What mistakes do accountants make most often when creating and recording advance invoices?

Any violations of the rules for filling out documents used to calculate VAT are fraught with trouble. This is due to the fact that the tax return is checked by the Federal Tax Service automatically. The verification occurs not only according to internal control ratios - the data of buyers and sellers is compared. Therefore, it is extremely important that they are identical.

Continuing the topic of common errors when preparing and registering invoices, which then end up in the books of purchases and sales, as well as in the VAT return, we will talk about frequent violations in transactions with prepayment. We will also provide the correct procedure for filling out invoices and registering them in the purchase and sales books.

Invoice for the balance of the advance - at the end of the tax period?

Can an organization, having shipped part of the goods on account of the received advance payment (five days after receiving the advance payment), issue an invoice for the remaining advance amount at the end of the tax period, if all operations were carried out in the same tax period? Experts from the Legal Consulting Service GARANT Nadezhda Vasilyeva and Olga Monaco answer.

The organization received an advance, then part of the goods was shipped against the received advance amount. In this case, the shipment was carried out after five calendar days, counting from the date of receipt of the advance amount. These transactions were carried out in one tax period. Does the organization have the right to issue an invoice for the remaining advance amount at the end of the tax period?

Clause 1 of Article 167 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation determines that the moment of determining the VAT tax base for the seller is the earliest of the following dates (unless otherwise provided by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation):

— day of shipment (transfer) of goods (works, services), property rights;

- the day of payment, partial payment for upcoming deliveries of goods (performance of work, provision of services), transfer of property rights.

Consequently, upon receipt of an advance payment (advance), the taxpayer is obliged to calculate VAT on this amount and, on the basis of paragraph 3 of Article 168 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, no later than five calendar days from the date of receipt, draw up the corresponding invoice. The amount of tax in this case is calculated in the manner established by paragraph 4 of Article 164 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation (clause 1 of Article 168 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

According to paragraph 14 of Article 167 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, if the moment of determining the tax base was the day of receipt of advance payment on account of upcoming deliveries of goods (performance of work, provision of services, transfer of property rights), then on the day of shipment of these goods (performance of work, provision of services, transfer of property rights) rights) against the previously received prepayment, the moment of determining the tax base also arises.

Invoices issued and (or) issued upon receipt of payment (partial payment) for upcoming deliveries of goods (work, services) or transfer of property rights are registered by the taxpayer in the sales book in accordance with paragraphs 3 and 17 of the Rules for maintaining the sales book used in calculations for value added tax, approved. Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated December 26, 2011 No. 1137.

Based on a literal reading of the norms of paragraph 14 of Article 167 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, there are no exceptions to the general rule for cases where prepayment and shipment take place in the same tax period.

This opinion is shared by the tax authorities, explaining that upon receipt of payment (partial payment) for the upcoming delivery of goods (work, services), an invoice for the amount of such advance payment must be issued without fail, even if the shipment of goods (work, services) made no more than within five days after making advances (letters of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated March 10, 2011 No. KE-4-3/3790, dated February 15, 2011 No. KE-3-3/354).

However, according to the Ministry of Finance of Russia, if the shipment of goods (work, services) is carried out within five calendar days, counting from the day of receipt of the advance payment (partial payment), invoices for such advance payment are not required to be issued to customers (letters from the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 12.10. 2011 No. 03-07-14/99, dated 03/06/2009 No. 03-07-15/39). When using these clarifications, it must be taken into account that such a conclusion does not follow from paragraph 3 of Article 168 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, but is based on the fact that upon shipment, the supplier will in any case issue an invoice, so issuing an advance invoice at the same time does not make sense , but only increases and complicates document flow. In addition, letters from the Ministry of Finance of Russia are advisory in nature, do not contain legal norms or general rules specifying regulatory requirements, and are not regulatory legal acts.

The opinion of the judiciary on this issue is fundamentally different from the position of the regulatory authorities.

Arbitration courts, in the case where prepayment and shipment occur in the same tax period, generally do not recognize such payments as advance payments for the purpose of calculating VAT, while they rely on the position of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation, which is that an advance payment cannot be recognized , received by the taxpayer in the same tax period in which the shipment took place (Resolutions of the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated March 10, 2009 No. 10022/08, dated February 27, 2006 No. 10927/05, resolutions of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Volga District dated December 22, 2008 No. A55-3598/08 , FAS Moscow District dated January 23, 2013 No. F05-15410/12, dated April 23, 2010 No. KA-A40/3908-10, dated July 17, 2008 No. KA-A41/5427-08, FAS Far Eastern District dated November 28, 2008 No. F03 -4597/2008). If you follow this position, the seller must issue invoices for the received advance payment only if the shipment of the goods for which it was received will take place in the next tax period.

Thus, in our opinion, the above position of the Federal Tax Service of Russia is the most consistent with the norms of Chapter 21 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, which do not make the obligation of taxpayers to charge VAT and issue invoices upon receipt of an advance payment dependent on the period (terms) of subsequent shipment of goods (works, services) ).

If an organization adopts a different procedure for issuing invoices for advances received, different from that recommended by the Federal Tax Service of Russia, namely, it issues an invoice for the remaining amount of the advance at the end of the tax period, then with a high probability this approach may cause a tax dispute. And in this case, there is a high probability that the organization will have to defend its position in court.

The texts of the documents mentioned in the experts’ response can be found in the GARANT legal reference system.

How to apply

Draw up an invoice for the advance received (partial payment) according to the standard form approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of December 26, 2011 No. 1137.

Please enter the following information on the invoice:

serial number and date of invoice (line 1);

name, address, tax identification number and checkpoint of the seller and buyer (lines 2–2b, 6–6b);

details of the payment document for which the advance payment was received (line 5). If during the day the buyer made an advance payment using several payment documents, indicate the details of each of them on line 5 (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated March 28, 2007 No. 03-02-07/1-140). If you received an advance in non-cash form (for example, through barter or offset), put a dash in line 5;

currency name (line 7);

name of the goods supplied (description of work, services), property rights (column 1);

prepayment amount (column 9);

estimated tax rate – 18/118 or 10/110 (column 7);

the amount of VAT based on the calculated rate (column 8).

