When they introduced the usn. Tax regimes for entrepreneurs: choosing the simplified tax system

USN, OSNO, UTII... how many different abbreviations a newly minted entrepreneur will recognize. In fact, these are just designations of tax regimes, one of which a small business entity must choose for its business activities. It is necessary to take care of the issue of choice even before starting to register a company: study the taxation systems, their advantages and disadvantages, as well as the restrictions that the Tax Code of the Russian Federation imposes on the use of one or another regime. The state gives the majority of individual entrepreneurs and LLCs the opportunity to work according to a simplified tax accounting scheme (STS) - let’s try to figure out what it is.

The essence of the simplified tax system and its advantages

The simplified tax system is a special taxation regime in which an entrepreneur pays a single tax that combines several taxes at once. The simplified tax system, or “simplified” tax system, is considered the optimal tax system for private entrepreneurs:

• it does not require accounting or hiring a professional accountant;
• has the simplest possible procedure for preparing and submitting reports;
• The simplified tax system exempts from payment and provides benefits for a number of tax payments;
• It is possible to choose from several options for calculating the tax base.

The tax rate under the simplified system ranges from 5 to 15%, depending on the object of taxation (whether only income or both income and expenses are taken into account in the tax base), the category of the taxpayer and his territorial affiliation with a particular subject of the Russian Federation. All legal entities that are on the simplified tax system, according to the Tax Code, do not pay VAT, income tax and property tax of the organization; An individual entrepreneur as an individual is also exempt from income and property taxes (on property involved in the business).

All other tax and extra-budgetary payments remain for the “simplified” workers, as well as the obligation to conduct cash transactions in the prescribed manner, provide reports to state statistics bodies and perform the functions of a tax agent in relation to their employees - individuals.

Who can work with “simplified”?

Not all small businesses can choose a simplified tax accounting system as their preferred tax accounting system. The possibility of applying this regime is legally limited by the maximum quantitative indicators of the company, namely: the number of employees, the amount of income and the cost of the organization’s fixed assets. Those companies that:

• have more than 100 employees on average;
• have fixed assets (excluding intangible assets) with a residual value of over 100 million rubles;
• during the tax period they received income of 60 million rubles or more. If an organization only plans to submit a notification about the transition to the “simplified” system (and this is done, as a rule, before December 31), then its income for 9 months of the current year should not exceed 45 million rubles.

Certain types of activities also make it impossible to use the simplified tax system. This applies to:

• credit institutions, insurance companies and microfinance organizations;
• investment funds, stock exchanges and intermediaries;
• pawnshops;
• representatives of the gambling industry;
• producers of excisable goods;
• lawyers and notaries;
• organizations, 25% of the authorized capital of which belongs to legal entities;
• budgetary enterprises;
• foreign companies;
• Unified Agricultural Tax payers;
• legal entities with representative offices and branches.

How to switch to a special tax regime?

Even those individual entrepreneurs and companies that fully comply with the requirements giving the right to benefit from simplified taxation do not become payers of the simplified tax system “by default.” The entrepreneur must express his desire in writing and within a strictly defined time frame.

1. A newly created LLC (or individual entrepreneur) notifies tax authorities about the choice of the simplified tax system no later than 30 days from the date of state registration.
2. Already operating organizations can switch to a “simplified” tax regime from a different tax regime starting next year if they notify the tax office about this by the end of this year.
3. “Imputed” payers who have ceased to engage in activities falling under UTII can choose the simplified tax system without waiting for the end of the tax year and begin to apply it from the beginning of the current month.
4. An organization that has lost the right to the simplified tax system must stop using it from the beginning of the current quarter and, at the end of the current reporting period, notify the Federal Tax Service within 15 days. In this case, you can return to the “simplified” system no earlier than in a year.
5. Any organization can refuse the special tax regime from the beginning of next year by submitting a notification before January 15 to the territorial tax authority. As for changing the object of taxation within the simplified scheme, the deadline for notification of a change from one version of the simplified tax system to another is until December 31.

Notification of a change in tax regime is filled out according to Form No. 26.2-1 in 2 copies and is usually submitted by newly opened organizations along with a registration package of documents. In this application, in addition to the name of the individual entrepreneur (LLC), the date of transition and types of activities, the object of taxation must also be indicated: “income” or “income minus expenses”. Choosing this moment, as a rule, causes difficulties for beginning entrepreneurs, and experienced companies often arrive at the optimal form of calculating the tax base only by trial and error.

Objects of taxation under the simplified tax system

Which version of the simplified tax system to choose: “income” or “income minus expenses”? There is no single algorithm or formula for calculating the profitability of a particular scheme. It is usually recommended to predict the expected expenses: if they are high enough (for example, in production), it is advisable to minus them when calculating the tax base, otherwise it is better to choose the simplified tax system “6% of income”. Let's take a closer look at the types of simplified modes.

