What to do if you forgot to issue an invoice. We know how to process an invoice if it arrives late, and not only that! What is important to consider when issuing a late invoice?

What date should I issue an invoice? How to make an entry in the accounting journal? Do I need to correct the sales book and submit an amendment? Read about this in the article prepared by our colleagues from the “Seminar for Accountants” magazine.

As a general rule, an invoice must be issued within five calendar days from the date of sale (clause 3 of Article 168 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). However, there are no instructions for when the invoice is issued later. Let's say the seller gave the buyer only the invoice upon shipment, and decided to draw up the invoice later, and then completely forgot about it.

If you remembered this in the same quarter, then you will be able to correct the situation without consequences. Issue the invoice on time and register it in the accounting journal and in the sales book. But what if the error was discovered in one of the following quarters? That is, this shipment was taken into account in income when calculating income tax, but not in the VAT return. Let's figure it out.

Decide what date to issue the invoice

First you need to issue an invoice. True, it is not clear what date to indicate in the document. On the one hand, you draw up a document with the current number, which should be on the invoice. But on the other hand, the document refers to the shipment that took place in the previous period. So it is logical to indicate the past date. There are no official instructions for this situation. Therefore, I advise you to determine the procedure yourself. And fix it in the accounting policy.

What is important to consider when issuing a late invoice?

How to issue a forgotten invoice	Consequences
How to issue a forgotten invoice	for the seller	for the buyer
Backdating	+ the requirement to issue an invoice within 5 days after shipment has been met; - the numbering of documents is incorrect (there are no sanctions for this)	± there is a risk of losing VAT deduction, but judicial practice is in favor of companies
Current date	+ invoices are numbered in order; - the deadline for issuing invoices was violated (there are no sanctions for this)	- Tax authorities may refuse a deduction, despite the fact that judicial practice is contradictory

I’ll say right away that it doesn’t matter at all for the seller what date to issue the invoice in this case. He is in no danger. But the buyer may have claims when he claims VAT deduction on this shipment. We need to warn him about this. And at the same time find out whether he has already accepted this amount for deduction. Indeed, in practice, buyers often receive invoices later than they submit VAT reports. But they still take these amounts into account in the shipment quarter, since they know that they will receive the documents in any case.

If the buyer has already deducted VAT during the shipment period, issue an invoice for the date of sale. Thus, the five-day period during which the document must be completed will not be violated. That's a plus. However, the numbering of documents will be lost. But there are no penalties for this. The buyer will have questions. An invoice with an incorrect number does not give the right to a deduction, inspectors believe. But their opinion can be challenged in court. An example of a winning case is the resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the North Caucasus District dated January 29, 2013 in case No. A01-2107/2011.

There is an option - not to indicate the number at all. But even in this case, the tax authorities will not cooperate. But you can count on the support of the judges (resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Central District dated April 8, 2013 in case No. A14-7612/2011).

Now in disputes with inspectors it will be necessary to go through a mandatory pre-trial appeal. You can cite these decisions in your defense. But even if the Federal Tax Service does not support the company, it makes sense to insist on your position in court.

Now let's look at what happens if the buyer has not claimed a deduction, but plans to do so after receiving the invoice. In this case, indicate the current date in the document. The invoice deadline will be violated - clearly more than five days have passed since the shipment. But the numbering will be in order. The buyer risks losing the deduction even with this approach. And judges are not always on the side of taxpayers who want to receive a deduction for an invoice issued in violation of the deadline. For example, the winning case No. A26-9024/2011 is described in the resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the North-Western District dated October 25, 2012. The losing case is in the decision of the FAS of the Volga District dated May 19, 2011 in case No. A65-20359/2010.

Make a journal entry

All issued invoices must be registered in Part 1 of the log of received and issued invoices in chronological order (clause 3 of the Rules approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of December 26, 2011 No. 1137).

The company determines the procedure for registering forgotten documents independently. After all, these rules do not describe the case when an invoice is not registered on time. Similar explanations were given by the Russian Ministry of Finance - letter dated July 2, 2013 No. 03-07-09/25177. And although they were talking about received and not issued invoices, the above logic can be used in the situation under consideration. It is better to formalize such a procedure as an addition to the accounting policies.

Thus, register an invoice with the current date in the accounting journal for the current quarter. And a document drawn up retroactively is in the journal for the previous period. You can create the journal again or, if this is not possible, make a correction at the end of the list: make a footnote, mark, or issue an explanation. In a word, at your discretion. The main thing is to make it clear that the invoice is taken into account in the journal.

In addition, there is no risk for violating the procedure for registering invoices in the company journal. Your buyer should not be denied a deduction for this reason, although in practice this happens. But judges do not link the right to deduction with the seller’s document flow rules, so taxpayers win such disputes (resolutions of the FAS Moscow District dated July 18, 2013 in case No. A40-33819/12-20-159, FAS Ural District dated January 20, 2011 No. Ф09-10858/10-С2).

