G.N. Khimich, expert of the Russian Tax Courier magazine
Magazine "Russian Tax Courier"
The publication was prepared with the participation of specialists from the Consolidated Analytical Directorate of the Federal Tax Service of Russia
Often taxpayers need to obtain information or clarification from official sources, such as financial or tax authorities. How to determine where to go? How to make a request correctly and what documents should be attached to it?
General requirements for applications to the tax office
- Information must be accurate and reliable. Carefully check the entered data, especially numerical ones. Often it is not the names that are entered, but their codes. For example, to designate regions or types of tax transactions.
- In the upper right corner of almost all applications it is necessary to indicate the details of your tax office. You can find out about them using the corresponding service on the website nalog.ru. Just enter your registration address and find out where your tax office is located, its operating hours, phone numbers, and so on.
- The header of the application also always indicates information about the applicant: full name, passport details and, necessarily, TIN. If you do not know your taxpayer identification number, use the Find out TIN service.
- When filling out documents by hand, use black ink and block letters.
- On some applications, the signature must be certified. If you filled out the application at home, do not sign. This will need to be done in the presence of a tax inspector. When sending by mail, a notary visa will be required.
Let's look at the features of writing the most popular statements.
Why was the payment lost?
The main reasons for the “loss” of money transferred to the budget:
- The taxpayer incorrectly indicated one of the details in the payment order.
- A bank employee made a mistake when processing a payment order.
Below are the details of the payment order, errors in which will lead to the transferred money being “stuck” in the treasury as unidentified receipts:
- recipient's name;
- TIN and checkpoint inspection;
- UFC account, bank name;
- KBK;
- OKTMO code.
Application for obtaining a TIN
Any citizen, future or current taxpayer, must be registered with the Federal Tax Service. Registration is carried out within five days after submitting the application.
There is a convenient service on the Federal Tax Service website that allows you to register with the tax authority without leaving your home.
But if for some reason it is more convenient for you to work with paper documents, to obtain a TIN (including a repeated one) you need to fill out form No. 2-2-Accounting, approved by order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated August 11, 2011 No. YAK-7-6 / [email protected]
Where to send a complaint to the Federal Tax Service
There are several authorities to which you can file a complaint regarding the work of tax authorities.
Federal Tax Service
Higher tax authorities are the very first supervisory authority to which you need to file a complaint about any identified violations in the activities of employees of tax institutions. This is the most effective option for pre-trial resolution of the problem that has arisen.
Court
The court belongs to higher supervisory authorities, and an appeal here is permissible when the management of the tax service was unable to deal with the problematic situation, or ignored the taxpayer’s appeal. The disadvantage of this method of resolving a dispute is the length of the procedure.
Typically, litigation lasts at least 1-2 months, but in particularly difficult situations, or when the court is overloaded, the proceedings can drag on for up to six months.
Prosecutor's office
Prosecutor's offices are required to monitor the correct functioning of all government departments and monitor their compliance with current legislation. Therefore, you should seek the help of a prosecutor in case of serious violations by tax authorities that have caused significant financial damage.
The scope of action of the prosecutor's office also includes corruption-related violations - extortion of bribes by tax officials, illegal obstruction of business, and so on.
Application for tax deduction
A tax deduction is an amount that reduces the calculation base when calculating personal income tax. There are standard, social, property, professional and investment deductions.
There is a separate article on tax deductions and the 13% refund procedure on Lifehacker. Step-by-step instructions for filing all types of deductions are also available on the Federal Tax Service website.
The standard tax deductions include the so-called child deduction. If you are officially employed and are the parent or guardian of a minor, you can reduce your tax burden. An application for a “children’s” tax deduction is submitted to the employer. But if for some reason the latter did not reduce the amount of taxation or the income was not received through labor, you can do this through the Federal Tax Service.
Social deductions include types of expenses such as tuition (your own or your children’s) or treatment, as well as charity. Property tax deduction is provided when purchasing real estate or land.
From March 31, 2021, the refund of overpaid personal income tax, as well as the refund of overpayments for property taxes, is carried out upon an application approved by order of the Federal Tax Service dated February 14, 2017 No. ММВ-7-8 / [ email protected] (Appendix No. 8).
Responsibility
No matter how much tax officials intimidate with financial sanctions, it will not be possible to hold people accountable for failure to provide explanations.
Let's find out why:
- according to Art. 126 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation cannot be a reason for a fine when requesting clarification, since this is not a requirement to provide documents;
- Article 129.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation cannot be applied, since this is not a counter-check;
- According to Article 19.4 of the Code of Administrative Offences, it is impossible to bring to administrative liability, since this article is applicable only in case of failure to appear at the inspection when called.
