February 14, 2011 N KE-4-3 / 2303.
The "simplified" does not receive either money or property in this situation, but the debt, in fact, is being paid off. Simply put, on the date of debt write-off, you need to make a record of income in the Book of Income and Expenses (approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated December 31, 2008 N 154n).
However, if accounts payable have been written off in connection with the liquidation of the supplier, the "simplified" is also entitled to include its amount in the composition of expenses. The fact is that according to Art. 419 of the Civil Code, if by law or other legal acts the fulfillment of the obligation of a liquidated legal entity is not imposed on another person, then with its liquidation it ceases. And, as already mentioned, for the purpose of recognizing the costs of the simplified tax system, payment means, inter alia, the termination of the obligation of the taxpayer, who is the purchaser of goods (works, services), to the seller, which is directly related to the supply of these goods (performance of work, provision of services).
But the expiration of the limitation period does not apply to the methods of termination of obligations. Therefore, if the debt is written off for this reason, the costs cannot be considered paid and they cannot be taken into account in the tax base under the simplified tax system.
One way or another, it should be borne in mind that if the debt has not been written off for the existing reasons, this is not a reason not to include its amount in income.

If no bad debt is identified

By and large, these concepts themselves - "accounts receivable" and "accounts payable" - are taken from the basics of accounting. So, "receivables" are recognized in accounting if at least one of the conditions listed in clause 16 of PBU 10/99 (approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated May 6, 1999 N 33n) is not met to reflect the expense. In turn, accounts payable are recognized in accounting if at least one of the conditions for reflecting revenue specified in clause 12 of PBU 9/99 (approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance Russia dated May 6, 1999 N 32n). Strictly speaking, debt cancellation also implies its writing off from accounting to the account of the reserve of doubtful debts or to financial results (clauses 77, 78 of the Regulation on accounting and financial reporting, approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 29, 1998 No. N 34n). In this case, the debts to be written off are revealed during the inventory, which, according to paragraph 2 of Art. 12 of the Law of November 21, 1996 N 129-FZ (hereinafter referred to as Law N 129-FZ) is mandatory at least once a year - before drawing up financial statements. Based on the data of such an audit, written justification and the order (instruction) of the head of the organization, debts recognized as unrealistic for collection are written off (clauses 77, 78 of the Regulations on accounting and financial reporting).

Note! If the taxpayer has changed the tax regime from the moment the accounts payable appeared, the income from its cancellation should be taxed within the framework of the taxation system for the period of application of which there is the moment when the grounds for writing off the debt arise, that is, at the time of the expiration of the limitation period, etc. This conclusion follows from the Letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 3, 2009 N 03-11-06 / 2/118 and the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated February 14, 2011 N KE-4-3 / 2303.

However, although the full functioning of organizations formed in the form of JSC or LLC is hardly possible without full accounting, on the basis of paragraph 3 of Art. 4 of Law N 129-FZ, the use of the simplified tax system frees them from the obligation to maintain accounting, with the exception of accounting for fixed assets and intangible assets. As for individual entrepreneurs, even without the status of "simplified" accounting is not their "headache", let alone those cases when the "private trader" applies the simplified tax system (clause 2 of article 4 of Law N 129-FZ). Simply put, the obligation to conduct an inventory for firms and entrepreneurs on the "simplified" system is not at all mandatory. Without carrying out such, the "special regime" may not know about the existence of grounds for writing off this or that debt. In this case, it should be borne in mind that such a circumstance in no way relieves him of the obligation to include the amount of debt in the income. This conclusion follows from the Resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation of June 8, 2010 N 17462/09. Although in this case it was a question of a company applying a general taxation regime, the conclusions of the servants of Themis are quite applicable to the "simplified". Meanwhile, representatives of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation indicated that the obligation to account for income in the form of an overdue "creditors" refers to the tax period in which the limitation period expired, regardless of whether an inventory of obligations was carried out or not.
As a matter of fact, apparently, the exclusion of the taxpayer's ability to independently choose the period for accounting for income by manipulating the date of write-off of the "creditors" is one of the reasons why representatives of the Ministry of Finance prescribe income tax payers to take it into account on the last day of the reporting period (tax) period, on which accounts for the occurrence of grounds for writing off the debt, and not on the date of writing off the debt (Letter of the department of December 27, 2007 N 03-03-06 / 1/894). In particular, and in relation to the simplified taxation system, in the Letter of March 23, 2007 N 03-11-04 / 2/66, the specialists of the financial department only indicated that accounts payable that arose on January 1, 2004 should be accounted for as part of non-operating expenses for STS in the first quarter of 2007, that is, in the reporting period in which the statute of limitations expired.

