How to fill out a VAT return with a zero rate

In what cases is a zero VAT return submitted?

Do I need to submit a zero VAT return?
Yes need! Moreover, like any VAT return, the zero return must also be submitted within the deadline established for this report. A zero VAT return is submitted in cases where there are no digital indicators to fill out its sections 2–12. This may occur at the beginning or at the end of the taxpayer’s work, during seasonal activities, or temporary breaks in work.

Note! The VAT declaration was updated by order of the Federal Tax Service dated August 19, 2020 No. ED-7-3/ [email protected] The form is used from the reporting campaign for the 4th quarter of 2021.

You will find a line-by-line algorithm with examples of filling out all twelve sections of the report in ConsultantPlus. Trial full access to the system can be obtained for free.

The declaration will not be zero if there is data to fill out at least one of these sections.

It must be submitted by all those persons who have an obligation to file a VAT return. This obligation applies to VAT taxpayers, tax agents, as well as non-payers of taxes or those exempt from paying VAT but issuing invoices. Tax payers are considered to be all legal entities and individuals - entrepreneurs who have chosen the general taxation system.

For information about who becomes a tax agent for VAT, read the article “Who is recognized as a tax agent for VAT (responsibilities, nuances)” .

The VAT return must be submitted electronically. This also applies to a zero VAT return. As an exception, permission to submit this tax report on paper is granted only to tax defaulters (or exempt from payment under Articles 145, 145.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation) who acted as tax agents in the reporting period (letter of the Federal Tax Service dated February 19, 2016 No. ED-3- 15/679, dated January 30, 2015 No. OA-4-17/ [email protected] ).

Answers to frequently asked questions

Question No. 1: The individual entrepreneur (from the moment of registration) has worked quite a bit, for this reason the activities have not yet yielded results. Does he need to submit a declaration?

Yes, we should. As established, an individual entrepreneur who did not carry out activities in the reporting period or is just starting it must report to the Federal Tax Service in accordance with the general procedure. In this case we are talking about passing the “zero”. There are no exceptions to this part.

Question No. 2: Do individual entrepreneurs on the simplified tax system need to submit zero VAT reporting?

No. Individual entrepreneurs on the simplified tax system, UTII and patent should not submit a VAT declaration in principle. The reason is obvious: the individual entrepreneur in the situation under consideration is not a VAT payer, and therefore does not have to submit any reports on this tax. By the way, the patent system does not provide for reporting at all.

VAT payers and tax agents must report the results of their activities on taxable transactions to the Federal Tax Service. This is done by submitting a declaration. The required sections and those sheets that have numerical values ​​are filled out in the document. In this material we will talk about how a zero VAT tax return is prepared; a sample of filling it out will be given at the end of the article.

Tax Code in paragraph 5 of Art. 174 stipulates the obligation of taxpayers to regularly generate and submit value added tax returns in compliance with established deadlines. The norm applies to legal entities and individual entrepreneurs, persons engaged in the transportation of goods across the state border within the framework of the Customs Union. A zero VAT return 2021 must be issued by the listed business entities even if they are on the general taxation system, but did not carry out taxable transactions during the reporting period.

Filling out a zero VAT return is mandatory, even if the taxpayer does not have numerical data to enter in the report. This position was voiced by the Ministry of Finance in a letter dated August 14, 2015 under No. 03-02-08/47033 when answering the question of whether it is necessary to submit a zero return (including VAT). The Ministry of Finance also focuses on the fact that in the absence of tax obligations in the billing period, a business entity is not exempt from timely filing of reports. If the zero payment is not submitted on time, the taxpayer will be subject to a material penalty in the form of a minimum fine, which does not depend on the amount of the arrears - 1000 rubles (Clause 1 of Article 119 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Simplified VAT return

If during the reporting quarter there was no activity at all, and there was no movement in the current accounts and in the cash register of the enterprise, then the taxpayer can submit a single simplified declaration, which provides for the submission of information about the absence of grounds for payment of several taxes at once. A simplified VAT return (single) is submitted to the Federal Tax Service by the 20th day of the month following the reporting month (clause 2 of Article 80 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

The form of such a simplified declaration was approved by Order of the Ministry of Finance dated July 10, 2007 No. 62n. The same order describes the procedure for filling it out and submitting it to the tax authority.

ConsultantPlus experts provided a step-by-step algorithm for filling out a single simplified declaration. If you do not have access to the K+ system, get a trial demo access for free.

Possible difficulties with sections 7 and 12

Section 7 of the declaration form is mandatory in the following cases:

1. upon receipt of partial payment before shipment of products, the completion of production of which will occur in more than 6 months;
2. carrying out transactions that are not subject to VAT;
3. abolition of the taxpayer’s obligation to issue invoices to clients.

The codes of business transactions are entered into the initial field of the section in accordance with the classifier given in the instructions for filling out the declaration. If there are preferential transactions, they are reflected in cells 2 to 4, also in encoded format. If transaction amounts exempt from taxation are reflected in columns 1 and 2, and also if products are sold abroad, dashes are placed in fields 3 and 4.

When receiving a preliminary payment for products that are planned to be delivered to the client only in 6 months, the advance amounts are reflected in field 10.