1. The object of taxation “income” involves payment of 6% of the organization’s total income. This type of simplified tax system is beneficial for individual entrepreneurs who do not have employees. For him, the tax amount is reduced by the amount of off-budget payments (in 2014 this was 17,328.48 rubles to the Pension Fund and 3,399.05 rubles to the health insurance fund). Having earned less than 355,000 rubles in a year, an individual entrepreneur is thus exempt from paying tax. An organization that pays pension, social and medical contributions for its employees is not completely exempt from tax, but can reduce its amount by half. This also includes expenses for sick leave, maternity leave, and insurance against work injuries.
2. The object “income reduced by the amount of expenses” is taxed at a rate of 5 to 15% (this depends on regional laws). In order for the tax authorities to allow the deduction of expenses from taxable income, they must correspond to the types listed in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, be economically justified and documented.

Article 346.16 defines the list of such expenses:

• acquisition, lease, creation, maintenance of fixed assets;
• intangible assets (patents, software, technologies, etc.);
• utilities, solid waste removal;
• servicing of credits and loans;
• customs duties;
• official vehicle fleet, use of personal vehicles for official purposes;
• business trips;
• notary, accounting, legal services;
• office and household goods;
• connection;
• branding and advertising;
• off-budget payments;
• development of production, purchase of goods;
• maintenance of cash register equipment;
• training;
• commissions, legal expenses.

The listed expenses are approved by the tax inspector if they are correctly accounted for on a cash basis and are economically feasible. All expenses must be documented (invoices, advance reports, waybills and other primary documents are in order).

Costs attributed by the entrepreneur to expenses taken into account for tax purposes reduce the tax base by this amount. As a result, 15% of the remaining income goes to the budget.

Reporting to the simplified tax system

What is simplified accounting and reporting under the simplified tax system?

KUDiR

The main accounting document under the simplified tax system is a book of income and expenses. At the same time, the “6%” scheme involves accounting only for income (sections 1 and 4 of the book), with the second taxation option, all income and expenses are entered in sections 1 – 3 and the reference part of the accounting form approved by Order 135n of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated December 22, 2012.

Tax return

Reporting under the simplified tax system is submitted within the established deadlines for each tax period. At the end of the reporting period, the declaration must be submitted by March 31 or April 30 (for legal entities and individual entrepreneurs, respectively) in person, by mail or via Internet channels.

The declaration form used for the simplified tax system was approved by the financial department on September 22, 2009, number 58 no.

With the “income” tax scheme, preparing a declaration involves filling out several lines:

• rate – 6%;
• amount of income;
• calculated tax amount;
• tax deduction.

Filling out a document in the “income minus expenses” mode is a little more complicated: in addition to the above items, expenses, the amount of loss are entered into the declaration and the tax base is calculated using the formula “amount of income - expenses - loss”. If the tax base has a positive value, the tax amount is calculated based on the rate (5–15%). If the organization operates at zero or at a loss (the tax base is in the negative range), the payer is not exempt from paying tax. In such cases, a minimum tax of 1% of annual income applies. The loss of the current period can be carried forward to the next year several times (up to 10 years is acceptable).

Other reports

In addition to the simplified tax system declaration, the organization provides reports once a quarter:

• Pension Fund - within 1.5 months from the end of the reporting period (until the 15th);
• FSS - during the first 2 weeks of the new reporting period (until the 15th).

Once a year, data on the company’s employees is required to be transferred to the Federal Tax Service (by April 1), as well as information on the average number of employees (by January 20) to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation and the Social Insurance Fund (except for individual entrepreneurs working for themselves as one person).

Paying taxes

Payment of the single tax is made once every three months, in advance payments for each reporting quarter (after 3, 6, 9 and 12 months). The first 3 payments are made before the 25th day of the month following the reporting month, and payment for the 4th quarter - before March 31 (LLC) and April 30 (IP).

The simplified taxation system for individual entrepreneurs is aimed at representatives of small and medium-sized businesses. It is more profitable compared to OSNO, as it allows you to pay less taxes. Let's figure out what a simplified taxation system means for individual entrepreneurs.

Read in the article:

Simplification for individual entrepreneurs is possible if a number of legal requirements are met:

• income for the tax (reporting) period is not more than 150 million rubles;
• the average number of employees for the tax (reporting) period is no more than 100 people;
• the residual value of fixed assets is not more than 150 million rubles.

The individual entrepreneur must comply with these conditions both when switching to the simplified tax system and during its application. Otherwise, he loses the right to this regime. Remember that when combining the simplified tax system and a patent, the income limit is calculated according to both systems.

Another mandatory condition is notification of the tax office at the location of the individual entrepreneur. The Federal Tax Service approved paper and electronic forms of notification (orders of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated November 2, 2012 No. MMV-7-3/829 and dated November 16, 2012 No. MMV-7-6/878). Submit it no later than December 31 of the year preceding the year in which the simplification is applied. Missing this deadline means no right to the simplified tax system. If you do start using it, the inspectorate will subsequently recalculate taxes, focusing on the previously applied regime.