Example 1. The company applies the simplified tax system with the object of taxation "income". On December 23, 2012 the company received a consignment of goods worth 236,000 rubles, on the same day 150,000 rubles were transferred to the supplier. At the beginning of June 2012, the debt to the supplier was still held by the company. When the company's accountant tried to contact the supplier, it turned out that he was liquidated on July 20. Accordingly, when calculating advance payments for 9 months of 2012, the company's accountant must take into account as part of non-operating income the amount of unrealizable accounts payable in the amount of 86,000 rubles. (236,000 rubles - 150,000 rubles). The corresponding entry in the Book of Income and Expenses must be made on the last day of the reporting period - September 30, 2012 or directly on the date of the supplier's liquidation - July 20, 2012.

"Overdue" advance "hits" income twice

The cash method of recognition of income forces the "simplified" to take into account when calculating the single tax, including the amount of the received prepayment on account of the forthcoming supply of goods, performance of work or provision of services. At the same time, until the "special regime" fulfills the obligations to which the advance was transferred, its amount will also be referred to accounts payable. If, before the expiration of the limitation period or liquidation of the debtor, the goods will not be shipped to them, the work has been completed, the services have been rendered, and the prepayment is returned to the buyer, such a "credit" must be written off. In other words, it will again have to be included in income. So, using the simplified system, it is advisable to take care of closing all advances with delivery before the expiration of the statute of limitations, or about returning the prepayment for the failed shipment. In the latter case, in particular, the taxpayer has the right to reduce the income of the reporting (tax) period in which the refund is made by the amount of the prepayment. This is expressly provided for in par. 3 p. 1 art. 346.17 of the Tax Code.

Write-off of "receivables" will go past the accounting

As for the written off accounts receivable, this is exactly the case that for the tax accounting of the "simplified" will pass unnoticed.
Thus, the "simplified" who chose income as the object of taxation, in principle, do not take into account expenses. The list of expenses that can be recognized when calculating the single tax on the simplified tax system with the object of taxation "income reduced by the amount of expenses" is given in paragraph 1 of Art. 346.16 of the Tax Code and is closed. At the same time, the written off hopeless "accounts receivable" is not named in it. There is also no reference in it to the possibility of being guided by the composition of non-operating expenses for income tax, which includes losses from the write-off of bad debts (clause 2, clause 2, article 265 of the Tax Code). So there are no grounds for taking into account the unrealistic to collect "receivables" in the expenses of the "simplifiedists". On the contrary, it would seem that the cash accounting method obliges them to include its amount in income, because the debt seems to have been repaid, and within the framework of the simplified tax system, the day of debt repayment is the date of receipt of income. However, it should be remembered that by virtue of Art. 41 of the Tax Code, income is an economic benefit received in cash or in kind. Meanwhile, in case of unrealistic collection of "accounts receivable", the "simplified" does not receive any economic benefit. Consequently, there can be no question of any kind of income.
At the same time, unnoticeable for tax accounting, there will also be a write-off of "accounts receivable" in the form of an advance payment. At the same time, as you know, in the tax base when applying the simplified tax system, only incurred expenses are taken into account, that is, expenses covered by the fulfillment of a counter obligation (shipment, performance of work, provision of services). In other words, when issuing an advance, its amount is also not taken into account in expenses (Letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated December 12, 2008 N 03-11-04 / 2/195). In other words, if, before the expiration of the limitation period, liquidation of the seller, etc., the delivery, on account of which the advance was transferred, will not be made, and the prepayment amount is returned, the result will be that the "simplified" will not just lose money - this the amount is basically lost for tax purposes.

