The enterprise carries out dozens of operations every day. Accountants send money to counterparties, funds and founders, calculate salaries, receive computers and furniture, charge penalties, calculate depreciation, etc. For each such operation it is necessary to draw up a primary document (Clause 1, Article 9 Federal Law dated 06.12.2011 No. 402-FZ “On Accounting”, hereinafter Law No. 402-FZ).

The primary document is created at the time of the transaction or upon its completion as confirmation of the fact of the transaction (Clause 3 of Article 9 of Law No. 402-FZ). Based on the primary data, accountants make entries.

An invoice, an act for the provision of services for creating a website, an accounting certificate - all these are primary documents that accountants use in their daily work. There are many types of primary products, and their diversity depends on the characteristics of the company’s activities. For example, in a transport company one of the main types primary documentation There will be a bill of lading, and in the library there will be an act of writing off literature.

Primary documents are supposed to be stored at the enterprise for at least five years, and the period begins to count after the reporting year (Clause 1, Article 29 of Law No. 402-FZ). That is, a document dated 07/03/2016 must be stored at least until 2021 inclusive. Separate storage periods for primary products are established by the List approved by Order of the Ministry of Culture dated August 25, 2010 No. 558. For safety accounting documents Enterprises often create special archives.

The primary document can be paper or electronic. In practice, more and more more companies use electronic document management (EDF). In particular, companies exchange contracts, invoices for payment, acts, delivery notes and invoices.

EDI significantly simplifies the procedure for processing primary documents from the moment they are created to the moment they are recorded, and speeds up work between counterparties. A big plus is that electronic documents do not need to be printed if this does not contradict the law or the terms of the contract (Clause 6, Article 9 of Law No. 402).

The electronic document is certified by a qualified electronic signature. If the parties make an appropriate decision, the primary document can be signed with a simple or unqualified signature (letter of the Department of Tax and Customs Policy of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated September 12, 2016 No. 03-03-06/2/53176).

The absence of primary documents in a company may entail a serious fine of 10,000 to 30,000 rubles (Article 120 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Tax authorities will also issue a fine for errors in registration. In addition, persons responsible for processing documents may be fined under Article 15.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation in the amount of 2,000 to 3,000 rubles. There is another danger: if during the audit the tax authorities do not find the required document, they can remove part of the expenses from the tax base, therefore, the company will have to pay additional income tax.

Mandatory details of the primary document

Only the primary document with all the required details has legal force (clause 4 of article 9 of Law No. 402-FZ):

1. title (for example, “Act of services rendered”, “ Payment order", "Accounting information");
2. Date of preparation;
3. name of the document originator (for example, OJSC SKB Kontur, LLC Soyuz, IP Ivanova E.V.);
4. the content of the document or business transaction (for example, “Internet access services”, “Materials transferred for processing”, “Payment of the invoice for office supplies”, “Interest accrued under the loan agreement”);
5. natural and monetary indicators (pieces, meters, rubles, etc.);
6. responsible positions (for example, “Accountant”, “Storekeeper”, “HR Manager”, “Head of Sales Department”, etc.);
7. personal signatures of the parties.

A properly executed document will help if necessary in legal proceedings, for example, when the buyer does not pay the debt or tries to invalidate the transaction. But a document with errors or fictitious signatures can play a cruel joke - so you should never sign for the supplier if he suddenly forgot to sign. Carefully store all primary documents and always carefully check all the details in incoming documents.

In practice, it is still possible to encounter customer complaints regarding the lack of a seal. Let us remind you that as of 04/07/2015, the seal has been canceled for most organizations and can be used at will (Federal Law of 04/06/2015 No. 82-FZ). Information about the organization's seal must be specified in the charter. If the counterparty insists on putting a stamp, and you do not have one legally, you can notify the counterparty in writing about its absence and provide an extract from the accounting policy.

Forms of primary documents

In your work, you can use unified and your own forms of primary documents (clause 4, article 9 of the Federal Law of December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ “On Accounting”). In this case, a homemade primary document must have all the required details. Many companies are forced to develop their own version of the materials write-off act, since there is no unified form of the document.

It is permissible to use a combined form of the primary document, when the unified form is taken as a basis and supplemented with the necessary columns or lines. In this case, all mandatory details must be preserved (Resolution of the State Statistics Committee of the Russian Federation dated March 24, 1999 No. 20).

The company’s choice regarding the primary forms used must be written down in accounting policy.

In the process of activity, the need for new primary documents may arise, then they can be developed and approved by the accounting policy.