When you submit a notice in paper form, ask inspectors to mark its acceptance on your copy. Keep the document for the entire period of application of the simplified tax system. You can also notify inspectors about the use of the simplified tax system electronically via TKS.

Individual entrepreneur taxes on the simplified tax system

The single simplified tax for individual entrepreneurs exempts them from the following taxes:

• VAT (except for operations on the import of goods, under agreements of joint activity, trust management of property, when performing the duties of a tax agent).
• tax on property of individuals used in business activities (except for objects with cadastral value);
• Personal income tax on income from business activities (except for dividends and income at rates of 35% and 9%).

The Tax Code provides for two objects of taxation: “income” and “income reduced by the amount of expenses.” The IP tax of the simplified tax system depends on the selected object.

Rates are differentiated. They are established by regional authorities. For the object “income” it can range from 1 to 6%, for the object “income minus expenses” - from 5 to 15%. Differentiation depends on the category of individual entrepreneurs. Thus, the industry, the size of the company, its social significance, and location play a role. When a firm falls into more than one category, it can work at the lowest rate.

In addition, the authorities of some regions allow the use of a 0% rate for newly registered individual entrepreneurs after the entry into force of laws on this benefit. This rate is valid for individual entrepreneurs for two tax periods. In this case, you must comply with the following conditions:

• conduct activities in the production, social, scientific spheres or provide consumer services to the population;
• IP income from such activities is at least 70% of all income.

Violation of the income condition in the first tax period will result in the impossibility of applying the rate in the second tax period.

Tax period for individual entrepreneurs using the simplified tax system

The tax period for individual entrepreneurs using the simplified tax system is a calendar year. Reporting periods - first quarter, first half of the year and 9 months. Based on the results of the reporting periods, the individual entrepreneur calculates advance payments. At the end of the year, he finds the amount of the single tax taking into account advance payments.

USNO IP by income

Income under the simplified tax system is considered using the cash method. Charge a simplified tax on proceeds from the sale of goods, performance of work, provision of services, as well as from the sale of property rights (Article 249 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Revenue consists of:

• revenue from previously purchased goods, for example, depreciable property, materials, etc.;
• advances for the upcoming delivery of goods, performance of work, provision of services.

Also include non-operating income in the calculation (Article 250 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation):

• property received free of charge, similar works and services;
• fines and penalties for violated terms of contracts, amounts of compensated losses, damages;
• interest on loans and borrowings;
• cost of materials and spare parts from building dismantling.

Unclaimed accounts payable are also included in the calculation. However, it must be related to:

• expiration of the limitation period (income arises during the period of expiration);
• liquidation of the creditor (income arises during the period when the liquidation record is made).

It is not necessary to include in the calculation of the single tax:

• income specified in Art. 251 Tax Code of the Russian Federation;
• dividends and interest on state (municipal) securities, from which income tax is withheld at rates of 0, 9 or 15%;
• debt on written off or reduced taxes (fees, penalties, fines);
• written off accounts payable for unpaid advances.

Include income in the tax calculation in the payment period. The date of receipt of income is the day:

• receipt of money to the company account or cash register;
• transfer of electronic money;
• receiving property, providing work or performing services in payment;
• obtaining the right to claim;
• payment of a bill or it was transferred by endorsement to a third party;
• signing the act of mutual settlement.

The amount of income is confirmed by primary and other documents, for example, acts, bank statements, cash receipt orders.

Individual entrepreneur on the simplified tax system “income minus expenses”: what taxes to pay

With the object “income minus expenses,” tax is paid on the difference between income and expenses. We described above how to calculate income. You can take the following expenses for calculating tax (Article 346.16 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation):

• for fixed assets and intangible assets;
• material costs;
• for wages;
• for purchased goods for resale;
• for CCP maintenance;
• for the removal of solid household waste;
• for compulsory insurance of employees, property and liability, etc.;
• input VAT amounts paid to suppliers;
• for the payment of taxes, fees and insurance premiums.

You can also include in the calculation losses from previous years and tax payments paid for the company by another organization or individual. In this case, differentiate between payment dates. If you paid the tax yourself, recognize the expense on the date the money was transferred to the budget. If another person or organization paid, recognize the debt to the creditor on the day of repayment. When partially repaying debt amounts, include only the amounts actually paid in the tax base.

Expenses incurred that reduce tax must be economically justified, documented and related to activities aimed at generating income.

In order to support medium and small businesses in the Russian Federation and relieve entrepreneurs from voluminous paperwork, a simplified taxation regime was introduced. More and more business people are choosing this option for making mandatory contributions. And then the topic - how to pay taxes for individual entrepreneurs using the simplified tax system, step-by-step instructions for 2019 - comes to the fore. We will provide detailed information on this issue in the proposed material.