Accounts receivable are debts to your Organization in the form of funds, liabilities, etc. Examples of receivables are situations when the Organization did not return the borrowed funds on time, did not ship paid goods, or when an employee of the Organization did not report on the account.

There are rules and terms for collecting accounts receivable.

If the values are not returned, the debt is considered unrecoverable and should be written off.

Grounds for writing off accounts receivable

The debtor organization on 09/01/2014 or later was excluded from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities as an inactive legal entity (clause 2 of article 64.2 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, clauses 1, 3 of article 3 of Law N 99-FZ, Letter of the Ministry of Finance dated 23.01.2015 N 03- 01-10 / 1982);

It is impossible to recognize the debt as hopeless in the period when the IFTS excluded the debtor organization from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities due to the fact that it actually ceased its activities, if an entry about this was made in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities before 09/01/2014 (Letter of the Ministry of Finance dated 02.27.2013 N 03-03- 06/1/5556). Such a debt will become hopeless only after the expiration of the limitation period.

The bailiff-executor issued a resolution on the end of the enforcement proceedings and the return of the writ of execution to the claimant due to the impossibility of collection.

The documents are an act on the impossibility of collecting a debt and a resolution on the end of enforcement proceedings... They are issued to the Organization if the Organization won the case in court, but it was not possible to execute the court decision due to the fact that the debtor has neither money nor property to pay off the debt.

Then the writ of execution is returned to the Organization, a decision is made to end the proceedings and an act is issued on the impossibility of collecting the debt.

Based on these documents, you can write off receivables.

The debtor citizen died or was declared missing.

Such a situation is possible, for example, when the Organization gave an employee money on account, and then he was gone - he died or disappeared (Articles 42, 45 and 418 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

In this regard, it is impossible to collect a debt from him.

In this case, in order to confirm the fact of death, the Organization will need a death certificate of a citizen (a copy certified by a notary) or a court decision on recognizing him as dead. And to justify the loss - a court decision on recognition as missing.

There have been circumstances that do not depend on the will of the parties, because of which it is impossible to pay off the debt.

For example, fire, flood and other natural (emergency) conditions (Art. 416 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

If the existence of such circumstances is documented, the Organization will be able to write off the debt.

The conclusion or act of a special instance - the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 02.07.2009 N 03-02-07 / 1-336 and the Regulation approved by the Decree of the Board of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation dated 30.09.1994 N 28-4) will justify the difficult circumstances ... Or a court decision, which proved that it is unrealistic to collect the debt (Resolutions of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Moscow District of 09/29/2004 N KG-A40 / 8877-04 and the FAS of the Volga District of 01/24/2006 N A06-3101 / 2-16 / 04).

Documentary registration of write-off of receivables

According to clause 77 of the Regulation on accounting and reporting, approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 29, 1998 N 34n (hereinafter - the Regulation)

"Accounts receivable for which the limitation period has expired, other debts that are unrealistic for collection are written off for each obligation based on the data of the inventory, written justification and order (instruction) of the head of the organization and are referred to the funds of the reserve of doubtful debts or to financial results, respectively. from a commercial organization, if, in the period preceding the reporting period, the amounts of these debts were not reserved in the manner prescribed by paragraph 70 of these Regulations, or to increase the costs of a non-profit organization ”.

Thus, in order to write off the "receivable", the following documents should be prepared:

1) an act of inventory of settlements with buyers, suppliers and other debtors and creditors.

The form of the act can be either arbitrary or unified (N INV-17), approved by the Decree of the State Statistics Committee of Russia dated 08/18/1998 N 88.

2) accounting certificate. It contains all the information about the debt and provides a justification for the reason for writing off the receivable.

On the basis of these documents, an order of the head is drawn up to write off the "accounts receivable", which also indicates the amount of the debt to be written off.

