The Ministry of Finance proposed to expand the criteria for business participation in tax monitoring

The Ministry of Finance proposed expanding the criteria for business participation in tax monitoring – the draft amendments to the Tax Code provide for lowering the thresholds for entering this regime from 1 billion rubles. assets and turnover of companies up to 800 million rubles, as well as from 100 million to 80 million rubles. taxes paid per year. It is assumed that this will involve medium-sized businesses in monitoring and 150 more companies will be added to the 445 companies already connected to the system in 2024. He welcomes the business initiative as a whole, noting that companies working “white hat” are interested in automated data exchange with the tax service.

The Ministry of Finance has published draft amendments to the Tax Code, which, in particular, provide for the expansion of the tax monitoring mechanism. Recall that it was introduced in 2016 and involves the voluntary opening of online accounting and tax accounting companies to tax authorities in exchange for exemption from tax audits. When risks are identified, monitoring companies can avoid fines by eliminating violations.

Initially, the mechanism was available for large companies – with a turnover and assets of 3 billion rubles. and the amount of taxes paid for the previous year from 300 million rubles. (in the first years, such companies as Rosneft, Gazprom, Aeroflot became its participants). Now agreements with the Federal Tax Service can be concluded by companies with a turnover and assets of more than 1 billion rubles. and taxes paid for 100 million rubles. (Thresholds have been abolished for participants in investment protection and promotion agreements, and monitoring is mandatory for them). According to the Federal Tax Service, 445 companies from 18 industries are now connected to the system.

According to the bill of the Ministry of Finance, the requirements for the size of turnover and assets are reduced to 800 million rubles, taxes paid for the previous year – to 80 million rubles. The list of those for whom compliance with these criteria is not mandatory is expanding at the expense of state and municipal institutions. Lowering the thresholds, according to the Federal Tax Service, will allow medium-sized businesses to take advantage of monitoring – from 2024, an increase in the number of participants by another 150 companies is expected.

The Ministry of Finance reported that “expanding the perimeter of tax monitoring is a strategic goal” laid down in the concept for the development of this mechanism. Monitoring, the department adds, allows reducing the administrative burden on taxpayers and “shifting the focus from punishing a tax offense to preventing it from being committed.”

The Federal Tax Service notes that monitoring “allows for predictability of the fiscal burden, reduces the volume of required documents, and due to the possibility of obtaining a reasoned opinion from the tax authorities, the risks of additional charges are reduced.”

Let us clarify that reasoned opinions can be drawn up both at the request of the business itself, for example, on the correctness of tax calculation (as of May, 172 opinions were compiled), and at the initiative of the tax service, which noticed errors (35). The amendments expand the grounds for submitting opinions on the initiative of the tax authorities – due to cases of establishing the fact of incorrect determination of the actual costs by the participant of the SZPK, for which state support is provided.

Tax partner of Technologies of Trust Ekaterina Ryabova believes that the number of monitoring participants can grow by more than 50% – in Russia there are more than 19 thousand enterprises with annual revenues of 1 billion rubles. and about 16 thousand more companies – from 800 million to 1 billion rubles. The business community supports the project. According to a Kommersant source close to the RSPP, “participation in monitoring increases the efficiency of interaction between companies and the tax authorities, reduces risks.” Kirill Nikitin, head of the expert center for tax and budget policy at Delovaya Rossiya, believes that the increase in the availability of the mechanism for medium-sized businesses “can not but be welcomed”, but “far from all taxpayers meeting the new criteria will run to join the monitoring, and not everyone should be taken there “The determining factor will be the trust of the parties to each other.” Andrey Shubin, Executive Director of Opora Rossii, adds that this is interesting for companies that work “white hat”, but they must meet the technical requirements in terms of the possibility of remote interaction with the tax office – “this is a rather expensive story, and this can be a snag.”

Evgenia Kryuchkova