Typically, companies do not have difficulty recording invoices in their accounting journal, purchase and sales ledgers. Invoices are entered into the accounting journal at the time of issuance or receipt, into the sales books at the time the goods are shipped, into the purchase books at the time the right to deduction is obtained. But there are a number of situations in which an accountant may have difficulty recording invoices.

To begin with, let us recall the provisions on the registration of invoices enshrined in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

According to paragraph 3 of Art. 169 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the VAT payer is obliged to keep logs of received and issued invoices, books of purchases and sales:

1) when performing transactions recognized as an object of taxation in accordance with Chapter 21 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, with the exception of transactions that are not subject to taxation (exempt from taxation) in accordance with Art. 149 Tax Code of the Russian Federation;

2) in other cases determined in accordance with the established procedure.

From paragraph 3.1 of Art. 169 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation it follows that persons who are not VAT payers are required to keep logs of received and issued invoices if these persons issue and (or) receive invoices when carrying out business activities in the interests of another person on the basis of agency agreements , commission agreements or agency agreements.

According to paragraph 8 of Art. 169 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the procedure for maintaining a log of received and issued invoices, books of purchases and sales are established by the Government of the Russian Federation.

Currently, there is a Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated December 26, 2011 No. 1137 “On the forms and rules for filling out (maintaining) documents used in calculations of value added tax” (hereinafter referred to as Decree No. 1137). Appendix 3 to this resolution contains the Rules for maintaining a journal of invoices (hereinafter referred to as the Journal Rules), Appendix 4 - Rules for maintaining a purchase book, Appendix 5 - Rules for maintaining a sales book.

The general rules for registering invoices are as follows.

In the accounting journal, outgoing invoices are recorded in part 1 according to the date of their issuance (composition). And received invoices are registered in part 2 of the journal according to the date of their receipt (clause 3 of the Journal Rules).

The purchase ledger records invoices received from sellers and registered in part 2 of the invoice journal, as the right to tax deductions arises (clause 2 of the Rules for maintaining the purchase ledger).

The sales book records issued (composed) invoices in all cases when the obligation to calculate VAT arises. Registration is carried out in the period in which the tax liability arises (clauses 2, 3 of the Rules for maintaining the sales book).

Now let's move on to special cases in which the registration of invoices has its own characteristics.

Registration of incoming invoices

Situation No. 1. The buyer received an invoice without VAT from an organization in a special mode

Organizations using the simplified tax system, UTII and Unified Agricultural Tax are not VAT payers (clause 3 of article 346.1, clause 2 of article 346.11, clause 4 of article 346.26 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Therefore, they are not required to issue invoices when selling their goods, works or services. But in practice, some of these companies issue counterparties not only invoices and acts, but also invoices marked “Without VAT.”

The buyer, who is a VAT payer, is faced with the question: is it necessary to register such invoices in the accounting journal and purchase book?

We believe that the buyer should record such an invoice in Part 2 of the journal. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, Resolution No. 1137 does not contain a clause stating that only invoices received from VAT payers must be registered in the journal. Secondly, clause 9 of the Journal Rules contains a closed list of invoices that are not subject to registration. And it does not mention the invoice issued by the seller in a special mode without allocating the VAT amount.

As for the purchase book, in this case there is no need to enter an invoice into it. After all, it is conducted in order to determine the amount of VAT to be deducted (clause 1 of the Rules for maintaining a purchase ledger). And an invoice without VAT, issued by the seller in a special mode, does not contain the amount of tax and does not give the buyer the right to a deduction.

Situation No. 2. The buyer received an invoice with VAT from an organization in a special mode

Some organizations under special regimes, when selling goods, works or services, issue VAT invoices to their counterparties. Although these sellers are not VAT payers, when issuing an invoice with tax, they must transfer it to the budget (subclause 1, clause 5, article 173 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

The buyer must register such an invoice in the accounting journal. The grounds are similar to those that apply in the previous situation (“The buyer received an invoice without VAT from the organization under a special regime”). Resolution No. 1137 does not say that only invoices received from VAT payers are recorded in the accounting journal. In the closed list of invoices that are not subject to registration, there is no invoice issued by the seller in a special mode.

As for the purchase ledger, it is risky to register an invoice there. After all, according to officials, an invoice issued by a seller who is not a VAT payer does not give the buyer the right to deduct tax (letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated May 16, 2011 No. 03-07-11/126, dated November 29, 2010 No. 03-07 -11/456).

However, if the purchasing company registers the invoice in the purchase book and accepts VAT as a deduction, it has a good chance of defending its case in court. The judges in this matter are on the side of the buyers (resolutions of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Moscow District dated May 26, 2009 No. KA-A41/4585-09, the North-Western District dated August 7, 2008 No. A52-4037/2007, the North Caucasus District dated July 30, 2009 No. A53 -18001/2008-C5-46 (Determination of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated November 30, 2009 No. VAS-15346/09 refused to transfer the case to the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation), Volga District dated October 20, 2011 No. A12-524/2011, dated December 11, 2008 No. A55-963/2008 (Determination of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated March 27, 2009 No. VAS-3617/09 refused to transfer this case to the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation)).