But, in any case, it is better to check and find out why the discrepancies appeared. Perhaps this will help to detect an accountant's mistake when drawing up the report.
Application for refund or credit of overpaid tax
Various circumstances can lead to overpayment of taxes. Most often, there are banal errors in documents. But there are also situations when, for example, a grandfather pays transport tax in full from year to year and does not know that he is entitled to a benefit as a pensioner.
If you encounter confusion and overpay, write a request for a refund or credit for the amount of overcharged tax. When offset, the money will be transferred to another type of tax or to another object of taxation.
These applications can be filed within three years from the date of overpayment of tax. The money is returned within a month after the tax authority receives the application.
It is not necessary to visit the tax office to pay taxes and receive their refund. These operations can be easily and quickly performed through your personal account on the Federal Tax Service website.
- Register in the “Personal Taxpayer Account for Individuals”. The login is the TIN, the password can be obtained from any Federal Tax Service inspection. You can also log in through your State Services account and using a qualified electronic signature.
- Go to “Profile” and receive an electronic signature verification key certificate. It's free and fast if you choose to store the key in a secure IRS vault.
- In the “Overpayment/Debt” section, create an application for a refund or offset of the overpaid tax. Attach the necessary documents to it and send it electronically to the Federal Tax Service.
Nuances of writing a letter
An employee, when issuing an official letter of request to another organization, must adhere to certain rules. The request is submitted to the director, his deputy or another official holding a leadership position in writing on A4 paper. If the company has its own letterhead, then they use it, where the details are already written down in advance (name of the organization, INN, KPP, OGRN, legal address and contacts). In Russia, anonymous requests are not accepted and are not paid attention to. The letter should make it clear who the request came from and how to contact and send a response. When writing the body of a document, you need to clearly and concisely state your intent to obtain the information you need. If possible, refer to the laws of the Russian Federation, which guarantee a response.
Application for deferment or installment payment of taxes
Every fall, taxpayers receive letters reminding them that it is time to pay their land, property and transportation taxes. However, if a person has become a victim of a natural disaster or for other reasons finds himself in a dire financial situation, the Federal Tax Service may defer or extend the payment of taxes.
A deferment or installment plan is granted for an amount not exceeding the value of the debtor’s property. Except for property that cannot be foreclosed on by law (for example, the only residence).
To take advantage of a deferment or installment plan, you need to write an application in the form recommended in Appendix No. 1 to the procedure for changing the deadline for paying taxes (Order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated September 28, 2010 No. MMV-7-8 / [email protected] ).
It indicates the form of changing the payment deadline and duration, the name of the tax, the amount, and the grounds for granting a deferment or installment plan.
Interest is charged for using the deferment.
Methods for sending a request letter
A request letter is an element of business correspondence between organizations or an individual and a company. You can deliver a document in three ways: 1. Independently, by recording receipt from the secretary or other official receiving the information. Usually, two document samples are generated, where one of them remains in hand with a receipt stamp. This guarantees that the request will not be lost. 2. Use postal services by sending a registered letter. 3. Send by email and duplicate in regular mail.
Application for benefits
According to tax legislation, some taxpayers have the right to a reduction or complete abolition of land, transport and property taxes. Beneficiaries include military personnel, disabled people of groups I and II, pensioners, heroes of Russia. With regard to local taxes, regions can introduce additional preferential categories, providing tax breaks, for example, to large families.
Find out from your tax office whether you are eligible for the “fiscal amnesty”. If so, apply for a property tax break.
You can also ask for a tax break through your “Personal Account”: “Objects of Taxation” → “Application for a Relief on Property Taxes”.
Also on the Federal Tax Service website you can make an appointment at which the inspector must provide the form of any document you need and advise you on how to fill it out.
What documents require written support?
As a general rule, the letter is attached to those papers for the Federal Tax Service that do not contain information about the sender and recipient.
But there are also documents that are allowed to be sent without explanation. Among them are primary tax returns without attachments. The provision of such declarations is justified by certain legislative norms, so an explanation of the reasons for their submission is not required. They also contain information about the sender and recipient. If the primary declaration contains any annexes, the accompanying documents must be attached.
Without written support, complaints are also sent to higher authorities regarding the actions of the Federal Tax Service. Such shipments must contain information about the sender and recipient, as well as a list of documents provided.
Accompanying the updated tax return
A covering letter must be drawn up when submitting an updated tax return. ConsultantPlus has a detailed guide that will help you complete and submit it. Use it for free.