In the lines “Consignor and his address” (line 3) and “Consignee and his address” (line 4), columns 2–6, 10 and 11, put dashes (clause 5.1 of Article 169 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Such rules are established by the Procedure approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of December 26, 2011 No. 1137, paragraph 5.1 of Article 169 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Box 1

In column 1, reflect the name of the goods (work, services, property rights), as well as details of the contract for the execution of which the advance was received.

In the column, enter the name of the goods (description of work performed, services provided, property rights) that is specified in the contract with the buyer. Even if such a name is general (for example, petroleum products, confectionery, stationery, etc.). The general name in the invoice may also be indicated in cases where the application (specification) is issued after payment.

If the contract provides for both the supply of goods and the performance of any work (provision of services), in column 1 indicate both the name of the goods supplied and a description of the work or services.

The buyer can make an advance payment for the shipment of goods (work, services, property rights), which are subject to VAT at different rates - 10 or 18 percent. Then the procedure for filling out column 1 of the invoice will depend on the terms of the agreement with the buyer. If the information contained in the contract allows you to separate the volumes and costs of goods (work, services, property rights) subject to VAT at different tax rates, separate them out in separate positions in the invoice. Otherwise, indicate the general name of the goods (works, services, property rights) and the VAT rate – 18/118.

The contract may provide for different terms for the delivery of goods (works, services, property rights), for example, the supply of goods in batches over several months. When issuing an invoice under such an agreement, the advance amount (partial payment) does not need to be divided into several items.

This procedure for filling out column 1 of invoices upon receipt of advances (partial payment) is recommended in letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 26, 2011 No. 03-07-09/22, dated March 6, 2009 No. 03-07-15/39.

An example of execution and registration of invoices upon receipt of an advance payment and upon shipment against the received advance payment

On March 2, Alfa Joint Stock Company received an advance in the amount of 12,900 rubles from the buyer Torgovaya LLC. (payment order dated March 2, 2021 No. 127).

On March 4, the Alpha accountant drew up invoice No. 133 in two copies for the amount of the advance received. He gave one copy to the buyer, and registered the second in the sales book for the first quarter.

On April 23, Alpha shipped a batch of pencils worth 12,900 rubles to the buyer. (cost – 10,932.20 rubles plus VAT – 1967.80 rubles). On the day of shipment, the accountant issued invoice No. 145 and recorded it in the sales book for the second quarter. On the same day, the accountant registered the previously issued invoice for advance payment No. 133 in the purchase book for the second quarter.

Situation: how to prepare an invoice, sales book and purchase book when returning an unpaid advance (partial payment)?

Register the original invoice for the advance payment in the purchase ledger. When returning an unpaid advance, do not fill out a new invoice.

Having received an advance from the buyer, the seller must issue an invoice for the amount received. If the contract is terminated or its terms are changed, the advance payment (partial payment) may be returned to the buyer. In this case, the seller has the right to deduct the amount of VAT that he accrued from the advance payment (partial payment) and transferred to the budget (paragraph 2, clause 5, article 171 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). To do this, the selling organization must record all adjustments associated with the return.

Do not issue a new invoice for the amount of the returned advance (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 30, 2010 No. 03-07-11/327). To justify the deduction, the invoice previously issued for the advance received (partial payment) must be recorded in the purchase ledger with the note “Return of advance payment.” In this case, in column 7 of the purchase book, indicate the details of the document confirming the return of the advance payment to the buyer (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated March 24, 2015 No. 03-07-11/16044). The registration period for such an invoice in the purchase book is also limited to one year (from the date of return of the advance (partial payment)). This follows from the provisions of paragraph 21 of Section II of Appendix 4 to the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of December 26, 2011 No. 1137. You can confirm the right to a deduction using documents indicating the termination (change of conditions) of the contract and the return of funds to the buyer (customer).

Sometimes, when the terms of the contract are changed, the amount of the advance payment exceeds the new cost of goods (work, services, property rights). For example, if the buyer refuses part of the goods or purchases goods that are subject to VAT at a lower rate than was provided for in the original agreement. If the supplier does not count the unspent part of the advance payment (partial payment) towards payment for future deliveries, he must return it to the buyer (Article 487 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). In this case, you can deduct the amount of VAT determined from the difference between the amount of the advance payment and the contract price of the goods. This conclusion follows from the provisions of paragraph 2 of paragraph 5 of Article 171 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

An example of preparing an invoice and a purchase book when receiving an advance payment for upcoming deliveries. The seller returned part of the advance payment to the buyer after changing the terms of the contract

In the first quarter, Alfa JSC received a 100% prepayment from the buyer under agreement dated February 9, 2021 No. 342 (payment order dated February 9, 2021 No. 1230). Prepayment amount – 35,400 rubles. According to the contract, the seller must supply goods that are subject to VAT at a rate of 18 percent.

In the same tax period, Alpha’s accountant issued an invoice for the amount of the advance, registered it in the sales book and charged VAT payable to the budget in the amount of 5,400 rubles. (RUB 35,400 × 18/118). In April, this amount was transferred to the budget as part of total VAT payments for the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the organizations signed an additional agreement to the original agreement. The document stipulates that the buyer refuses the initial order and purchases goods that are subject to VAT at a rate of 10 percent. The contractual cost of goods that the organization must supply taking into account the additional agreement is 29,700 rubles. (including VAT (10%) - 2700 rubles). In this case, the advance received is partially counted towards payment for goods, and partially returned to the buyer.

The excess of the prepayment over the new contract price of the goods is 5,700 rubles. (RUB 35,400 – RUB 29,700). In April, Alpha transferred this amount to the buyer’s bank account. The amount of VAT paid to the budget on part of the returned advance is 869 rubles. (5700 RUR × 18/118). The seller has the right to present this amount for deduction in the second quarter. To take advantage of the deduction, the accountant registered an invoice for the advance payment in the purchase book in the amount of 5,700 rubles. (including VAT - 869 rubles) with the note “Partial refund of advance payment under agreement dated February 9, 2021 No. 342.”