Situation No. 3. The agent received an invoice for goods purchased for the principal

An agent who purchases goods, works or services for the principal receives an invoice from the seller of these goods (works, services). He then reissues this invoice to the principal, reflecting in line 2 “Seller” not his details, but the details of the actual seller (clause 1 of the Rules for filling out an invoice, approved by Resolution No. 1137, hereinafter referred to as the Rules for filling out an invoice). To this document, the agent attaches a duly certified copy of the invoice received from the seller (subparagraph “a”, paragraph 15 of the Journal Rules).

The agent must register the invoice received from the seller in part 2 of the accounting journal, and the re-issued invoice in part 1 of this journal (paragraph 6, sub. “a”, paragraph 7, paragraph 5, sub. “a”, paragraph 11 of the Journal Rules ). Agents do not register a copy of the invoice received from the seller in the journal (paragraph 2, subparagraph “a”, paragraph 15 of the Rules for maintaining an accounting journal). In addition, the agent does not need to reflect either the received or reissued invoices in the purchase book and the sales book (clause 19 of the Rules for maintaining the purchase book and clause 20 of the Rules for maintaining the sales book). This is confirmed by specialists from the Ministry of Finance of Russia (letter dated November 27, 2013 No. 03-07-14/51334).

What if the agent is not on the general taxation system, but on a special regime, for example, on the “simplified” tax system or UTII? The order will be the same. Intermediaries in a special regime must also reissue invoices to the principals for purchased goods, because the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and Resolution No. 1137 do not provide for an exception for them. At the same time, agents in a special regime do not have the obligation to pay the VAT allocated in such an invoice to the budget. Officials also pay attention to this (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 20, 2012 No. 03-07-09/86). Accordingly, intermediaries in special modes are not required to register invoices in the books of purchases and sales.

At the same time, it is necessary to keep a logbook and register in it both invoices received from the seller and re-issued invoices to agents in special modes. From January 1, 2014, such an obligation is enshrined in clause 3.1 of Art. 169 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. And it must be implemented, despite the fact that the corresponding amendments have not yet been made to Resolution No. 1137.

Situation No. 4. The buyer received an invoice, exempt from VAT

A company exempted from VAT payer obligations on the basis of Art. 145 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, like an ordinary taxpayer, issues invoices to buyers. At the same time, she does not highlight the amount of tax in the invoice, and in columns 7 “Tax rate” and 8 “Amount of tax presented to the buyer” she puts the note “Without VAT” (clause 5 of article 168 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, subparagraph “g” , “z” clause 2 of the Rules for filling out an invoice). In addition, such a company does not accept “input” tax as a deduction, but takes it into account in the cost of purchased goods (work, services) (subclause 3, clause 2, article 170 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Is it necessary in this case, despite the absence of the right to deduction, to register incoming invoices from suppliers in the accounting journal? According to officials, yes (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated March 26, 2007 No. 03-07-11/73). After all, exemption from the duties of calculating and paying tax does not relieve the company of other obligations as a VAT payer, in particular, the obligation to maintain an accounting journal and register not only outgoing, but also incoming invoices.

At the same time, there is no need to register incoming invoices in the purchase book. This is confirmed by tax authorities (letter of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated April 29, 2013 No. ED-4-3/7895@). The argument is this: only invoices that give the right to deduct tax are entered into the purchase ledger. And companies exempt from VAT payer obligations do not claim the deduction.

Situation No. 5. The buyer discovered an old invoice from the seller

Sometimes it happens that a company loses its “input” invoice and only discovers it in subsequent tax periods. It is not clear from Resolution No. 1137 how to register such an invoice in the accounting journal and purchase book.

The letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 2, 2013 No. 03-07-09/25177 states the following: the company must independently determine the procedure in which it will reflect in the accounting journal invoices that were not registered in the period of their actual receipt, bearing in mind that in accordance with clause 3 of the Journal Rules, received invoices are subject to a single registration in chronological order by date of receipt.

In our opinion, the company can establish in its accounting policy the rule that if “forgotten” invoices are discovered, they are recorded in the journal for the quarter to which the date of their actual receipt refers. In this case, an entry about a “forgotten” invoice is made after all previously made entries about incoming invoices for the quarter, and in column 1 of part 2 of the journal, a fractional (additional) number is indicated.

Example
Let's say that in April the company discovered an invoice that was actually received on March 10th. In Part 2 of the magazine for the first quarter of 2014 there is one invoice received on March 10th. It is registered under number 45. This means that the company will enter the forgotten invoice in this journal as the last line, after all entries about invoices received in the first quarter, under number 45/1.