The main advantages of such a tax system include:

1. Ease of transition to the simplified tax system. It is enough to provide an application in the approved form, information about the value of intangible assets and fixed assets, as well as document the amount of income.
2. Simplified accounting workflow, since individual entrepreneurs using the simplified tax system are exempt from the obligation to submit financial reports to the Federal Tax Service. As a result, the possibility of being brought to administrative liability for incorrect maintenance of accounting registers is eliminated.
3. Exemption from VAT withholding for business.
4. The individual entrepreneur chooses the taxable items himself. They can be income or the difference between income and expenses. Thus, when choosing the second option and when working at a loss, it becomes possible to reduce mandatory payments to zero.
5. To confirm the correctness of depositing amounts of money, it is necessary to provide, upon request, only a book of income and expenses, in which only two sections that influence the formation of the taxable base are filled out.
6. Possibility of replacing property, profit and VAT taxes in one payment.
7. Submitting a declaration once a year. This document is the only report that confirms the correct amount of the mandatory fee paid.

Not in all cases, individual entrepreneurs using the simplified tax system are exempt from paying income tax.

If the business is based on the import of goods into the Russian Federation, the lease or purchase of state property, or the purchase of materials from foreign citizens who do not have a representative office in Russia, VAT is payable by the entrepreneur, regardless of the chosen taxation system.

Not all businessmen can use the simplified tax system in their activities. Selecting this special mode requires the following conditions to be met:

1. Submission of documents for the transition to such a system before December 31 of the current year for long-established enterprises. And for newly created organizations, an application for the application of a special regime is submitted simultaneously with the registration of an individual entrepreneur or within a month from the date of opening.
2. Total income for the first three quarters of the previous year should be less than 112.5 million rubles, and at the end of the year - less than 150 million rubles, the residual value of fixed assets at the end of the year - no more than 150 million rubles. Moreover, it is necessary to keep in mind that in 2019 the Government of the Russian Federation decided not to use the deflator coefficient for a period of three years. Therefore, there is a high probability that these numbers will remain unchanged until 2021.
3. The share of participation of external companies in the authorized capital is no more than 25%.
4. The average number of employees of the enterprise for the year should be less than 100 people. Moreover, this number includes both part-time workers and persons with whom a GPC agreement has been drawn up.
5. The company operates without registered branches.
6. Previously, the unified agricultural tax was not paid.

As we see, not every business allows the use of the simplified tax system. If an entrepreneur, when applying for this special regime, fulfilled all the specified conditions, and subsequently exceeded the limits, for example, on the number of personnel or on income received, then he cannot claim to maintain the simplified taxation system. Loss of the right to use it is restored no earlier than after 1 calendar year.

But even if all of the above conditions are met, an entrepreneur cannot switch to the simplified tax system if his activities include:

• to an investment fund;
• to the founding of a credit and financial enterprise carrying out transactions with money and securities (banks);
• to the extraction and sale of minerals;
• to activities related to insurance;
• to the organization of gambling;
• to the production and sale of excise goods;
• to notarial or lawyer's activities;
• to provide loans secured by property (pawnshop);
• to the organization of non-state pension funds;
• to registered abroad.

Individual entrepreneurs can simultaneously use UTII and simplified tax system for different types of activities.

In this case, the limits on residual value and quantity are determined as for a simplified approach, and income accounting is carried out separately for each taxation system.

The practical use of the above-mentioned special mode consists of the sequential execution of certain stages:

1. Submission of documents to the Federal Tax Service for registration of the simplified tax system within the established time frame. In this case, it is necessary to indicate the object subject to duty - “income for the difference in expenses” or “income”.
2. Preliminary calculation of advance amounts for payment of fees. The amount of funds depends on the chosen scheme and the availability of hired personnel in the organization.
3. Payment of taxes by individual entrepreneurs using the simplified tax system in 2019 by quarter. Funds are transferred no later than the 25th day of the month following the reporting month.
4. Payment of the final amounts and submission of the declaration by April 30 of the next calendar period.

An application for transfer to the simplified tax system is submitted in form No. 26.2-1 in two copies: one is transferred to the tax office, the other with the stamp and signature of a Federal Tax Service official remains with the entrepreneur. Simultaneously with this official document, a request for issuing a notification of the transition to a simplified system is submitted. Only after the individual entrepreneur receives confirmation of transfer to the designated regime can we talk about the legal use of this taxation system.

Before you start using the simplified tax system, you must choose the option of paying mandatory fees.

In this special regime, there are two ways to account for taxable amounts:

• income - in this case, 6% of the profit received by the enterprise for the year is paid. In 2019, the Laws of the Russian Federation gave regional authorities the opportunity to reduce the specified interest rate in order to support business areas in which territorial authorities are interested;
• income-expenses - 15% of the specified difference is paid. As in the first case, the size can be reduced by regional authorities.