In the second quarter, Alpha shipped the entire batch of goods provided for in the additional agreement to the buyer. The accountant issued an invoice to the buyer in the amount of RUB 29,700. (including VAT - 2700 rubles) and registered it in the sales book. At the same time, he registered an invoice for the balance of the advance payment in the purchase book in the amount of 29,700 rubles. (RUB 35,400 – RUB 5,700), including VAT – RUB 4,531. (RUB 29,700 × 18/118). “Alpha” has the right to accept this amount for deduction in the second quarter.

Invoice for advance payment

At the end of last year, a letter from the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated November 30, 2006 No. b/n was issued, which sets out the position of the financial department on this issue, taking into account the opinion of the tax authorities and established judicial practice. The position of the Ministry of Finance is as follows: In accordance with paragraph 1 of Art. 154 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, when a taxpayer receives payment, partial payment for upcoming deliveries of goods (performance of work, provision of services), the tax base is determined based on the amount of payment received, taking into account tax, with the exception of payment, partial payment received by the taxpayer applying the moment of determining the tax base in accordance with paragraph 13 of Art. 167 Tax Code of the Russian Federation. In accordance with paragraph 3 of Art. 168 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, when selling goods (work, services), transferring property rights, the corresponding invoices are issued no later than five days counting from the date of shipment of the goods (performance of work, provision of services) or from the date of transfer of property rights. The procedure for maintaining a log of received and issued invoices, a purchase book is established by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated December 2, 2000 N 914 “On approval of the Rules for maintaining logs of received and issued invoices, purchase books and sales books when calculating value added tax” (hereinafter referred to as the Rules). Clause 18 of the Rules, when receiving funds in the form of advances and other payments on account of upcoming deliveries, provides for the preparation by the seller of an invoice, which is registered in the sales book. Clause 17 of the Rules obliges the seller to register “advance” invoices in the sales book in chronological order in the period when the advance payment was received, and clause 13 of the Rules - in the purchase book in the period in which the advance payment is “closed” by shipment. At the same time, the seller’s obligation to draw up an invoice upon receipt of advance payments by the said Rules is not related to the VAT tax period established by Art. 163 Tax Code of the Russian Federation. Neither the Tax Code of the Russian Federation nor the Rules stipulate a specific deadline for drawing up an “advance” invoice. According to Letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated August 25, 2005 N 03-04-11/209, even if the prepayment and shipment of goods occurred within one month, that is, in one tax period, then an invoice for the advance received must still be issued, since there are no exceptions in The Rules do not provide for such cases. A similar point of view is expressed in the Letter of the Federal Tax Service of Russia for Moscow dated 02/11/2005 N 19-11/9796. At the same time, the position of the financial department and tax authorities on this issue is at odds with established arbitration practice. According to arbitration courts, payments for goods shipped in the same tax period cannot be considered advances, including if the funds were received before the goods were shipped. This means that such payments cannot increase the tax base in the manner provided for in Art. 162 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. At the same time, the judges proceed from the fact that in relation to VAT in accordance with Art. 163 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the tax period is a month or a quarter, therefore, the tax base for this tax must be determined at the end of each calendar month or quarter. Consequently, for the purposes of calculating VAT, advance and other payments received on account of the upcoming supply of goods will be funds received by the taxpayer from buyers of goods in tax periods preceding the period in which the relevant goods are sold. This conclusion is contained, for example, in the Resolution of the FAS Moscow District dated 03/06/2006 N KA-A40/894-06 in case N A40-41215/05-107-318, the Resolution of the FAS Volga District dated 01/24/2006 N A72-6633/04 -7/498, Resolutions of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the East Siberian District dated January 24, 2006 N A33-16072/05-F02-7021/05-S1, dated September 15, 2004 N A19-5169/04-30-F02-3783/04-S1 , Resolutions of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the West Siberian District dated 02.13.2006 N F04-233/2006(19490-A03-31), dated 09.22.2004 N F04-6802/2004(A46-4924-31), Resolutions of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Ural District dated 03.02. 2004 N F09-50/04-AK. Thus, payment received earlier than the shipment of goods (performance of work, provision of services), but within the same tax period, is not an advance, therefore, the requirements of the said Rules do not apply to such payments and there is no need to prepare an invoice. If the shipment of goods (performance of work, provision of services) took place partially in the same tax period in which payment was received for the upcoming delivery of these goods (work, services), then an invoice can only be drawn up at the end of the tax period for the received payment only for the amount for which the shipment of goods (work, services) was not made before the end of the given tax period. However, taking into account the position of the financial department and tax authorities, the taxpayer may have to prove the legality of such a position in arbitration court. __________________ Olga Matteis, Director of the Audit Department of AKG “SV-Audit”

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Why control buyer advances?

Tatyana Anatolyevna Savchenko, financial director of Retail Service Group of Companies.

Accounts payable from customers are perceived by most entrepreneurs as a free monetary resource, but they forget that this resource is given for a very short time and also costs money, because All advances will be subject to either VAT or a single tax. Meanwhile, the buyer's advance is rather an unreported profit of the division. Therefore, if at the end of the month we have advances, then on the balance sheet we have a loss in the amount of accrued (on the entire amount) VAT (for OSNO) or EN (for simplified tax system). But the buyer’s accounts payable may then not be used by the buyer to cover future sales, and therefore may not be profit at all.

In addition, if you do not control the timing of fulfillment of obligations, then overdue advances carry other commercial risks, which seem quite difficult to assess. After all, untimely closing of advances is accompanied by the risk of losing the client’s trust and developing a negative reputation in the market. On the other hand, untimely processing of the advance carries the risk of non-acceptance of the services provided by the buyer and the return of the advance for the services provided, which leads to a decrease in the financial result and an additional burden on the accounting department for accounting for claim transactions and filing updated tax returns.