A “forgotten” invoice must be reflected in an additional sheet to the purchase book for the quarter in which this invoice is recorded in the accounting journal. Of course, provided that other conditions for the deduction were met at that time. In particular, the company already had primary documents for this operation, and it reflected the corresponding goods (work, services) in accounting (Articles 171, 172 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Situation No. 6. The incoming invoice reflects more goods than actually received

At the time of acceptance of goods (that is, even before they are reflected in accounting), the buyer may discover that in fact there are fewer of them than reflected in the documents, including the invoice. In this case, the seller needs to issue an adjustment invoice to reduce the cost of goods (clause 3 of Article 168 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). But the buying company has not yet claimed VAT on the goods received, so it does not need to record this adjustment invoice in the sales ledger, i.e., recover the tax attributable to the shortfall. Instead, the buyer must reflect the incoming invoice in the purchase book in the part that relates to the goods received (clause 1 of Article 172 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated February 10, 2012 No. 03-07-09/05).

But in part 2 of the journal, the buyer needs to register both the adjustment invoice and the incoming invoice in the full amount. Indeed, Resolution No. 1137 does not provide for partial registration of invoices in the event that the buyer does not claim a deduction for the entire cost of goods.

If the seller subsequently supplies the missing goods, he will be required to issue a new invoice to the buyer for their value. The buyer will be required to record this invoice in the journal and purchase ledger in the normal manner.

Situation No. 7: The supplier corrected a minor error on the invoice

Sellers should not draw up a corrected invoice if an error in the source does not prevent tax authorities from identifying the supplier and buyer, the name and cost of goods, the tax rate and the amount of VAT (clause 7 of the Rules for filling out an invoice). Nevertheless, buyers sometimes receive new copies of invoices from suppliers, in which, for example, an error in the department's checkpoint or some other minor defect has been corrected.

As a general rule, a buyer who has received a corrected invoice must cancel the entry on the original invoice from the purchase ledger, and register the corrected invoice on the date the right to deduct arises (clauses 4, 9 of the Rules for maintaining the purchase ledger).

But when it comes to a corrected invoice in which the seller has corrected a non-critical error, we believe that the buyer has the right not to reflect this document in the purchase book. First, the seller, by issuing a corrected invoice in the absence of a critical error, violates Regulation No. 1137. Secondly, the buyer has the right to claim a deduction on the original invoice, so that receipt of a corrected document does not entail any consequences regarding the date and amount of the deduction.

In our opinion, the corrected document also does not need to be registered in the accounting journal. After all, the buyer has already reflected there the initial invoice, which contains all the necessary details and gives the right to a deduction.

Registration of outgoing invoices

Situation No. 8. A company issued an invoice with VAT using a special regime

Organizations using the simplified tax system, UTII and Unified Agricultural Tax when issuing invoices with VAT must pay this tax to the budget and report on it (subclause 1, clause 5, article 173, clause 5, article 174 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

The Code does not require that an organization in a special regime register the issued invoice in the accounting journal and sales book. At the same time, from paragraphs 1 and 3 of the Rules for maintaining the sales book, it follows that invoices issued by the seller (namely the seller, and not just the VAT payer) are subject to registration in the sales book in all cases when the obligation to calculate VAT arises in accordance with the Tax Code. code. Therefore, from our point of view, a company in a special regime in this situation needs to create a sales book and register the issued invoice in it.

At the same time, you don’t have to keep a logbook, because from Resolution No. 1137 it follows that only taxpayers and VAT tax agents should do this (clauses 1, 2 of the Journal Keeping Rules).

Situation No. 9. A company in a special regime is a tax agent for VAT

If a company leases state (municipal) property under a special regime, it is a tax agent for VAT. This means that she must issue an invoice for the cost of rent, calculate and transfer to the budget VAT on this amount (clause 3 of Article 161, clause 5 of Article 346.11 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Tax agents for VAT who are not payers of this tax must keep part 1 of the log of received and issued invoices (“Issued invoices”) in those tax periods in which they register the corresponding invoices (clauses 2, 7 Logging rules). In addition, invoices issued by tax agents must be registered in the sales book (clause 3 of the Rules for maintaining the sales book).

As for the purchase book, it is not required to be completed. VAT tax agents leasing municipal property reflect in the purchase book invoices drawn up and registered in the sales book in order to determine the amount of tax to be deducted (clause 23 of the Rules for maintaining the purchase book). But only tax agents who are also VAT payers have the right to such a deduction (clause 3 of Article 171 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). A company in a special regime is not one; it includes agency VAT in expenses (clause 2 of Article 346.11, subclause 8 of clause 1 of Article 346.16 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). And since there are no deductions, there is no need to keep a purchase book.

Consequences of incorrectly registering an invoice

The Tax Code does not stipulate liability for incorrect maintenance of the invoice journal, purchase book and sales book.

Article 120 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation provides for a fine of 10,000 rubles. for such gross violations of the rules for accounting for income and expenses and taxation objects as:

Lack of invoices;

Lack of tax accounting registers;

Systematic (twice or more times during a calendar year) untimely and incorrect reflection in tax registers of business transactions, cash, material assets, intangible assets and financial investments.