Reflection of write-off of receivables in accounting

If the Organization created, then in this case the debt is written off by the following transaction:

The record is made in the account:

RUB 80,000 - written off at the expense of the "accounts receivable" reserve for unpaid goods with an expired limitation period;

RUB 80,000 - reflected the amount of written off accounts receivable off the balance sheet.

In tax accounting under the simplified tax system, the write-off of accounts receivable from the Organization is not reflected in any way.

Example 2

Let's use the data from Example 1.

At the same time, the reserve for doubtful debts in relation to this debt was not formed.

Then the postings will be as follows:

	Debit	Credit	Sum, rub.	Primarydocument
The write-off of accounts receivable for the goods sold due to the expiration of the limitation period is reflected				Inventory of calculations, Order of the head of the organization
The amount of written off accounts receivable is recorded off the balance sheet				Accounting information

The procedure for writing off accounts payable under the simplified tax system is specified in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. It is written here how to properly prepare for the process, what is the basis for this and what needs to be done so that the employees of the Federal Tax Service recognize the legality of this operation.

Writing off accounts payable under simplified taxation system and income

Accounts payable can arise from a company only in two cases, namely:

The firm did not pay the suppliers for the services rendered or the goods provided.
The prepayment was received, but the organization did not fulfill its obligations under the contract.

There are strict deadlines for writing off receivables and payables under the simplified tax system. They are specified in the following regulations:

Clause 18 Art. 250 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
FTS letters ED-4-3 / 25307, ED-4-3 / 8754.
Letters of the Ministry of Finance 03-03-RZ / 45767, 03-03-06 / 1/9152.

Grounds for write-off

The ability to make transactions when writing off accounts payable under the simplified tax system appears when:

Expiration of the limitation period (it is 3 years on the basis of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
Liquidation of the creditor organization.
Exclusion of the creditor company from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.
Debt forgiveness.

In this case, it is necessary to prepare a complete package of documents for the tax office for the correct execution of debt removal from the balance sheet.

Documenting

The process is formalized in different ways, depending on the reason for this. It is worth considering each case separately.

Limitation period

When the term of the claim has expired for a long time, the following steps must be taken:

Receive a reconciliation act signed from the counterparty, which will indicate the date of the delay.
Make an accounting statement, which will indicate the amount of delay and the grounds for removing it from the company's balance sheet. This document must be signed by the chief accountant and director of the organization. A certificate is prepared in free form or in the form of INV-17.
Issue an order.
After that, you can remove the debt from the balance sheet.

IMPORTANT: debt write-off for the Federal Tax Service is the company's income. Therefore, the company is obliged to pay income tax. Writing off accounts payable under the simplified taxation system, that is, income minus expenses, can significantly save on taxes if it is carried out during a period of small turnover of the company.

Liquidation of a creditor or exclusion from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities

In this case, you do not need to wait for the statute of limitations. You must perform the following steps to remove debt from the company's balance sheet:

Request an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities confirming the absence of the company.
Draw up an act for writing off, which indicates the details of the creditor, the accounting account on which the debt is recorded, the amount of delay, as well as the basis for performing this action. It is signed by the chief accountant and director.
Issue the corresponding order.

The FTS also considers this case as an additional income of the company, which serves as a tax base.

Debt forgiveness

If the counterparties were able to agree on debt forgiveness in full or in part, then it is necessary to draw up the following:

Reconciliation statement, where the full amount of the debt is visible.
An additional agreement to the contract, on the basis of which the parties agree on the full or partial forgiveness of the debt.
Preparation of accounting statements.
Issuing an order to remove delinquencies from balance sheets.
Payment of the balance of the debt, if the creditor has not forgiven the entire amount.

IMPORTANT: All debts taken off the firm's balance sheet must appear in the income line item "other income". In this case, a note is put “written off the amount of accounts payable on the basis of ...”.