And is it worth keeping such a liability on the balance sheet? Let's try to calculate the diversion of funds for tax expenses for the short-term period, in which we have unclosed advances from buyers:

Let's simulate the situation using the example of sales of goods worth 100,000 rubles. (including VAT) with a cost of RUB 59,300. (without VAT):

If the shipment is not completed, then you will have to pay VAT on the advance - 100,000 / 118 * 18 = 15,254 rubles, and we will not see income from this transaction in the profit and loss statement.

If an organization that has overdue an advance payment is taxed under the simplified tax system, then the budget will need to pay the same amount as when making a sale (6% of 100,000 rubles = 6,000 rubles), only the profit will also not be generated, and the risk of return of funds will be big enough.

Thus, it turns out that at the end of this reporting period, taxes will need to be paid to the budget by 5,585 rubles more under the TSNO, and 6,000 rubles more under the simplified tax system. you must pay before the transaction is completed. It may turn out that in the next quarter you will have to pay these taxes and return the funds to the buyer in full... and then, perhaps, wait for the return of these taxes from the budget. The period for which these funds are diverted is determined by the turnover period of the buyer's accounts payable (the deadline for fulfilling the obligation to supply the goods) plus the period before filing a declaration for this tax. In conditions of cash shortages, such operations are extremely undesirable for the organization.

Of course, receiving an advance is insurance for the transaction and, in this situation, it is within our power to fulfill obligations in a timely manner, avoiding delays and interruptions in supplies.

Such a calculation forces you to treat the advances you receive with more attention than to enjoy the “free” resource. To do this, you need to understand the reasons for the occurrence of overdue advances. The reasons may be the untimely fulfillment of obligations on the part of our company, and the erroneous transfer by clients of amounts in an increased amount, and the inattention of the accountant when closing sales in advance (if the company keeps records of obligations under the contract in the context of each document), and even untimely written implementation (especially if the organization provides monthly maintenance services, and under the terms of the contract, the client pays the subscription fee in advance).

To minimize the risks associated with the occurrence of overdue accounts payable, it is necessary to clearly identify the incoming payment at the time of payment and timely take steps to process advances. For this purpose, it is advisable to regulate this process. And since customer accounts payable are closely related to accounts receivable, it is better to regulate work with accounts payable together with the regulation of work with accounts receivable in one document.

To control advances from buyers, the regulations on control of accounts receivable were supplemented with provisions on working with advances from buyers and the form of the debt register was changed.

Excerpts from the regulations for working with receivables and payables

1. GENERAL PROVISIONS

1.1. These regulations are subject to execution in all divisions of the Retail Service Group of Companies.

1.2. Responsible for the implementation of these regulations are the heads of the main business areas, who appoint specific executors responsible for monitoring advances from among the employees subordinate to them.

1.3. The chief accountant is responsible for the timely implementation of offsets to close accounts receivable.

1.4. The financial director is responsible for agreeing and updating these regulations.

2. OBJECTIVES OF CONTROL OF ADVANCES RECEIVED FROM BUYERS:

2.1. Timely closure of customer accounts receivable;

2.2. Timely fulfillment of the company’s obligations to supply goods and provide services or return excess amounts transferred.

3. Rules for monitoring buyer advances

3.1. Advances received are accounts payable and are taken into account as liabilities on the balance sheet of a specific business area in the context of contracts at the time of their formation (receipt of payment from the buyer).

3.2. In the case of receipt of funds without reference to an order or sale, the funds are accounted for as an advance payment under the specified agreement and are subsequently subject to offset against payment for sales using the FIFO method.

3.3. If there is no sales document or Order for this counterparty, then such a document must be created by the manager within 4 days from the date of receipt of the advance, or a letter must be prepared regarding the offset of this amount under another agreement and agreed upon with the buyer, otherwise such advances are considered to have been transferred incorrectly and, after reconciliation, are subject to return to the sender of funds.

3.4. The accountant who records the relevant bank statement is responsible for determining the department that receives the funds.

3.5. If upon receipt of funds it is impossible to determine the department receiving the funds, then such advances received are accounted for in a separate subaccount to account 76. A reconciliation is made and signed with the sender of the funds by the accountant, possible debts with other organizations are identified for offset, otherwise the amount of overpayment is subject to returned to the counterparty by his letter, or independently after 1 month from the date of receipt. The chief accountant is responsible for the timely return of amounts received, erroneously transferred by counterparties.

3.6. Time limits for monitoring advances received. The critical closing date for advances received is:

3.6.1. If the advance payment was received according to the “Buyer’s Order” - the date specified in the “Shipment” field;

3.6.2. If the advance payment was received without a “Buyer’s Order”, or the date is not specified in the “Shipment” field, then the date of receipt of the advance payment plus 30 days is taken.

3.7. To monitor the timeliness of closing accounts receivable from customers, the report “Register of accounts receivable and payable by customers” is used.

3.8. Accounts receivable managers are responsible for the timely use of the buyer's advance to close its receivables.

3.9. The report “Register of accounts receivable and payable by customers” with comments on overdue debts is provided by e-mail (Excel format) to the financial director weekly, on Thursdays until 14-00.

The developed register of receivables and payables of customers allows you to simultaneously group both receivables and payables of customers in the context of different divisions and legal entities of the company:

Moreover, if the advance payment is overdue, then the closing date of the advance payment is highlighted in red.

The report grouped in this way allowed us to see in one place the picture of mutual settlements for all buyer contracts. Working with this report made it easier to find information about unclosed sales documents and immediately eliminated questions about the timeliness of incoming payments for them. Since the report allows you to see information in the context of all legal entities of the company, it has become much easier to prepare documents for offset of counter obligations.

Regulations for the control of advances allowed the company's accountants to more accurately and unambiguously classify the incoming payment: now the accounting department accounts for excessively transferred funds in a separate subaccount to account 76 and does not charge VAT payable on them, which allows us not to divert funds to pay VAT or the single tax ( under the simplified tax system) according to them. And this is especially true in conditions of a shortage of free funds.