Thus, before making a decision on choosing an object of taxation, you should contact the territorial Federal Tax Service and clarify the percentage rate for each of the options in force in a given area.

After all, it will be impossible to change the regime during the calendar year.

Now you need to calculate the individual entrepreneur tax on a simplified basis in 2019. for an entrepreneur running his own business with or without hired personnel, with the object specified during the registration period - income?

But first you need to figure out what to include in profit when calculating tax:

1. Cash receipts from resale of products.
2. Funds for repaying accounts receivable.
3. Commissions.
4. Advance payments for subsequent delivery of goods.
5. Amounts received from the sale of own products.
6. Cash receipts from payments for services performed (transport, construction, repairs, etc.).
7. Surpluses identified during the inventory.
8. Profit received from the sale of property owned by an individual entrepreneur or rights to it.
9. Written off accounts payable.
10. Dividends received through bank deposits or the purchase of securities.
11. Reimbursed fines, penalties and damages for violation of contractual relations.
12. Property received as a gift.
13. Funds earned from investments in other organizations.

So, the volume of deductions for an entrepreneur operating without hiring employees will be:

• for the quarter: payment amount = amount of income for 3 months x 0.06;
• for the year: payment amount until April 30 = amount of income for 12 months x 0.06 – amount of advance paid for 9 months.

But, in addition to taxes, the individual entrepreneur pays insurance fees for himself. So, in 2019, these contributions are determined by law in the amount of: 26,545 thousand rubles for pension insurance, 5,840 thousand rubles for medical insurance and 1% of profits exceeding 300 thousand rubles.

The businessman has the right to receive these amounts, but only during the period of transfer of the specified contributions.

Thus, the final calculated amount will be: the amount of payment for the year - the amount of insurance fees.

For clarity, let's give an example:

Individual entrepreneur Gusev A.A., working without hiring personnel, received an income of 100 thousand rubles for the 1st quarter of 2019, for 2 - 150 thousand rubles, for 3 - 200 thousand rubles, for 4 - 250 thousand rubles .

Then, provided that he decided to make insurance premiums in a lump sum, the payments will look like this:

Advance payments for each quarter:

Final tax without deduction: 700,000 x 0.06 – (6000 + 9000 + 12000) = 15,000 rubles

In total for the year it was necessary to pay tax in the amount of: 700,000 x 0.06 = 42,000 rubles

The volume of insurance premiums for excess profits of 300 thousand rubles:

(700000-300000) x 0.01 = 4000 rubles

The final amount of insurance payments: 26545 + 5840 + 4000 = 36385 rubles

Final tax with deduction: 15,000 – 36,385 = – 21,385 rubles.

So, Gusev A.A., transferring the simplified fee quarterly, at the end of the year overpaid the amount of 21,385 rubles. He can reduce contributions to the Federal Tax Service by this amount in 2019 or contact the tax authority to reimburse the excess funds contributed.

If a businessman attracts employees in his activities, then the payment of taxes for individual entrepreneurs under simplified conditions in 2019 for themselves is similar to the above calculation, and for hired personnel an additional 13% of personal income tax is transferred from their accrued wages. Moreover, these amounts are subject to withholding from individuals registered as employees. In addition, the individual entrepreneur pays social security. contributions for hired workers. The tax deduction for employees cannot exceed 50% of the transferred amounts of insurance payments.

As already mentioned, tax benefits can only be obtained during the period of making insurance contributions. Therefore, to avoid overpayments, it is advisable to make these deductions quarterly in order to be able to timely reduce the amount of transferred amounts.

To correctly calculate the “income for the difference in expenses” tax, you need to know exactly what the Federal Tax Service takes into account as expenses when determining the volume of mandatory payments.

According to Article 346.16 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the list of expenses includes:

All costs incurred by an individual entrepreneur must be documented in order to be accounted for as expenses.

So how to pay taxes on individual entrepreneurs in a simplified manner in 2019, if the difference between the income received and the losses incurred is chosen as the taxable base?

To calculate mandatory payments, you can use the internal calculator of specialized accounting programs or formulas:

• for the quarter: (income for the quarter – expense for the quarter) x 0.15;
• for the year: (income for the year – expenses for the year) x 0.15.

In this option, the volume of insurance payments for yourself and your employees is included in the amount of expenses incurred for the year, due to which the tax base is reduced. And if an individual entrepreneur has worked for a year with zero profit, then 30% of expenses can be transferred to the next calendar period.

There is a minimum tax rule, according to which it is impossible to be completely exempt from paying fees to the Federal Tax Service.

Regardless of the profitability of doing business, the entrepreneur is required to transfer 1% of his income to the state. And if the calculated amount of payments is less than the minimum tax, they pay the lower limit, and the difference is taken into account as expenses next year.