Tax accounting under the simplified tax system

When writing off overdue accounts payable under the simplified tax system, the accountant is obliged to indicate this in non-operating income. According to the Resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation No. 17469/09, upon expiration of the limitation period, it is necessary to show income in the tax period when the moment of its expiration has come. The specific date is not important, which is indicated in the letter from the Ministry of Finance. If the delay is due to taxes, fines or other fees, then it does not need to be included in the income item. Advance payments for which services were not provided and goods were not shipped are also excluded from revenue. Thus, in the absence of payments, there is a high probability that the counterparty will sue. In this case, it will be necessary to pay not only the principal amount, but also fines and legal costs. But when the creditor, for various reasons, refuses to sue, then the company has a chance to write off the debt if it turns out not to pay for 3 years.

Accounts receivable are the debts of suppliers, employees, buyers, and the state to the company. The law establishes the norms by which debts are repaid. The collection time is limited. A company that cannot recover money or other obligations recognizes that it will not be able to collect the debt. That is, he became hopeless. After that, the receivable will need to be written off. What is the procedure for writing off accounts receivable under the simplified tax system, you will learn from the article.

Why write off accounts receivable with the simplified tax system with an expired limitation period

Accounting standards require companies to write off debts that cannot be returned (clause 77 of the Regulation, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 07.29.98 No. 34n). An asset increases losses if it does not bring profit, profit. If such a debt is included in the total amount of accounts receivable, then the financial statements will contain inaccurate information. Therefore, it will become unusable for analysis.

Let's say a company wants to get a loan. She submits a report to the bank, which reflects the uncollectible accounts receivable. The bank decides that accounts receivable, which is reflected in the balance sheet - this is a possible way to repay the loan. But this information is unreliable. The owners will also make the wrong conclusions, who decide that the money in the form of overdue debts will come in the future. Therefore, it is important to write off receivables that the company cannot collect on time.

When debt becomes bad

There are four common situations that lead to bad debt:

The limitation period has expired. According to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, this period is 36 months, or three years. It starts from the day when the counterparty was supposed to transfer money or fulfill an obligation in another way, but did not do so. Usually these conditions are prescribed in the contract. If the contract does not provide for a payment date, then the countdown begins from the day when the company last demanded from the counterparty to repay the debt (Articles 196, 200 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). If the organization writes off the debts of individuals, then it is required to withhold personal income tax (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 08.02.2012 No. 03-04-06 / 4-27).
The debtor - a legal entity was excluded (liquidated) from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. Such information can be obtained by requesting an extract from the state register. It is not necessary to contact the inspection. It is enough to use the free service on the FTS website "Check yourself and your counterparty". The statement will contain a note that the counterparty has been liquidated.
The citizen was recognized as temporarily absent or he died.
The counterparty cannot fulfill the debt. For example, an organization wins in court, but the counterparty has no assets to meet its obligations. The bailiff will issue an act on the impossibility of collecting the debt and a resolution on the end of the enforcement proceedings. The companies will return the writ of execution.

Algorithm for writing off accounts receivable under simplified taxation system

In accounting, the procedure for writing off accounts receivable under the STS “income minus expenses” and “income” is the same. Let's take a look at the algorithm of actions step by step.

Step 1

Step 3

Publish (clause 77 of the Regulation).

Step 4

Write off accounts receivable in accounting. Not all companies have the same accounting for debt write-offs. After all, some organizations create a reserve for doubtful debts, others do not. In addition, a situation is possible when the company created a reserve, but it was not enough to cover all receivables to be written off.

Write-off of receivables under simplified taxation system: transactions

To write off accounts receivable under the simplified tax system, income minus posting costs depend on the reserve for doubtful debts.

The company has enough reserves to write off the debt

In accounting, they do the wiring:

Debit 63 Credit 62, 76

Leash to write off accounts receivable with the expired statute of limitations of the simplified tax system at the expense of the reserve.

The reserve is less than debt or it was not created

All companies should create a reserve for doubtful debts, there are no exceptions for simplified ones. But the company will not be punished if it did not shape it. A fine is possible if the tax authorities find that due to the lack of a reserve, the reporting line has been distorted by more than 10 percent (see also tax audits: how they go and how they end ). The official will be fined from 2 to 3 thousand rubles (Article 15.11 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation).