As a result of the implementation of this regulation, the measures taken to inventory accounts payable and return excessively transferred amounts previously taken into account in advances on account 62, made it possible to simultaneously reduce VAT payments to the budget by almost 70 thousand rubles.

Altai Financial Consulting Center

How to fill out the document?

The details that were described above must be correctly entered into the invoice, taking into account some features, namely:

The serial number and date of discharge in accordance with RF PP No. 451 must be indicated in the first line of the document.
As for the name, address and TIN of the seller and buyer, they must be indicated as specified in paragraph 3 of Article 1473 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. It states that a legal entity must have a full or abbreviated name of the company. Such information should be written in the second line.
The name of the paper that performs payment and settlement functions should occupy the fifth line, when filling out which you need to pay attention to clause 2 of RF Regulation No. 451.
The prepayment amount should occupy the eighth line. If received, it must be designated as prescribed in paragraph 4 of Article 164 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, namely by the method of calculation.

Important! From what is written above, it is clear that the preparation of invoices is regulated not only by the Ministry of Finance, but also by Civil and Tax laws.

For this reason, making mistakes when compiling this may result in a violation of the laws of Russia and, as a result, serious punishment. As a rule, those who make mistakes in drafting are fined various amounts. The more serious the violation, the greater the fine.

Advance and tax accrual

According to the law, if the seller has received an advance from the buyer, he must remember to charge VAT on it.

So, on the basis of paragraph 2 of Art. 153 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, when determining the tax base for VAT, revenue from sales (sales) is determined based on all income of the payer associated with settlements for payment for goods (work, services) received by him in cash or in kind.

Moreover, as a general rule, the law considers the earliest of the following dates to be the moment of determining the tax base (clause 1 of Article 167 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation):

day of shipment or transfer of goods/works/services;
the day of payment or partial payment for upcoming deliveries of goods/performance of work/provision of services.

Simply put, having received an advance payment for the supply of goods, performance of work or provision of services, the seller must charge VAT for payment to the budget. The calculated rate will be 20/120 or 10/110 (clause 4 of article 164 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

The choice of tax rate (0%, 10% or 20%) depends on the rate at which the law (Article 164 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation) applies to the sale of specific goods, performance of work or provision of services for which the seller (supplier) received an advance .

Accounting for taxable and non-taxable VAT transactions by the buyer

VAT on goods, works and services that are used to carry out activities both subject to and non-taxable to VAT must be accounted for separately . Paragraph 4 of Article 170 , which establishes this rule, is silent about the need to apply this approach in relation to prepayment, which is transferred towards the supply of such goods. Thus, the prepayment in this case is recorded in the purchase ledger as a total amount. Also, all of it can be claimed as a deduction.

When the goods for which the advance payment was transferred are received, the VAT accepted for deduction should be restored. It must then be accounted for separately. The part that corresponds to transactions subject to VAT is accepted for deduction. The remaining tax amount is written off to increase the cost of the goods.

In conclusion, let us mention one more circumstance. Accountants often make errors in deductions on advance invoices when selectively approaching their application. If you always declare (or do not declare) the deduction of VAT on prepayments, then the process has been worked out to the point of automaticity. If you use a selective approach, then each time you receive a shipping invoice you should check whether VAT has been deducted from the corresponding advance. Otherwise, it’s easy to miss the errors, and your VAT return will not pass the automatic check of the Federal Tax Service.

Deadline for issuing an advance invoice

But when is the invoice issued for the advance payment due? According to the law, when selling goods, performing work or providing services, an invoice is issued no later than 5 calendar days, counting the day of shipment of goods (performance of work, provision of services).

Accordingly, an “advance” invoice must also be issued within 5 calendar days from the date of receipt of the advance payment. This is stated in paragraph 3 of Art. 168 Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

When the last day of the period for issuing an advance invoice falls on a weekend or a non-working holiday, it must be issued no later than 1 working day following such a day (clause 7, article 6.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Example:

Issue an advance invoice no later than five calendar days from the date of receipt of the advance payment (clause 3 of Article 168 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). For example, the advance payment was received on January 29, 2021. You can issue an invoice on any of the following days: January 29, January 30, January 31, February 1 or 2, 2020.

Exhibition rules

When issuing an advance invoice, you should avoid the following misconceptions:

Drawing up invoices for advance payment and for shipment separately. You can combine documents if the prepayment and completion of the transaction fall within the same quarter or the difference between them is less than five days.
Drawing up a document once a month. The seller must send an invoice to the client within a certain period of time. Posting a document on the last day of the month or only at certain intervals is fraught with fines. And once a month you can only issue regular invoices.
Number documents or sign them with the letter “a”. An organization has the right to choose any designation method convenient for it, the main thing is that it is prescribed in the accounting policy. And if in doubt, it is better to number the accounts in chronological order.

Invoice for advance payment

Mandatory indication of “prepayment” in the name of the account. This requirement is not stated in official documents. You can specify goods or services for which the seller has received an advance payment as the purpose of payment.
The payment document number is not required. The Tax Code clearly states that the date and account number must be indicated in the 5th line. This cannot be a reason for refusing a VAT deduction, but it will complicate the process of completing documents.

Note! After receiving or transferring an advance payment, it must be reflected in the sales or purchases book in the reporting period when the document is issued.

When it is not necessary to issue an invoice for an advance payment

An invoice for an advance payment for a transaction is not issued if the advance is received against future supplies of goods (performance of work, provision of services) that satisfy one of the following conditions (paragraph 3 of clause 17 of the Rules, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated December 26. 2011 No. 1137):

have a production and manufacturing cycle duration of more than six months;
are taxed at a VAT rate of 0%;
are not subject to taxation (exempt from VAT).

According to the Russian Ministry of Finance, it is also not necessary to issue an invoice for prepayment if the shipment occurred within 5 calendar days from the date of receipt of the advance payment for this shipment (letter dated November 10, 2016 No. 03-07-14/65759).

Thus, the deadlines for issuing advance invoices have not changed recently.

If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl+Enter.