The final step in the procedure for transferring mandatory fees is the direct transfer of funds. But what is the easiest way to pay individual entrepreneur tax with a simplified tax system of 6%? What options for contributing financial resources are there?

In the Russian Federation there are several ways to do this:

1. Payment in cash according to receipt.
2. Through the terminal of Sberbank of the Russian Federation.
3. Using online services.
4. Through your personal account on the tax service website.

To deposit cash, you need to contact the branches of any bank or post office with a receipt with the obligatory filling in the details and indicating the purpose of the payment and make the transfer. The issued check will confirm the payment of taxes.

Mandatory fees are paid through Sberbank terminals without charging a commission, regardless of the chosen option for depositing funds - in cash or by transfer from the personal account of an individual entrepreneur.

The official website of the Federal Tax Service, using the “Pay taxes” service, allows individual entrepreneurs to independently prepare payment documents and, thanks to the online services of partner banks, make non-cash transfers of mandatory contributions.

For the last method of repaying fees, you must contact the Federal Tax Service at the place of registration and issue a personal one. Using this service, you can not only transfer funds in a timely manner for making contributions, but also obtain information about the status of the individual entrepreneur’s payments (debt or overpayment), print out completed payments and receipts.

In 2019, amendments were made to the legislation of the Russian Federation regarding the payment of taxes based on performance results. Thanks to this, it became possible to transfer mandatory fees to third parties.

We examined in detail the procedure for paying taxes for individual entrepreneurs on the simplified tax system in 2019 and indicated the advantages and prerequisites for applying this special regime to pay off debts on fees. In conclusion, it is necessary to dwell on the provision of reports submitted by businessmen to the Federal Tax Service annually. Until April 30 of the following year, entrepreneurs applying the simplified tax system are required to submit a declaration in the approved form 3-NDFL and, if their activities involve hired personnel, reports for employees.

The simplified tax system (or in common parlance - Simplified taxation system) is probably the most popular tax regime.
Those for whom it suits are divided into two camps.
With big expenses and with little expenses. The first pay 15% of the amount, which is obtained by subtracting their expenses from their income. Life is even easier for the second: 6% of the income received. In general, that’s all the description of the tax.
There are nuances, and we’ll talk about that.

Advantages of the simplified tax system over other tax systems

The demand for “simplified taxation” among business representatives is quite understandable: it has a number of parameters that distinguish it favorably from other tax regimes. For example:

• Companies operating on the simplified tax system, instead of several types of taxes, pay one. That is, unlike those who apply OSNO, they do not have to pay property tax, income tax, VAT, etc.;
• Possibility to choose the so-called object of taxation. There are two options here: income minus expenses 15% and income 6%.
• “Simplified” can be combined with other tax regimes, for example;
• Due to the fact that maintaining accounting and tax records using the simplified tax system is not very difficult, individual entrepreneurs and founders of organizations can do this on their own, without resorting to specialized accounting assistance. In some cases, this allows you to significantly save the enterprise budget;
• One return must be submitted to the territorial tax service based on the results of the annual reporting period.

Disadvantages of the simplified tax system

Along with some obvious advantages, the simplified mode also has its disadvantages. These include:

• Inability to develop business in other cities and regions, including opening representative offices or branches. Besides. “simplified” cannot engage in banking, legal, insurance business and some other types of activities;
• Those individual entrepreneurs and organizations that work under the simplified tax system do not use VAT in their work, and this can significantly narrow the circle of partners. Large companies most often apply VAT and require the same from their counterparties;
• Legal entities and individual entrepreneurs using the simplified tax system cannot offset all their expenses as expenses and thereby reduce the tax base;
• If strictly established limits are exceeded, for example, on the number of personnel or profit margins, companies lose the right to work on the simplified tax system. It will be possible to return only from the beginning of next year and subject to compliance with the framework established by law.

How to switch to simplified tax system

In short, switching to “simplified” is not a difficult matter. It is possible in two ways:

1. Immediately after registering an individual entrepreneur or LLC. Here you just need to attach to the main package of documents;
2. Change the taxation system during the operation of the enterprise. This is usually done in order to optimize taxation, or if the right to work under other tax regimes has been lost, for example, the types of activities of the enterprise have changed, or the individual entrepreneur has lost the opportunity to apply the patent system.

For your information! You can switch to the simplified tax system once a year, with the beginning of a new calendar year. At the same time, those wishing to do so must submit a notification to the territorial tax authority about the upcoming transition to “simplified taxation” in advance.

Objects of the simplified tax system: income 6% or income minus expenses 15%

Companies and individual entrepreneurs who have chosen the simplified tax system as their main tax system must then decide on the object of taxation. In simplified terms, there are two of them:

1. Income minus expenses 15%. Here, tax payment is made from the difference between the profit and expenses of the organization; At the same time, we must not forget that not all expenses can be taken into account, but only those that are prescribed in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. That is why it is necessary to keep careful and detailed records of the costs incurred within the framework of commercial activities;

Attention! The more expenses an entrepreneur has, the more profitable it is for him to apply the object of taxation of income minus expenses of 15%. That is why it is often used by either novice businessmen or those who plan to actively develop their business.