At the same time, in Art. 120 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation does not say which documents are tax accounting registers. In Chapter 21 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and Resolution No. 1137, the invoice journal, purchase book and sales book are also not called tax accounting registers. This concept is revealed only in Art. 314 Tax Code of the Russian Federation. In it, the analytical register of tax accounting is understood as a consolidated form of systematization of tax accounting data for the reporting (tax) period, grouped in accordance with the requirements of Chapter 25 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, without distribution (reflection) among accounting accounts. At the same time, under tax accounting in Art. 313 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation is understood as a system for summarizing information to determine the tax base for income tax based on data from primary documents.

From the above, we can conclude that the invoice journal, purchase book and sales book are not tax accounting registers, since they are used exclusively for the purpose of calculating VAT. This means that the company cannot be fined for filling them out incorrectly.

At the same time, it must be taken into account that errors in the purchase book can lead to a dispute about the legality of VAT deductions. So, if the tax authorities discover that there is no invoice in the purchase book for which the deduction was claimed in the declaration, it can be removed and the tax recalculated.

Judicial practice on this issue is contradictory. Some judges believe that such an error is not critical, and therefore does not deprive the company of the right to deduction (Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Moscow District dated April 4, 2011 No. A41-21819/2010). But other arbitrators support the tax authorities. For example, the resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the East Siberian District dated June 29, 2009 No. A78-4566/2008 states the following. Recording invoices in the purchase book is the responsibility of the buyer, and making changes to the purchase book by issuing additional sheets when errors are identified is an opportunity to comply with such obligations. In the absence of registration of invoices in the purchase book, it is impossible to correlate (identify) the amount of tax deductions by size, tax period, and supplier.

In addition, tax authorities may charge additional tax if they discover that the amount of VAT in the sales book for a certain quarter is greater than in the corresponding declaration. In this matter, the judges are on the side of the taxpayer. They point out that a formal comparison by fiscal officials of the sales book and the declaration is not enough to identify the fact of a tax violation, since the sales book is not the primary document intended for calculating VAT (Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the East Siberian District dated March 20, 2012 No. A58-6572/2010).

The executing organization applies the general system, the accrual method for profit tax and accounting purposes. It provides software support services. The contract for the provision of paid services (subject to VAT) provides for the monthly execution of acts on the last day of each month. Invoices are issued by the dates of execution of acts. The executing organization erroneously did not issue a report and invoice for services provided in April 2016. For this reason, revenue from services provided in April 2016 was not reflected for accounting purposes and was not included in the tax bases for income tax and VAT for the second quarter (the tax bases for these taxes for the second quarter of 2016 were positive). What is the procedure for making corrections in the accounting records of the executing organization in connection with the identification of facts of failure to draw up an act and failure to issue an invoice? What dates should be indicated on the report and invoice currently being processed for services provided in April?

On this issue we take the following position:

The performing organization should draw up an act of services rendered at the moment of discovering the fact of its erroneous non-execution and issue an invoice to the customer within five days from the date of execution of the act. As the dates of preparation of these documents, they should indicate the dates of actual execution (issuance), that is, the dates on which the act will actually be drawn up and the invoice will be issued. The invoice to the executing organization should be registered in an additional sheet of the sales book for the second quarter of 2016.

In accounting, the erroneous failure to reflect revenue from the sale of services provided in April 2016 is subject to correction by entries in the relevant accounting accounts in the month of 2016 in which the error was identified.

The organization should submit to the tax authority updated tax returns for income tax for the first half of 2016 and for VAT for the second quarter of 2016.

Justification for the position:

Paperwork

In accordance with paragraph 8 of Art. 3, part 1 art. 9 of the Federal Law of December 6, 2011 N 402-FZ “On Accounting” (hereinafter referred to as Law N 402-FZ), the provision of services is a fact of economic life for the performing organization and is subject to registration as a primary accounting document.

Part 3 of Art. 9 of Law N 402-FZ provides that the primary accounting document must be drawn up when a fact of economic life is committed, and if this is not possible, immediately after its completion.

The procedure for making corrections to primary accounting documents is regulated by Part 7 of Art. 9 of Law No. 402-FZ. At the same time, the procedure for actions of business entities in situations where the primary accounting document was not drawn up is not regulated either by this article or by other legal norms.

We believe that in the situation under consideration, in fulfillment of the requirements of Part 1 of Art. 9 of Law N 402-FZ, the performing organization should draw up an act of services rendered at the moment it is discovered that it was erroneously not completed. At the same time, when filling out such mandatory details of primary accounting documents as “the date of preparation of the document” and “the content of the fact of economic life” (Part 2 of Article 9 of Law No. 402-FZ), one should proceed from the actual circumstances of the preparation of this document. That is, the specified details should indicate, respectively, the date of the actual drawing up of the act and the fact that the act is drawn up to document services provided in April 2016.