Errors in details

The invoice is the basis for the buyer to deduct VAT. If the supplier made errors in the document, then the counterparty may be denied this right. At the same time, the Ministry of Finance has repeatedly explained that the only grounds for refusing a deduction can be errors that prevent the identification of the buyer, seller, object of the transaction, its price, as well as the VAT rate and amount. But so that the buyer does not have to defend his case before the tax authority, it is better to avoid such mistakes and fill out the invoice details correctly.

First of all, indicate the invoice number and the date of its preparation. Note that advance documents must be numbered in general chronological order with shipping invoices. The lines before the tabular part indicate the full or abbreviated name of the buyer and seller, their tax identification number and checkpoint. In lines 3 and 4 of the advance invoice (Consignor and Consignee) there is a dash.

It is important to correctly indicate in line 5 the number and date of the payment for which the advance was received. Line 7 indicates the name of the currency “Russian ruble” and its code 643.

In the tabular part of the invoice for advance payment, columns 1, 7, 8 and 9 are filled in. In the rest, dashes should be added. If the advance is transferred towards the future delivery of goods with the simultaneous completion of certain work (for example, the sale of equipment and its installation), then column 1 indicates both the goods and a description of the work. Often, an advance payment is made not for any specific product, but in general for the supplier’s products. In this case, column 1 indicates the general group of goods, for example, confectionery, stationery.

Actions after receiving ASF from the supplier

An invoice for an advance payment received by the buyer must be registered in the prescribed manner (for details about what an advance invoice is and what it is needed for, read, and from this article you will learn in what cases it is issued and what is the time frame for issuing this document) . To do this, you must register it in the purchase book, where you should note the appropriate information about the account.

If you work with documents in electronic form, you can register an account using the appropriate programs. This can be done either manually or automatically.

Then, at the end of the current period in which the document was drawn up, it must certainly be submitted to the local inspectorate for its registration and the possibility of exercising the rights to the necessary deductions. No other actions are required with issued advance invoices.

When a seller receives money from a client, he must do the following:

Subtract VAT from the received amount and make an entry for accrual for payment (examples of entries below).
Prepare an invoice in 5 days (you can find out how to fill out the ASF correctly and within what time frame, and we talked about how to use indexes and prefixes to number various types of invoices).
Record this account in the sales ledger in the quarter in which the money is received.
On the day of actual shipment, issue the s/f again on account of the advance payment accepted earlier.
Send the previously accrued VAT for the shipment for payment.
And the VAT calculated upon receipt of the prepayment amount is sent for deduction.
Record the advance invoice in the appropriate purchase ledger.

The buyer needs:

accept for deduction the VAT noted in the advance invoice received from the supplier;
allocate VAT on accepted goods and materials invoiced before the payment was made and send it for deduction;
restore advance tax.

Why is it necessary?

Not a single person asked the question why create an invoice for prepayment. In accounting, an advance payment serves not only as proof of the buyer’s intentions, but also as legal confirmation of the acceptance of the amount for deduction. Simply put, it is with the help of this document that the tax base can be reduced.

Drawing up a document

For individual entrepreneurs and legal entities

The amount payable to the budget is usually 10 or 20%. The taxpayer can return the amount of VAT that he paid when purchasing goods or services. For example, a buyer purchased goods worth 120,000 rubles. The advance was 100% of the cost of the products. The Miros accountant issued an invoice for the specified amount and added VAT in the amount of 20,000 rubles. So the buyer received a document with which he can return 20,000 rubles from the purchase.

Note! It is tempting not to consider value added tax. But if the law is violated, the Federal Tax Service will add the missing amount and issue an additional fine.

The following citizens are entitled to a VAT refund:

legal entities;
Individual entrepreneur (except for companies that operate under special regime).

In other cases, an advance invoice can serve as a basis for a deduction if the following conditions are met:

there is a payment document (check);
the contract contains an advance payment clause;
the payment is recorded in the seller's sales book and in the buyer's purchase book.

Important! If the transaction is terminated for some reason, the advance payment is returned, and the buyer must restore the deduction by returning the VAT to the budget.

For individuals

For ordinary buyers, an advance invoice indicates that the money transferred has been received by a second party. This indirectly speaks of the reliability and responsibility of the company, since it maintains accounting records regularly and in a timely manner.

Invoice

In what reporting documents is it recorded?

After the prepayment for the transaction has been made and the ASFs have been created, they need to be registered.

For this purpose, as already mentioned, purchase/sales books held by the buyer and supplier are used.

Also, instead of using books, it is possible to register accounts using electronic programs (for example, 1C). How to reflect the receipt of these documents will be described below.

At the same time, regardless of the method used to prepare invoices, the period for their registration should not exceed five days from the date of receipt (in some cases determined by law - within a month).

Specifying names manually

Fill out the gr. 1 “Name of goods (description of work performed, services provided), property rights” in the document Invoice issued for advance payment can be done without preliminary settings and actions. This option can be used if:

The invoice to the buyer was not issued in 1C;
The generalized name of the goods for the advance invoice is not filled in in the Agreement or differs from what is provided for in the delivery.

Receipt of advance payment from the buyer

Receipt of payment from the buyer is reflected in the document Receipt to the current account transaction type Payment from the buyer in the Bank and cash desk section – Bank – Bank statements – Receipt button.

Invoice for payment – not filled in, because the invoice was not previously registered in the program;
According to document No. from – the number and date of the buyer’s payment order, according to the bank statement.

BukhExpert8 advises filling out the number and date of the buyer’s payment order in the document Receipt to the current account to automatically fill out Payment document No. from the document Invoice issued for advance payment . It is these data that fall into page 5 “To payment and settlement document No.__from__” of the invoice and, therefore, are indicated in gr. 11 “Number and date of document confirming payment” of the sales book. PDF

Filling out an advance invoice

How to create an Advance Invoice

The document Invoice issued for advance payment is filled out automatically based on the document Receipt to current account .