2. Income 6%. In this case, tax is paid exclusively on income. The main advantage here is that you do not need to keep track of expenses, that is, collect all kinds of checks, receipts, etc. supporting papers. In addition, it is believed that tax authorities rarely carry out inspections of those individual entrepreneurs and organizations that use the simplified tax system in their activities with a taxable income of 6%.

Important! In some cases, for example, if an individual entrepreneur or a company located on the simplified tax system is engaged in social, scientific or industrial projects, it is exempt from paying this tax for a two-year period. True, this possibility can only be realized if local authorities have agreed to it.

Rules for filing a declaration on the simplified tax system

Another procedure that simplifies the simplified tax system is filing a tax return. Those who work on the simplified exam must take it no more than once a year. Moreover, LLCs must transfer it to the tax authorities no later than March 31, and individual entrepreneurs - before April 30.

There are several ways to submit your tax return:

• In person at the tax office;
• By sending a letter with notification of delivery by Russian Post. It is advisable to do this with the letter. In this case, the deadline for filing the declaration will be the date of its dispatch;
• Through a trusted person. Here you will need a power of attorney certified by a notary;
• Through the website of the Federal Tax Service.

Who can work under the simplified tax system

The prevalence of “simplified” can be explained by the fact that it is acceptable for use by those representatives of the sphere of medium and small businesses who are engaged in providing a certain, and quite wide, range of services and work in relation to the population, as well as other individual entrepreneurs and legal entities. But there are also exceptions. For example, according to the simplified tax system the following are not allowed to work:

• Non-state insurance and pension funds;
• Those companies whose main activity is organizing and conducting gambling, etc.;
• Companies engaged in the extraction and sale of minerals;
• Lawyers, notaries;
• Foreign organizations;
• Any financial structures: investment funds, banks, pawnshops, microfinance organizations, etc.;
• Some other business representatives;

This list undergoes periodic changes, so if necessary, it can be clarified by the tax service.

Working conditions under the simplified tax system

Those companies and organizations that work on the simplified tax regime must remember that there are certain conditions under which the simplified tax system loses the right to apply this tax regime. This:

• Excess number of employees. Only those companies that employ more than 100 people have the right to use the simplified tax system;
• Exceeding the established income limit. That is, if an enterprise receives more than 60 million rubles a year, then it does not have the right to be on the simplified tax system;
• The share of participation of outside legal entities in an LLC using the simplified system should not exceed 25%.
• Legal entities with branches and representative offices also cannot operate under the simplified taxation system.

That is, if an enterprise has plans for serious business development, then it is better to abandon the simplified tax system.

The simplified taxation system (STS) is intended for small firms and individual entrepreneurs. The procedure for switching to the simplified tax system and the rules for working in this tax regime are established by Chapter 26.2 of the Tax Code. If a company receives low income, then “simplified taxation” is a legal way of tax optimization. After all, a single tax replaces the main payments to the budget: VAT, income tax, personal income tax and property tax, subject to certain restrictions. But, before switching to the “simplified” version, consider how beneficial it is for you not to pay VAT. After all, VAT exemption is not always an advantage. An article prepared by berator experts will tell you who can use the simplified tax system and whether it is worth switching to this special regime.

Prohibited list for “simplified people”

Switching to a simplified system is easy. However, not everyone can do this. Article 346.12 of the Tax Code lists those whom the law prohibits from working for the simplified tax system.

Thus, they do not have the right to become “simplified”:

• companies that have branches (from January 1, 2016, the presence of representative offices does not prevent the use of the simplified tax system). If an organization that is not a branch and has not indicated this division as a branch in its constituent documents, then it has the right to apply the simplified tax system, subject to compliance with the norms of Chapter 26.2 of the Tax Code;
• banks;
• insurers;
• non-state pension funds;
• investment funds;
• professional participants in the securities market;
• pawnshops;
• producers of excisable goods;
• developers of mineral deposits (except for common ones);
• gambling companies;
• notaries engaged in private practice;
• lawyers who have established law offices and other forms of legal entities;
• participants in production sharing agreements;
• persons who have switched to paying the Unified Agricultural Tax;
• firms with a share of participation of other companies in them of more than 25%. Organizations that are not subject to this restriction are listed in subparagraph 14 of paragraph 3 of Article 346.12 of the Tax Code. This rule also does not apply to companies with a stake in them of the Russian Federation, constituent entities of the Russian Federation and municipalities, since these entities do not fall under the definition of “organization” for the purposes of applying tax legislation (letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated June 2, 2014 No. 03-11- 06/2/26211).