We believe that in this situation, the execution and acceptance for accounting of an act that was supposed to be drawn up in April 2016, but will actually be drawn up in the third quarter, must also be accompanied by a certificate from an accountant, which will contain an indication of the correction of a previously made error. Execution of these documents (act and accounting certificate) will give the organization the right to reflect revenue from the sale of services and will serve as the basis for it to make appropriate corrections in the accounting and (clauses 5, 12 PBU 9/99 “Income of the organization”, paragraph one, clause. 1, Article 54, Article 313 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

As a general rule, an invoice should be issued no later than five calendar days, counting from the date of provision of services (clause 3 of Article 168 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). When providing services, this day for VAT purposes should be considered the date of the first drawing up of the primary document issued to the customer (see, for example, letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated December 30, 2014 N 03-07-11/68585, dated December 29, 2014 N 03- 07-11/68117, dated 01/13/2012 N 03-07-11/08, dated 03/16/2006 N 03-04-11/53, Department of Tax Administration for Moscow dated 09/07/2004 N 24-11/57756, Federal Tax Service of Russia in Moscow dated December 2, 2009 N 16-15/126829).

Therefore, in this situation, within five days from the date of execution of the act of provision of services, the performing organization will have to issue an invoice to the customer, indicating in line 1 the serial number and the date of the actual preparation of this invoice (clause "a" clause 1 Rules for filling out an invoice used in calculations for value added tax, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of December 26, 2011 N 1137).

Accounting

In the situation under consideration, by virtue of clause 2 of PBU 22/2010 “Correcting errors in accounting and reporting” (hereinafter referred to as PBU 22/2010), failure to reflect revenue from the provision of services due to an erroneous failure to draw up an act on their provision is recognized as an error for accounting purposes.

According to paragraph 5 of PBU 22/2010, an error in the reporting year identified before the end of that year is corrected by entries in the relevant accounting accounts in the month of the reporting year in which the error was identified.

Taking into account the above, as well as the provisions of the Instructions for the application of the Chart of Accounts for accounting financial and economic activities of organizations, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated October 31, 2000 N 94n, we believe that in the month the error was detected (in August or September 2016) the executing organization You should make the following entries in your accounting records:

Reflected revenue from the provision of services that was erroneously not reflected in the second quarter;

VAT submitted.

Corporate income tax

The tax period for taxes is the calendar year. Tax reporting periods are the first quarter, six months and nine months of the calendar year. Reporting periods for taxpayers who calculate monthly advance payments based on the actual profit received are one month, two months, three months, and so on until the end of the calendar year (Article 285 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Official bodies with reference to paragraphs. 1, 2 tbsp. 249, paragraph 3 of Art. 271, paragraph 1, art. 39 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation have repeatedly explained that income from the sale of a service is determined on the date of its actual consumption by the customer (the date of actual provision of the service) (see, for example, letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated May 27, 2015 N 03-03-06/1/30408, Federal Tax Service of Russia on Moscow dated December 23, 2009 N 16-15/136075, dated July 7, 2008 N 20-12/064119).

In the ruling of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated December 8, 2010 N VAS-15640/10, it was stated that in order to determine the moment of accounting for operations for the sale of services and recognition of income from their provision, the date of actual provision of these services (determined based on the moment of execution by the company to the customer of accepted assume obligations), and not the moment of signing the act, which subsequently only records information about the services already provided.

At the same time, for profit tax purposes, when defining the concept of an error, one should be guided by the provisions of PBU 22/2010 (clause 1 of Article 11 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated April 13, 2016 N 03-03-06/2/21034, dated November 4, 2014 N 03-03-06/1/62348, dated 10/17/2013 N 03-03-06/1/43299, dated 08/13/2012 N 03-03-06/1/408).

In this regard, the failure to reflect revenue from the provision of services for tax purposes in the period of their provision, that is, according to the results of the first half of 2016, due to the erroneous failure to draw up an act on their provision, is recognized as an error for the purposes of Chapter 25 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Paragraphs two and three of paragraph 1 of Art. 54 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation provides that if errors (distortions) are detected in the calculation of the tax base relating to previous tax (reporting) periods, in the current tax (reporting) period, the tax base and tax amount are recalculated for the period in which these errors were made ( distortion).

If it is impossible to determine the period of errors (distortions), the tax base and tax amount are recalculated for the tax (reporting) period in which the errors (distortions) were identified. The taxpayer has the right to recalculate the tax base and the amount of tax for the tax (reporting) period in which errors (distortions) relating to previous tax (reporting) periods were identified, also in cases where the errors (distortions) led to excessive payment of tax .

From the above provisions of paragraph 1 of Art. 54 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation it follows that the recalculation of the tax base and tax amount is carried out for the tax (reporting) period in which errors (distortions) relating to previous tax (reporting) periods are identified in one of two cases (letters from the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated May 22, 2015 N 03-03-06/1/29540, dated 04/23/2014 N 03-02-07/1/18777, dated 10/17/2013 N 03-03-06/1/43299, dated 08/13/2012 N 03-03- 06/1/408, dated 01/30/2012 N 03-03-06/1/40, dated 01/18/2012 N 03-03-06/4/1, resolution of the Arbitration Court of the North-Western District dated 06/19/2015 N F07- 3463/15 in case No. A52-1261/2014, FAS East Siberian District dated 04/07/2014 N F02-1184/14 in case No. A78-7833/2013), namely:

If it is impossible to determine the period of errors (distortions);

When errors (distortions) have led to excessive payment of tax.