Note! Since your counterparty can also use an independently developed primary document, your accounting policy must indicate that you also accept these documents for accounting.

For most documents, you have the right not to use unified forms, but cash transactions should be completed only according to approved forms documents (information of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation No. PZ-10/2012).

Types of primary documents

Specialists can find the main forms of primary documents in albums of unified forms approved by the resolutions of the State Statistics Committee of the Russian Federation. Here are the most common ones.

Documents for accounting of trade transactions

• TORG-12;
• Product label;
• Universal transfer document.

Documents for accounting of fixed assets

• OS-1 “Act on acceptance and transfer of fixed assets (except for buildings, structures)”;
• OS-4 “Act on write-off of fixed assets”;
• OS-6 " Inventory card accounting for fixed assets."

Primary cash register

Cash transactions are processed exclusively in accordance with the Procedure cash transactions(Instruction of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation dated March 11, 2014 No. 3210-U). It is impossible, for example, to register a “consumables” in free form or develop your own version.

The forms of primary cash documents are approved by Resolution of the State Statistics Committee of the Russian Federation dated August 18, 1998 No. 88:

• KO-1 “Cash receipt order”;
• KO-2 “Cash expenditure order”;
• KO-3 “Journal of registration of incoming and outgoing cash documents”;
• KO-4 " Cash book»;
• KO-5 “Registration book of accepted and issued by the cashier Money».

Cash documents need to be checked very scrupulously, because such primary documents are directly related to the movement of cash and always attract the attention of the inspection authorities. For example, tax authorities will definitely pay attention to PKO, in which the amount exceeds 100,000 rubles. And all because you cannot pay in cash with one counterparty in an amount exceeding 100,000 rubles. The absence of signatures in cash documents will also be a reason for proceedings with the Federal Tax Service.

Let's summarize. So, primary documents are an integral part of accounting and tax accounting. Transactions cannot be carried out without supporting documents. Often accountants create accounting entries based on a copy or scan of the primary document. It is very important to replace copies with original documents in a timely manner, otherwise regulatory authorities may consider the operation or transaction fictitious. Only documents drawn up in accordance with the law are a guarantee of the security and reliability of accounting in the company.

On January 1, 2013, Federal Law No. 402-FZ dated December 6, 2011 “On Accounting” (hereinafter referred to as Law No. 402-FZ) came into force. It does not contain requirements for the need to compile primary accounting documents according to unified forms. Does this mean that absolutely all previously used unified forms are not required to be used?

The issue of registration of primary accounting documents is extremely important for business entities. After all, documents drawn up in accordance with the law, in particular, confirm for the purposes of calculating income tax the expenses incurred by the taxpayer, and also prove the validity of applying VAT deductions. Therefore, the use of documents whose forms do not correspond established requirements, may lead to unfavorable consequences for business entities.

1. Drawing up primary accounting documents

In accordance with Part 1 of Art. 9 of Law N 402-FZ, each fact of economic life is recorded as a primary accounting document. Let us note that until January 1, 2013, in accordance with paragraph 1 of Art. 9 of the Federal Law of November 21, 1996 N 129-FZ “On Accounting” (hereinafter referred to as Law N 129-FZ), the specified document was drawn up for each business transaction. However, the concepts business transaction" and "a fact of economic life" are not identical.

A fact of economic life is a transaction, event, operation that has or is capable of influencing financial position economic entity, financial results its activities and (or) cash flow (clause 8 of Article 3 of Law No. 402-FZ). Law No. 129-FZ did not define the concept of “business operations”, but from paragraph 2 of Art. 1 of this Law it followed that all operations carried out by organizations in the course of their activities were recognized as such.

Thus, the concept of “fact of economic life” contained in Law No. 402-FZ is broader than the concept of “business transaction”, which was used in Law No. 129-FZ. And here it arises main question, which worries specialists: what facts of economic life can be documented with primary accounting documents, which are compiled according to forms independently developed by the organization, and when does the use of unified forms remain mandatory? After all, the resolutions of the State Statistics Committee of the Russian Federation, which approved unified forms of primary accounting documentation, not cancelled.

2. Own forms of primary accounting documents

According to Part 4 of Art. 9 of Law N 402-FZ forms of primary accounting documents used by the organization (with the exception of organizations public sector), must be approved by the head of the organization. At the same time, this Law does not contain a requirement for the mandatory use of unified forms. Let us recall that before January 1, 2013, it was possible to use independently developed forms of primary documents only if the required form was not available in the albums of unified forms of primary accounting documentation (clause 2 of Article 9 of Law No. 129-FZ). However, we note that even when drawing up primary documents not according to unified forms, taxpayers managed to defend in court the legality of recognizing expenses (for more details, see the Encyclopedia controversial situations for income tax).