The limitation on the share of participation of other organizations in the authorized capital of the company must be observed:

• firstly, on the date of commencement of work on the simplified tax system. Otherwise, the company will not acquire the right to use the simplified system;
• secondly, during the use of the simplified tax system. An organization that violates this requirement during this period loses the right to apply this special regime.

In a letter dated December 25, 2015 No. 03-11-06/2/76441, the Russian Ministry of Finance clarified that if the share of participation of the founding company has become no more than 25%, then such an organization can switch to the simplified tax system from January 1 of the next year. In other words, in order to apply the simplified tax system from January 1, changes made to the company’s constituent documents, according to which the share of other organizations is reduced to a value not exceeding 25%, must be entered into the Unified State Register of Legal Entities before January 1 of the same year.

In addition, the following are not entitled to apply the simplified tax system:

• organizations and entrepreneurs with an average number of employees of more than 100 people;
• organizations that, according to accounting data, exceed 150 million rubles;
• state and budgetary institutions;
• all foreign companies in Russia;
• organizations and entrepreneurs who failed to submit their
• microfinance organizations;
• private employment agencies that provide labor to workers (from January 1, 2016).

Let us note that if a recruitment agency on the simplified tax system provides recruitment services and does not enter into employment contracts with applicants, it has the right to continue to use the “simplified system”. The fact is that if an employee is sent to work for the receiving party under a personnel supply agreement, then the employment relationship between him and the private employment agency does not end. At the same time, labor relations do not arise between this employee and the receiving party (Article 341.2 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

And vice versa. If a private agency provides personnel selection services to organizations without concluding employment contracts with employees, then these employees formalize labor relations with these organizations.

This means that if a personnel recruitment agency does not enter into employment contracts with persons sent to work in the customer’s organization, it does not carry out activities to provide labor for workers and, accordingly, has the right to apply the simplified tax system (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated March 11, 2016 No. 03-11 -06/13564).

Others who want to start working for the simplified tax system must meet certain criteria:

• income level (of the organization);
• number of employees (organizations and entrepreneurs);
• residual value of fixed assets (organization).

Please keep in mind that the list of entities that are not entitled to apply the simplified tax system is closed. For example, it does not mention individual entrepreneurs - tax non-residents of the Russian Federation. Consequently, such individual entrepreneurs have the right to apply the simplified system on a general basis (letters of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated July 1, 2013 No. 03-11-11/24963 and dated January 28, 2013 No. 03-11-11/35).

Is it worth switching to the simplified tax system?

If a company receives low income, then “simplified taxation” is a legal way of tax optimization. After all, a single tax replaces four main payments to the budget (Article 346.11 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation):

• income tax (except for income in the form of dividends and interest on state and municipal securities);
• Personal income tax on the income of an entrepreneur (with the exception of income received in the form of material benefits from savings on interest, dividends, as well as gifts and prizes worth more than 4,000 rubles);
• property tax. True, since 2015, organizations using the simplified tax system must pay property tax in relation to real estate, the tax base for which is determined as their cadastral value (clause 2 of article 346.11 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation);
• VAT, except when you are a tax agent, a member of a partnership conducting general business (Article 174.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation), import goods or issue an invoice to the buyer with the allocated amount of VAT.

“Simplified” residents are required to transfer all other taxes, fees and non-tax payments in accordance with the general procedure. In particular, these are:

• insurance contributions to extra-budgetary funds;
• “injury” contributions;
• land tax;
• transport tax;
• state duty;
• corporate property tax (for real estate, the tax base for which is determined based on their cadastral value);
• customs duties and fees.

In a number of cases, “simplified people” act as tax agents, that is, they pay taxes for others. We are talking about payments such as:

• Personal income tax on payments to employees and other citizens;
• VAT on payment of income to non-resident companies;
• income tax when paying income to non-resident companies.

In our opinion, before switching to the “simplified” system, you need to weigh how profitable it is for your company not to pay VAT. It's not always an advantage. For example, firms that pay VAT are interested in deducting the input tax from the budget. But by purchasing goods (works, services) from a “simplified” person, they are deprived of this opportunity. After all, the “simplers” issue invoices “without VAT” to customers. Therefore, such companies are unlikely to be among your potential buyers.

It is most profitable to use a simplified system for those who trade in retail. For their clients this problem is not relevant. The same goes for those who, also working in a simplified job, were forced to switch to imputation or enjoy VAT exemption.

Advantages and disadvantages of “simplified”

After getting acquainted with the “simplified tax”, we can conclude: this tax regime has its pros and cons.

The advantages of “simplified” include:

• savings on taxes and insurance premiums for certain types of activities;
• filling out and submitting to the inspectorate only the annual single tax return;
• saving accountant time. Tax accounting under the simplified tax system is carried out in a simplified manner: firms and entrepreneurs reflect their activity indicators in only one tax register - the book of income and expenses (Article 346.24 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).