According to the first paragraph of clause 1 of Art. 81 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, if a taxpayer discovers in the tax return submitted by him to the tax authority the fact of non-reflection or incomplete reflection of information, as well as errors leading to an underestimation of the amount of tax payable, he is obliged to make the necessary changes to the tax return and submit to the tax authority an updated tax return in in the manner prescribed by this article.

In the situation under consideration, the period when the error occurred was determined (April 2016), and the error did not lead to excessive payment of tax. On the contrary, this error led to an understatement of the amount of the advance payment for income tax payable at the end of the half-year (second paragraph of clause 2 of Article 286 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). In this regard, we believe that in order to correct the mistake made during the period when it was identified, there are no grounds and the organization should submit to the tax authority an updated tax return for the profit tax for the first half of 2016*(1).

VAT

Sales of services on the territory of the Russian Federation are recognized as subject to VAT (clause 1, clause 1, article 146 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

The tax period for the purposes of Chapter 21 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation is established as a quarter (Article 163 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

In the situation under consideration, the performing organization in the tax period for the provision of services (in the second quarter of 2016) did not present the amount of VAT to the customer and, as a result, underestimated the tax base for this and the amount of tax payable to the budget based on the results of this tax period (clause 1 Article 154, paragraph 1 of Article 167, paragraph 1 of Article 168, paragraph 1 of Article 174 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Accordingly, by virtue of the first paragraph of clause 1 of Art. 81 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the executing organization is obliged to submit to the tax authority an updated VAT tax return for the second quarter of 2015.

In accordance with clause 5.1 of Art. 174 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, information specified in the purchase book and sales book of the taxpayer must be included in the tax return.

According to clause 3 of the Rules for maintaining the sales book used in calculations for value added tax, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated December 26, 2011 N 1137 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules for maintaining the sales book), compiled and (or) issued invoices are subject to registration in the sales book. invoices in all cases when the obligation to calculate VAT arises in accordance with the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

The sales book records invoices regardless of the date they were issued to customers and the date they were received by customers, as well as other documents listed in this document.

If it is necessary to make changes to the sales book (after the end of the current tax period), the registration of the invoice (including the adjustment one) is made in an additional sheet of the sales book for the tax period in which the invoice and the adjustment invoice were registered before entering into them corrections.

At the same time, the Rules for maintaining the sales book do not resolve the issue of registering invoices in an additional sheet of the sales book when the seller discovers in the current tax period that invoices for past tax periods have not been registered.

In the period before the entry into force of Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated December 26, 2011 N 1137, the Federal Tax Service of Russia recommended in such situations (letter dated September 6, 2006 N MM-6-03/896@) to register the invoice in an additional sheet of the sales book of the expired tax period and add the indicators of the registered invoice to the indicators of the “Total” line of the additional sheet of the sales book.

The explanations presented do not contradict the currently valid Rules for maintaining a sales book, therefore we consider them applicable in the situation under consideration.

Thus, we believe that in this case the executing organization should register the invoice issued in the third quarter of 2016 in an additional sheet of the sales book for the second quarter of 2016 and submit to the tax authority an updated declaration for this tax period.

Encyclopedia of solutions. Accounting for revenue from the provision of services;

Encyclopedia of solutions. Drawing up an act under a contract for the provision of paid services;

Encyclopedia of solutions. Deadlines for issuing invoices;

Encyclopedia of solutions. Additional sheet of the sales book.

Prepared answer:
Expert of the Legal Consulting Service GARANT
Member of the Chamber of Tax Consultants Kirill Gusev

Response quality control:
Reviewer of the Legal Consulting Service GARANT
Queen Helena

The material was prepared on the basis of individual written consultation provided as part of the Legal Consulting service. For detailed information about the service, contact your service manager.

Often, in the process of documenting transactions, some inconsistencies may occur, documents may not be drawn up or drawn up incorrectly, in such situations it is necessary to take additional actions in order to resolve this situation. Otherwise, tax deductions will not be received, since the main basis for this is a correctly drawn up document.

The transaction must be carried out in accordance with legal regulations. What to do if you forgot to post a document from the supplier in a timely manner?

If a discrepancy or absence of an invoice is identified, it is necessary to immediately draw up this document in accordance with the rules and provide it to the buyer within 5 days from the date of its preparation.

The invoice must indicate the exact date of the transaction; in addition, a certificate of completion of work is drawn up, which, together with the invoice, is sent to the customer’s address. This act is also drawn up on the date of the actual transaction. Read more about whether an invoice and a certificate of work performed are interchangeable, and find out more about the rules for issuing a power of attorney for signing invoices and certificates of work performed in.

If it is not registered

Sometimes unplanned situations may occur that need to be corrected. So, if, nevertheless, she arrived on time, but they forgot to register her in accordance with the rules, then this fact cannot be ignored.

