What if the tax inspector knocked on the door?
The task of the FTS is most likely to determine the malicious tax defaulter. How it’s done? The main four methods:
I. Mathematical model of the taxpayer. Analyzes the activities of the organization, the cash flow on the current account, the presence of the branch and distribution network, the number of employees, cash transactions, assets of the enterprise, etc. All this allows us to determine the real business income with an accuracy of 5-10% and understand how these figures are differ from those that you indicated in the financial statements.
Ii. Tax portrait of the taxpayer. What are watching? The amount, detail and regularity of taxes paid, attempts to compensate for VAT paid to the budget, the level of official salaries of employees, the results of previous cameral and field tax audits, attempts to extrajudicial and judicial settlement of tax disputes. The data obtained are compared with those of companies engaged in similar activities, but recognized as bona fide taxpayers.
Iii. Legal portrait of the taxpayer. They check where the company is located, does this address correspond to the legal and postal address, does the company have the necessary permits?
Iv. Business portrait of a taxpayer: retail, industrial premises, warehouses, offices, the presence and contents of a website, advertising in open sources, media activity, intensity and detail of business correspondence, the company’s place in the ratings, business and credit reputation of the company, its owners and top managers . As a result, the tax inspectorate can accurately determine the amount of revenue from a bona fide taxpayer. And if the figures that the tax authorities “derive” are more than 20-25% different from yours, you will be in the list of field checks for the next year with a probability of 90%.
Check your counterparties in advance
The most frequent complaint by the FTS is working with one-day firms or avoiding taxes. Prepare evidence that you have checked the company for “good faith”:
got acquainted with its charter, constituent contract, sample contracts, licenses and other permits, product samples, description of services, etc .;
met with the management of the partner company (right up to the annex to the protocol for meeting photos and videos), made sure that the founders, the general director and the chief accountant are not “mass”;
conducted negotiations protocols and detailed intensive business correspondence (offers, offers acceptances, product specifications, description of services, etc.).
How not to get hooked by one-day firms
Life hacking: how not to get caught on a one-day company hook?
1. Before you begin, familiarize yourself with the primary registration documents of the counterparty. Before signing the main contract, make and sign the relevant protocol. This will be additional evidence of your tax good faith.
2. Check the compliance of seals and signatures. It is necessary to be sure that the seal and signature are authentic, that they coincide with the corresponding samples (as a rule, samples on a bank card, a copy of which can be asked for). The inconsistency of signatures or seal makes the document legally null and void.
3. Actively use the capabilities of electronic document management. The use of electronic toolkit “one-day” for a number of technical reasons is impossible or extremely difficult.
4. Check through numbering of invoices, contracts and other documents. The mismatch of their numbers on the first and second copies significantly increases the risk of additional charges during the check. If the invoice, on the basis of which the VAT is accepted for offset, will be recognized during verification as incorrectly issued, it will be canceled.
5. Financial and business documents must be signed by authorized officials of the enterprise. If documents are signed by non-signatories, such documents are considered legally null and void. The validity of the powers of the persons appointed by the order or decision of the founders (shareholders) should be checked. It may turn out, for example, that the powers of the CEO ended three months ago and were not renewed by the decision of the general meeting of shareholders. This situation, besides business risks, carries risks of additional tax charges if the contract with your counterparty was in the nature of costs included in the cost price of your products (services).
6. Avoid systematic non-core activities of your company, imposed by your business partners. For example, a partner of your construction company, being himself a bona fide taxpayer, suggests, referring to the general need to reduce costs, “scroll through loans” to reduce the amount of VAT in the current quarter and share the benefits received. Or you are offered to become a participant of the tender “with a guarantee of victory”, but at the same time perform the functions of an agent unusual for your company, that is, in effect, become for a time a transit firm for cash flow.