If the reserve was not enough or was not there, then the debt increases other expenses. The record is made in the account:

Debit 91 subaccount "Other expenses" Credit 62, 76

Debt that will never be closed is included in miscellaneous expenses.

It is necessary to write off accounts receivable in the period when three years have passed since the counterparty defaults, or events have occurred due to which the company will not be able to get the debt back. The day the debt becomes bad and the day it is written off may not coincide. The main thing is to remove bad debts from accounts receivable by the date when the company will draw up accounting records.

After the debt has been written off the balance sheet, its accounting does not stop. Then it is required to be taken into account for the balance sheet within five years. The wiring is as follows:

Accounting will end if the counterparty does not close the debt during these 60 months. It is written off from the off-balance sheet by wiring:

Credit 007.

The accounting of debts is not affected by what the company pays tax on a simplified basis: from income alone or income minus expenses.

Write-off of receivables under the STS "income minus expenses": taxation

Simplifiers who consider the tax on the difference between income and expenses are entitled to take into account expenses from Article 346.16 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. Costs that are not on the list do not reduce income. There are no bad debts on the list of spending. This means that they do not affect the final tax on simplified taxation. This is also confirmed by officials (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 20.02.16 No. 03-11-06 / 2/9909). In other words, in tax accounting, the write-off of receivables under the simplified taxation system does not generate income minus expenses.

Write-off of receivables under STS "income": taxation

On the simplified account with the object "Income", the company is not entitled to take into account any expenses. Consequently, the company is not entitled to take into account the written-off accounts receivable when calculating the tax.

Accounts payable have many working organizations on the simplified tax system. And organizations, sooner or later, may need to recognize accounts payable in income. This will need to be done, for example, if the limitation period has expired for the fulfillment of your obligation.

How to terminate the limitation period

The general limitation period is set at three years (Article 196 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). The limitation period and the procedure for calculating them cannot be changed by agreement of the parties (Article 198 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

Many organizations, in order not to include a creditor in their income, use a loophole on the termination of the statute of limitations. Indeed, after the break, the course of the limitation period begins anew. The time elapsed before the break is not counted in the new term (Article 203 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). Consequently, the lender can hang for decades in this case. But what needs to be done to interrupt the statute of limitations?

The legislator in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation did not specify which specific actions of the obliged person, indicating the recognition of the debt, interrupt the course of the term. An approximate list of them is given in paragraph 20 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of 12.11.2001 No. 15, of the Plenum of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation of 15.11.2001 No. 18. In the opinion of the highest judges, such actions may include:

recognition of the claim;
partial payment by the debtor or, with his consent by another person, of the principal debt and (or) the amount of sanctions, as well as partial recognition of the claim for payment of the principal debt, if the latter has only one basis, and does not consist of various grounds;
payment of interest on the principal debt;
amendment of the contract by an authorized person, from which it follows that the debtor recognizes the existence of a debt, as well as the debtor's request for such a change in the contract (for example, on a deferral or payment by installments);
acceptance of a collection order.

Let's say that the limitation period has passed, after which an inventory of calculations should be carried out to identify overdue debt. Therefore, in order to write off the debt, first of all, an act of such an inventory is required (the form of the act No. INV-17 was approved by the decree of the State Statistics Committee of Russia dated 18.08.98 No. 88). Inventory is carried out for the period starting from the moment the debt arises.

In addition, the amounts and dates of the formation of bad debts must be confirmed by an agreement, which indicates the date of the due date, by waybills.

Based on the act and other documents confirming the amount of debt, an accounting statement is drawn up, which indicates the reason for writing off the debt.

After that, an order of the head is issued to write off the accounts payable debt.

How to include a creditor in the tax base

The date of receipt of income on the simplified tax system is the day of repayment of the debt (payment) to the taxpayer in any other way (clause 1 of article 346.17 of the Tax Code). Payment for goods (works, services) and (or) property rights means the termination of the obligation of the purchaser of goods (works, services) and (or) property rights to the seller (clause 2 of article 346.17 of the Tax Code).