If the Invoice to the buyer was not issued in 1C or the Generalized name of goods for the advance invoice is not filled in in the Agreement , then the breakdown of the amount at VAT rates is automatically filled in as follows:

Nomenclature – remains empty;
Contents of the service, additional information - the wording Advance payment , which is extremely undesirable and may entail tax risks. In gr. 1 “Name of goods...” of the invoice is “safe” to indicate either the specific name of goods, works, services or their general name.

BukhExpert8 recommends the value Advance payment in the column Contents of the service, additional. the information manually by indicating a general or specific name of the goods.

The document also states:

The basis document is a document of receipt of payment from the buyer;
Type of invoice – For advance payment ;
Payment document No. from – number and date of the buyer’s payment order. Filled in automatically according to the data in the fields According to document No. from the base document, if necessary, you can adjust or specify manually.

Mandatory indication of the number and date of the payment order is regulated by clause 5.1 of Art. 169 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and paragraphs. clause 1 of the Rules for filling out an invoice, approved. Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated December 26, 2011 N 1137.

In the field Operation type code – “Advances received”

See also:
Invoice issued transaction type For advance payment
Calculation of VAT on advances received from buyers (non-cash)
Acceptance of VAT for deduction when offsetting advances received from buyers

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Registration options

When registering an account in the 1C program, there are several ways to register it.

Always register when receiving an advance. If you select this option, all advance invoices received will be recorded automatically for each accrued amount, with the exception of advances that were offset on the day of receipt.
Do not register credits within 5 days. In this case, invoices will be created only for those amounts that were not credited within five days from the date of receipt. This method helps to implement the requirement in the Tax Code to register accounts within 5 days (Article 168).
Amounts credited before the end of the month are not recorded. This registration option is not suitable for all cases (otherwise you may receive a fine for late registration).
You need to choose it only in situations where the supply of goods or services occurs continuously in relation to the same person.
It is suitable for advance payment for Internet access, communication, electricity services, as well as in other similar situations.
The fact that such a practice is not a violation was clarified in a letter from the Ministry of Finance dated March 6, 2009. In this case, invoices of this kind must be issued no later than the 5th day of the month following the month of transfer of the advance.
For example, the services of an Internet provider were paid in advance for July. In such a situation, the advance invoice will need to be issued no later than July 5 of the same year.
Do not register accounts offset until the end of the tax period. The use of this clause is quite controversial and may cause disagreements with the tax authorities. It should be used only by those companies that are ready to defend their position.
The ability to choose this option is due to the following: there is an opinion that the name “advance payment” should not apply to payments accrued in the same period in which the shipment occurs, since then they do not correspond to the very concept of “advance payment”.
And if so, then there is no need to prepare advance accounts for the current period. However, it should be said once again that if you choose this option, disputes with the tax service will be ensured.
Do not register incoming payments as advance payments at all. It is suitable only for organizations designated in the Tax Code in Article 167. These include companies with a long production cycle of final products exceeding 6 months.

The payer may be fined for failure to issue an ESCF from January 1, 2020

Igor Skrinnikov recalled that in accordance with the Tax Code of Belarus, from January 1, 2021, only electronic invoices will be used to make VAT calculations and apply tax deductions. Administrative penalties may be applied to payers who do not issue (send) ESFF.

Payers who do not issue (send) ESFF from January 1, 2021 may be subject to administrative penalties in accordance with Article 13.8 of the Administrative Code. This was announced at the press conference “Taxation 2020: the most important changes in legislation” in the BelTA press center, the head of the main department of taxation methodology for organizations of the Ministry of Taxes and Duties of Belarus, Igor Skrinnikov, answering a question from a GB.BY correspondent.

We recommend reading: Consignment Note 2021 Application

In manual mode

There are two main ways to register ASF in the 1C program. The first one is the manual method. It is suitable when you have to register a small number of accounts. Instructions:

In order to draw up a document in this way, you need to select the button in the documents for advance payment section: create based on. From the options that appear, select “invoice issued.”
Once this item is selected, a separate account window will appear.
After this, you only need to check that all the data is filled out correctly and click on the “conduct” icon, after which the document will be completed.

Generating an advance invoice in 1C

Options for creating an advance invoice

In 1C there are two main options for creating an invoice for an advance received from a buyer:

Based on the payment receipt document – Create button based on – Invoice issued.

The document Invoice issued for advance payment can be created only if the transactions of the payment receipt document reflect the advance received from the buyer.

By processing Registration of invoices for advance payments in the section Bank and cash desk – Registration of invoices – Invoices for advance payments.

Processing Registration of advance invoices is used not only for group issuance of advance invoices, but also when the document Invoice issued for advance payment cannot be created on the basis of the advance payment document, for example, when:
adjustment of sales downwards;
issuing advance invoices only for the balance of the unaccounted advance at the end of the period.

What should I do if, when generating the document Invoice issued for advance payment, an error occurs due to the lack of data for issuing it PDF or the required payment document is not displayed in the Registration of invoices for advance payment ?

To fix such errors you need to check:

whether the program accurately determined the payment as an advance.
To do this, generate a report on the settlement accounts used in the payment document in the context of the specified agreement, for example, the Subconto Analysis report. And make sure that the program classifies the payment from the buyer as an advance.

Is there an invoice already issued for this payment?
The button will help you Related documents in the payment document. It is possible to create only one Invoice document for one payment document and the issued transaction type is Advance payment.

The method you choose to create an advance invoice does not affect the completion of the document Invoice issued for advance payment .

Filling out the fields of the printed invoice form

To understand what you need to pay attention to when filling out the document Invoice issued for advance payment , let’s consider what data is included in the printed form.

On page 5 “To the payment and settlement document No.__from__” of the invoice, the data in the fields Payment document No. from the document Invoice issued for advance payment .

If in the document Invoice issued for advance payment there is wording in the Nomenclature and Service Content columns, additional. information differs from each other, then in gr. 1 “Name of goods (description of work performed, services provided), property rights” of the printed form of the invoice displays the following information:

from the column Contents of service, additional. information , if completed;
from the column Nomenclature , if the column Contents of the service, additional. information is not filled in.