Companies and entrepreneurs required to allocate VAT on invoices, but for some reason exempt from paying the tax, must fill out section 12 of the declaration.

When drawing up the specified sheet, the taxpayer must enter all TIN, KPP codes and indicate the serial number of the sheet.

How to fill out a zero VAT return

How to fill out a zero VAT return? Which sheets should be submitted in the zero VAT return?

A zero VAT return is drawn up on the form of this report valid for the corresponding period. Since there are no digital data to fill it out, only 2 mandatory sections are drawn up in it:

• title page;
• section 1.

You will find the details of how to fill them out below.

For individual entrepreneurs, we recommend our article “Zero VAT return for individual entrepreneurs on OSNO.”

What should I submit?

The table below shows mandatory reporting

Features of filling out the title page

The title page contains information about the taxpayer, the Federal Tax Service and the tax period for which the report is being prepared. It states:

• Taxpayer codes and name.

When filling out the title page, the taxpayer must indicate his INN and KPP codes, the exact name (for legal entities - as stated in the charter, and for individual entrepreneurs - full full name, as in the passport). You should fill in the number of your Federal Tax Service (it is easy to find out by looking at your registration documents, or you can use the search on the Federal Tax Service website).

In the field “at location (accounting)” the codes are indicated that are given in Appendix 3 to the Procedure for filling out the declaration (hereinafter referred to as the Procedure) (Federal Tax Service order No. ММВ-7-3 dated October 29, 2014 / [email protected] ).

• Adjustment symbol.

When submitting the first declaration for the reporting period, you should enter code 0 in the “Adjustment number” field, and when submitting clarifying reports, the following serial numbers should be entered.

• Taxable period.

When specifying the tax period, the appropriate code is entered (their list is contained in Appendix 3 to the Procedure). So, when submitting a reporting declaration for the 1st quarter, code 21 is entered. And if, for example, a declaration for the 1st quarter of a company that is being liquidated or reorganized is submitted, then 51 should be indicated.

• Other marks.

The title page should indicate the number of pages on which the declaration is drawn up. Also indicate whether the report was submitted by the taxpayer himself (tax agent) or his authorized representative. It is imperative to decipher the full name and position of the responsible person who signed the declaration.

For an example of filling out a zero VAT return, see ConsultantPlus, having received trial demo access to the K+ system. It's free:

The information in the field “To be completed by a tax authority employee” is entered into the title page by tax officials.

IP on the simplified tax system

Entrepreneurs using a simplified declaration submit only one declaration – a simplified one. They are exempt from the obligation to submit VAT and personal income tax reports.

The individual entrepreneur declaration must be submitted to the simplified tax system by April 30 of the year following the reporting year.

An example of filling out a zero declaration using the simplified tax system

For the simplified tax system - 6% (object income), you must fill out the Title Page and Sections 1.1 and 2.1.1

For the simplified tax system - 15% (object income minus expenses), you must fill out the Title Page and Sections 1.2 and 2.2.

Title page

On the Cover Sheet, which is the same for both the income object and the “income minus expenses” object, you must indicate:

• TIN (in accordance with the one issued by the Federal Tax Service (MRI Federal Tax Service) upon registration);
• Correction number – “0”
• Tax period – “34” (year);
• By location – “120” (code for individual entrepreneurs);
• Full name in accordance with the passport;
• Code of main activity (OKVED)
• Phone number
• And the number of declaration sheets is “3”

After the main block of information, you must indicate who is submitting the reports: the individual entrepreneur himself or his authorized representative and enter information about the representative (full name and details of the power of attorney)

Section 1.1

In this section, you only need to indicate OKTMO.

Section 2.1.1

Section 2.1.1 indicates only the taxpayer’s attribute and the rate for the object.

The remaining lines are crossed out.

Zero declaration according to the simplified tax system – 15%

Section 1.2

In this section, you only need to indicate OKTMO.

Section 2.2

Please note that the Tax Code of the Russian Federation does not contain instructions on how long an individual entrepreneur can submit zero reporting, and therefore the individual entrepreneur can submit it until he is deregistered or begins to receive income.

Responsibility for failure to submit a declaration

If a declaration (including a zero declaration) is not submitted within the prescribed period, a fine of 1,000 rubles is imposed on the legal entity or individual entrepreneur. (clause 1 of article 119 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Since 2015, a VAT return submitted on paper is also considered not submitted (clause 5 of Article 174 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

In addition, administrative penalties will be imposed on officials (fines ranging from 300–500 rubles). If the reporting is delayed by more than 10 working days, the Federal Tax Service will be able to exercise its right to block the organization’s current accounts (subclause 1, clause 3, article 76 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Read more about this responsibility here.

Sales of goods

We will sell goods using the document “Sales (acts, invoices)” with the operation “Goods (invoice)”.

In the document we indicate the VAT rate of 0%. We select an agreement with the buyer in a currency, in this case in dollars.

Results

Ordinary taxpayers must submit a VAT return for each tax period, even if in that period there is no digital data to complete sections 2–12 of the report.
A declaration that does not have digital data is called zero. Form it on a valid form, filling out 2 mandatory sections (title page and section 1). You can find more complete information on the topic in ConsultantPlus. Free trial access to the system for 2 days.