When developing your own forms of primary accounting documents, you can take the unified forms as a basis, adding or removing some of the details. In addition, it is advisable to use GOST R 6.30-2003 "Organizational and administrative documentation. Requirements for document preparation."

When developing, it should be taken into account that the primary accounting document must necessarily contain the details listed in Part 2 of Art. 9 of Law No. 402-FZ:

Name and date of preparation of the document;

Name of the economic entity that compiled the document;

The value of the natural and (or) monetary measurement of a fact of economic life, indicating the units of measurement;

Signatures, surnames (with initials), as well as positions of the persons who made the transaction, operation and are responsible for the correctness of its execution, or of the persons responsible for the accuracy of the execution of the event.

It must be borne in mind that the list of details for individual primary accounting documents can be expanded by others regulations. For example, the requirements for the details of the waybill are contained in Order of the Ministry of Transport of Russia dated September 18, 2008 N 152, adopted in pursuance of Part 1 of Art. 6 of the Federal Law of November 8, 2007 N 259-FZ “Charter of Road Transport and Urban Ground Electric Transport”.

As already mentioned, the head of the organization needs to approve the used forms of primary accounting documents (Part 4, Article 9 of Law No. 402-FZ).

It should also be noted that the primary accounting document can be drawn up in in electronic format(Part 5 of Article 9 of Law No. 402-FZ). And as you know, for exchange electronic documents It is necessary that participants in electronic document flow have compatible document formats. Accordingly, when developing your own forms of documents and their formats, difficulties will arise in implementing electronic document management. Let us note that on the basis of unified forms, recommended formats for widely used documents have already been developed and approved by Order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated March 21, 2012 N ММВ-7-6/172@: invoice of goods (TORG-12) and acceptance certificate for works (services). These documents can be submitted electronically to the tax authority (to confirm expenses for the purpose of calculating income tax and for other purposes at the request of the inspectorate) and counterparties.

3. Unified forms of primary accounting documents

Since January 1, 2013, there is no requirement to use unified forms when preparing primary accounting documents in Law N 402-FZ, but their use is common for many business entities. Besides, independent development document forms other than the unified ones require time, special knowledge and additional setup costs software under new forms, and the use of such forms can cause difficulties in working both within the organization and with counterparties.

Law No. 402-FZ does not contain a ban on the use of unified forms, so they can still be applied by approving such a decision in the accounting policy or by a separate order of the manager.

In addition, refusing to use all unified forms is quite risky.

In Information No. PZ-10/2012, the Ministry of Finance of Russia noted that the forms of primary accounting documents established for use remain mandatory authorized bodies in accordance with and on the basis of other federal laws (for example, forms of cash documents).

Indeed, the Regulations on the procedure for conducting cash transactions with banknotes and coins of the Bank of Russia in the territory Russian Federation(approved by the Bank of Russia on October 12, 2011 N 373-P) provides for the use of the following unified forms:

Receipts and expenses cash orders(forms N KO-1 and KO-2);

- (form N KO-4);

Book of accounting of funds accepted and issued by the cashier (Form N KO-5);

Settlement and payment statements (forms N T-49 and T-53).

These forms are approved by Resolutions of the State Statistics Committee of the Russian Federation dated 08/18/1998 N 88, dated 01/05/2004 N 1.

Note that these are not all unified forms, which are still mandatory for use in 2013, despite the freedom provided to develop your own forms.

In addition, the failure to use standardized forms of documents when recording labor and its payment may lead to undesirable consequences for organizations. The next section of this special issue is devoted to the issue of using these forms.

There are other mandatory forms of primary documents. However, the requirement contained in Part 4 of Art. 9 of Law N 402-FZ, general: the forms must be approved by the head of the economic entity. Therefore, in order to avoid disagreements with regulatory authorities, it is better to approve the use of unified forms by order of the manager or provide for it in the accounting policy.

4. Features of the use of unified forms of primaryaccounting documents for labor accounting and payment

The issue of using unified forms to document events that occur in the field of labor relations (hiring an employee, granting him leave, etc.) deserves special attention.