Let's look at an example of how to fill out the document Invoice issued for an advance payment in case of receiving an advance payment in non-cash form and look at different options for filling out the form. 1 “Name of goods (description of work performed, services provided), property rights.”

Automatically

In a situation where there are a lot of incoming invoices, registering them manually becomes inconvenient and time-consuming. In this case, it is better to set automatic registration. Instructions:

To do this, you need to go to the “banks and cash desks” subsection, where you can find “advance accounts.” After selecting this item, a window will appear in which you should select the period for which documents will be generated.
Then you need to click the “fill in” button and select all unregistered accounts. At the same time, the list can be easily adjusted and, if necessary, delete unnecessary ones or add new documents.
When all the necessary advance invoices from the supplier have been selected, all that remains is to click on the “execute” button, after which they will be processed - this way all the rules of ASF offset will be observed. The list of all completed documents can be opened at any time by clicking on the link: “ open a list of advance accounts."

Indication of the generic name in the Agreement

For automatic indication in gr. 1 advance invoice of the generalized name of the goods supplied is necessary:

indicate the generic name in the Contracts directory;
draw up documents: Receipt to the current account ;
Invoice issued for advance payment.

Indication of the generic name in the Agreement

Generalized name for filling out the tabular part Explanation of the amount according to the VAT rates of the document An invoice issued for an advance payment is set in the Contracts the VAT link in the field Generalized name of goods for an advance invoice . The name of goods, works, services is selected from the Nomenclature directory.

You can specify only one general name under the contract, therefore, if the supply of goods is provided that cannot be attributed to one name:
In the contract, indicate the most frequently used name;
If necessary, manually adjust the name in the document Invoice issued for advance payment .

Receipt of advance payment from the buyer

Invoice for payment – is not filled in, because the invoice for payment was not previously registered in the program;
According to document No. from – the number and date of the buyer’s payment order, according to the bank statement.

BukhExpert8 advises filling out the number and date of the buyer’s payment order in the document Receipt to the current account to automatically fill out Payment document No. from the document Invoice issued for advance payment . It is these data that fall into page 5 “To payment and settlement document No.__from__” of the invoice and, therefore, are indicated in gr. 11 “Number and date of document confirming payment” of the sales book. PDF

Filling out an advance invoice

How to create an Advance Invoice

The document Invoice issued for advance payment is filled out automatically based on the document Receipt to current account .

To automatically fill in a generic name in the document Invoice issued for advance payment :

in the Agreement under which payment was received, the Generalized name of goods for the advance invoice ;
The Invoice field in the Receipt to Current Account must be empty.

The document states:

The basis document is a document of receipt of payment from the buyer;
Type of invoice – For advance payment ;
Payment document No. from – number and date of the buyer’s payment order. Filled in automatically according to the data in the fields According to document No. from the base document, if necessary, you can adjust or specify manually.

Mandatory indication of the number and date of the payment order is regulated by clause 5.1 of Art. 169 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and paragraphs. clause 1 of the Rules for filling out an invoice, approved. Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated December 26, 2011 N 1137.

In the section Explanation of the amount according to VAT rates it is indicated:

Nomenclature – a generalized name of goods, works, services specified in the Agreement ;

If a general name is indicated in the Agreement , but payment was received by invoice, the breakdown of the amount at VAT rates is filled in with specific items indicated in the invoice.

Contents of the service, additional information - filled in manually if it is necessary to clarify the Nomenclature . Then the data from this column will appear on the printed invoice form;
Amount – prepayment amount;
% VAT – estimated VAT rate indicated in the buyer’s invoice;
VAT – VAT calculated from the Amount and % of VAT .

In the field Operation type code – “Advances received”

Which transactions correspond to the issued document?

When an advance payment is received, a transaction is generated that records the funds received in the account of the service provider (seller). Then, after the advance invoice is prepared by the seller and received by the buyer, the completed invoices are posted when they are registered.

This can be done either on an individual account basis or in a generally automated manner (as explained earlier).

The seller's wiring will be something like this:

debit 51 Credit 62ав – advance money received from the buyer;
debit 62av. Credit 68 – the accrual of added tax, which is allocated from the advance payment, is noted;
debit 62 Credit 90.1 – income from the sale of inventory and materials is noted in the advance account;
debit 90.3 Credit 68 – VAT is charged on the sales transaction;
debit 68 Credit 62av. – advance VAT is accepted for deduction;
debit 62av. Credit 62 rub. – prepaid money is counted.

And in accounting:

Deb. 60 av. Credit. 51 – receiving an advance.
Deb. 68 Cred. 60 Av – tax on prepayment is deductible.
Deb. 19 Cred. 60 rubles – tax is allocated according to the goods and materials received.
Deb. 68 Cred. 19 – income tax is accepted as a deduction.
Deb. 60 av Cred. 68 – advance VAT restored.
Deb. 60 RUR Credit. 60 Av – advance payment is counted.

As can be seen from the content of this article, the use of electronic programs for registering various accounts (including advance accounts) is preferable. It allows you to store all the necessary information in one place, and due to the interconnectedness of documents, the possibility of making errors in them is minimal.

In addition, mass automatic filling of documents allows you to significantly save working time.

Failure to issue invoices

Agreeing with buyers on the possibility of drawing up and issuing invoices to them in electronic form will reduce the volume of paper document flow, but will not cancel the obligation of the taxpayer-seller to issue such invoices to buyers. In this case, invoices will have to be drawn up and issued in the legally established format and procedure.

Many trading companies strive to optimize document flow and work with customers, including by abandoning the preparation of invoices, which in fact is fraught with many pitfalls.
Let's consider the possibility of using three options for optimizing work with buyers who use a simplified taxation system and, accordingly, are not VAT payers, and simplifying document flow, namely: 1) canceling the printing of invoices and saving them only in pdf format on the server for filling out purposes sales books; 2) signing with each distributor an additional agreement to the sales contracts on the cancellation of invoices; 3) changing the format of the purchase and sale agreement to a personal consumption agreement.