Regardless of the chosen object of taxation, “simplified taxpayers”, when calculating the tax paid in connection with the use of the simplified tax system, take into account income from sales and non-operating income determined in accordance with Articles 249 and 250 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, respectively (clause 1 of Art. 346.15 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). The list of non-operating incomes to be included in the tax base for income tax also mentions the amounts of accounts payable written off due to the expiration of the statute of limitations or on other grounds (clause 18, article 250 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). The exception is debts written off in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation or by the decision of the Government of the Russian Federation on the payment of taxes and fees, as well as penalties and fines to the budgets of different levels, as well as arrears on insurance premiums and the corresponding amounts of penalties and fines to extra-budgetary funds (clause 21 Clause 1 of Article 251 of the Tax Code). And if the creditors to be written off do not belong to such, it must be taken into account in income.

The accountant is faced with the question of the tax period in which the taxpayer is obliged to include overdue accounts payable in income.

Taxpayers quite often include overdue accounts payable in income in the tax period when the order of the head was issued to write it off. But the tax authorities insist on the inclusion in the non-operating income of the amount of accounts payable for which the limitation period has expired in the reporting (tax) period when this event occurred.

The courts support the opinion of the tax authorities, in particular, the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation came to the conclusion that the obligation to take into account the amounts of creditors' claims for which the statute of limitations has expired, as part of non-operating income, arises from the taxpayer in a certain tax period (the year of expiration of the statute of limitations), and not in arbitrarily chosen by him (Resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation of 22.02.2011 No. 12572/10). The Finance Ministry is leaning towards a tougher option. Income in the form of accounts payable, for which the limitation period has expired, in the opinion of financiers, should be taken into account in non-operating income on the last day of the reporting period in which the limitation period expires (letter of the Ministry of Finance dated December 27, 2007 No. 03-03-06 / 1 / 894).

An example of accounting for accounts payable "simplified"

The organization applies the simplified tax system with the object of taxation "income minus expenses". On March 10, 2010 she received a consignment of goods worth 780,000 rubles. On March 25, only 600,000 rubles were transferred to the supplier. Over the past three years, there have been no claims for debt from the supplier, just as there were no letters with a proposal to draw up an act of reconciliation of settlements.

The limitation period for the remaining debt (180,000 rubles (780,000 - 600,000)) began to run on March 26, 2010, and ended on March 26, 2013.

Following the recommendations of the Ministry of Finance of Russia, the organization took into account the amount of unrecoverable accounts payable in the amount of 180,000 rubles in the calculation of the advance tax payment for the 1st quarter of 2013 as part of non-operating income. The corresponding entry in the Book of Income and Expenses was made on the last day of the reporting period — March 31, 2013.

The cash method of recognition of income obliges the "simplified" to take into account when calculating the tax, including the amount of the received prepayment on account of the forthcoming supply of goods, performance of work or provision of services. At the same time, until the moment when they have not fulfilled the obligations to which the advance was transferred, this amount is also included in the accounts payable. If, before the expiration of the limitation period, the goods have not been shipped to them, the work has been completed, the services have been rendered, property rights have been transferred, and the prepayment has been returned to the buyer, such a "credit" must be written off. Therefore, it will again have to be included in income.

Officials very often remind about the need to include overdue accounts payable in the income taken into account when determining the taxable base according to the simplified tax system (letters of the Ministry of Finance dated February 21, 2011 No. 03-11-06 / 2/29, Federal Tax Service of Russia dated February 14, 2011 No. KE-4 -3/2303).

Therefore, under the simplified tax system, it is advisable to take care of closing all advances by delivery before the expiration of the limitation period for them, or to return the prepayment for a failed shipment. In the latter case, in particular, the taxpayer has the right to reduce the income of the reporting (tax) period in which the refund is made by the amount of the prepayment (paragraph 3, clause 1 of article 346.17 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).