If an unregistered invoice is found, it should still be entered into the sales book or purchase book for the period to which it relates. The question also arises in terms of the fact that the next reporting period has arrived and what to do now? How to post a document for the previous period? You can register an invoice even in the upcoming reporting period.

There are no fines or other sanctions for this from the tax authorities. As for the seller in this matter, nothing will happen to him, neither good nor bad, from the fact that he did not exhibit or register this document on time.

As for the buyer, he may be denied VAT deduction. If the document is drawn up correctly and the actual date of the transaction is indicated, the chances that everything will go as expected are quite high.

Read more about the features of registration and storage of invoices at an enterprise.

How to conduct it if it arrives late?

Entrepreneurs who are VAT payers have the right to deduct this tax from the value of acquired property used in business. To implement this deduction, you will need correctly executed invoices from suppliers or contractors.

Any use of materials is permitted only with a hyperlink. If the invoice arrived later, then it must be registered in the reporting period in which the transaction took place.

The main feature that inspectors may not like is the violation of the numbering of documents in the purchase or sales book. But it is worth noting right away that this will not entail any undesirable consequences.

Can the document be accepted next quarter? Options for the development of events if the bill arrives late:

It can be accepted retroactively, but in this case the numbering of documents is violated. The buyer has a greater chance of receiving a VAT deduction.
A document can be registered with the current date, but the deadlines for issuing such invoices are violated. Although there are no sanctions for such violations.

If the document arrived late, then you should try to contact the tax service in order to receive a tax deduction, but no one can give you a 100 percent guarantee that you will receive it.

What will happen if there is no paper?

In accordance with Article 168 of the Tax Code, paragraph 3, an invoice must be drawn up within five days from the date of the purchase and sale transaction. If the listing does not occur, then it turns out that the seller is violating the law, although as for sanctions for this violation, they are not provided.

The best option is to detect the discrepancy in the same reporting period. If the missing document is discovered later, problems will arise with VAT deductions. The seller will suffer much less here.

For more details about why an invoice is needed for both sellers and buyers, read.

What to expect when applying “retroactively”?

If you forgot about it and remembered it in the next quarter, then it is advisable to post the document “retrospectively” so as not to violate the billing procedure. The legislation does not provide for a procedure for dealing with such violations, so management must determine it in the accounting policies of the enterprise. If the document is not received on time, the buyer risks more than the seller.

For backdating registration, the seller only faces a violation of tax laws, for which there are no sanctions. The buyer will have to fight for his right to receive tax deductions, right up to court proceedings.

Conclusion

The correctness of the document, its issuance and registration ensure that the taxpayer will be provided with tax deductions. If everything did not go as required by law and regulations, then some situations must be corrected, but you also need to know how to do this.

Your rights are worth defending. Judicial practice in such cases shows that the chances of a positive result are quite high, but the inspector cannot always accommodate the taxpayer.

What date should I issue an invoice? How to make an entry in the accounting journal? Do I need to correct the sales book and submit an amendment? Read about it in this article.

Decide what date to issue the invoice

What is important to consider when issuing a late invoice?

How to issue a forgotten invoice	Consequences
for the seller	for the buyer
Backdating	+ the requirement to issue an invoice within 5 days after shipment has been met; – the numbering of documents is incorrect (there are no sanctions for this)	± there is a risk of losing VAT deduction, but judicial practice is in favor of companies
Current date	+ invoices are numbered in order; – the deadline for issuing invoices was violated (there are no sanctions for this)	– Tax authorities may refuse a deduction, despite the fact that judicial practice is contradictory

How to issue a forgotten invoice

Consequences

for the seller

for the buyer

Backdating

+ the requirement to issue an invoice within 5 days after shipment has been met;

– the numbering of documents is incorrect (there are no sanctions for this)

± there is a risk of losing VAT deduction, but judicial practice is in favor of companies

Current date

+ invoices are numbered in order;

– the deadline for issuing invoices was violated (there are no sanctions for this)

– Tax authorities may refuse a deduction, despite the fact that judicial practice is contradictory

I’ll say right away that it doesn’t matter at all for the seller what date to issue the invoice in this case. He is in no danger. But the buyer may have claims when he claims VAT deduction for this shipment. We need to warn him about this. And at the same time find out whether he has already accepted this amount for deduction. Indeed, in practice, buyers often receive invoices later than they submit VAT reports. But they still take these amounts into account in the shipment quarter, since they know that they will receive the documents in any case.

If the buyer has already deducted VAT during the shipment period, issue an invoice for the date of sale. Thus, the five-day period during which the document must be completed will not be violated. That's a plus. However, the numbering of documents will be lost. But there are no penalties for this. The buyer will have questions. An invoice with an incorrect number does not give the right to a deduction, inspectors say. But their opinion can be challenged in court. An example of a winning case is the resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the North Caucasus District dated January 29, 2013 in case No. A01-2107/2011.

Make a journal entry