According to Rostrud, after Law No. 402-FZ came into force, that is, from January 1, 2013, non-governmental organizations has the right to use forms of primary accounting documents developed by them independently (Letter dated February 14, 2013 N PG/1487-6-1).

As an example, Rostrud mentions the employee’s personal card (Form N T-2) and notes that the primary accounting document must contain all the mandatory details established by Part 2 of Art. 9 of Law No. 402-FZ. The form of the employee’s personal card (form N T-2), as well as other unified forms of primary accounting documents for recording labor and its payment, was approved by Resolution of the State Statistics Committee of the Russian Federation dated January 5, 2004 N 1 (hereinafter referred to as Resolution N 1).

At the same time, it is necessary to take into account that the requirements for the use of this unified form for maintaining military registration clause 27 of the Regulations on Military Registration is established (approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of November 27, 2006 N 719 in accordance with clause 6 of Article 8 of the Federal Law of March 28, 1998 N 53-FZ “On Military Duty and Military Service”).

Considering the issue of preparing primary documents when sending an employee on a business trip, the Ministry of Labor of Russia in Letter No. 14-2-291 dated February 14, 2013 noted that the relevant documents (in particular, a travel certificate) must be drawn up according to the forms approved by Resolution No. 1.

The Ministry of Finance of Russia in Information No. PZ-10/2012 indicated that from January 1, 2013, forms of primary accounting documents established by authorized bodies in accordance with other federal laws and on the basis of such laws remain mandatory.

In addition, it should be noted that the requirements for primary accounting documents contained in Art. 9 of Law N 402-FZ can only be partially applied to documents used to document events in the field of labor relations. So, in part 5 of Art. 9 of Law N 402-FZ provides for the possibility of drawing up a primary accounting document in electronic form. In the same time Labor Code The Russian Federation and other regulatory legal acts containing labor law norms do not allow this possibility. For example, in para. 3 clause 26 of the Regulations on the peculiarities of sending employees on business trips, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of October 13, 2008 N 749, it is directly established that the employee’s report on the work performed on a business trip is submitted to the employer in writing. Unified forms of an official assignment, a report on its completion and a travel certificate are also contained in Resolution No. 1.

Taking into account the above, we can come to the conclusion that the execution of documents using independently developed forms for recording labor and its payment may cause claims from the inspection authorities, since new form the labor legislation requirements for a specific document may not be taken into account (not fully taken into account).

For example, it should contain columns in which it is necessary to enter information about the work performed, transfer to another permanent job and dismissal (clause 12 of the Rules for maintaining and storing work books, producing work book forms and providing them to employers, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of April 16, 2003 N 225). At the same time, this information is not included in the list given in Part 2 of Art. 9 of Law No. 402-FZ.

Thus, with regard to the preparation of documents on labor accounting and payment, at present it is more expedient for organizations to use the unified forms approved by Resolution No. 1. And, as already noted, the use of these unified forms in accordance with Part 4 of Art. 9 of Law N 402-FZ must be approved either by a separate order of the head of the organization or by an appendix to the accounting policy.

Source documents accounting important both in accounting matters and in determining the volume tax obligations. It is important for the company specialist responsible for drawing up primary accounting documents to clearly understand the content and forms of such documents, as well as to know the specifics of maintaining accounting registers.

The role of the primary document in accounting

Primary documents are documents with the help of which the company formalizes the economic events that occurred at the enterprise (Clause 1, Article 9 of the Law “On Accounting” dated December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ).

The first thing that accountants of any organization should clearly understand is that today there is no specific mandatory list of forms for primary accounting documents. Any company determines for itself the forms of primary documents depending on the purpose of their use.

However, for such documents a list of mandatory details is legally established (Clause 2, Article 9 of Law No. 402-FZ).

IMPORTANT! The forms used in accounting must be fixed in the accounting policy of the organization (clause 4 of PBU 21/2008, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated October 6, 2008 No. 106n).

List of possible primary accounting documents

The list of primary accounting documents in 2018-2019 may be as follows:

1. Packing list. This is a document that reflects the list of transferred goods material assets. The invoice is issued in 2 copies and contains information that is subsequently reflected in the invoice. The invoice is signed by representatives of both parties involved in the transaction and certified by a seal (if the company uses it in its practice).

1. Record of acceptance. It is drawn up upon completion of certain works (services) to confirm that the result of the work meets the original requirements of the contract.

See a sample of such an act.

1. Primary documents for payment of wages to personnel (for example, pay slips).

For more information about these statements, see the article “Sample of filling out the payroll statement T 49” .

1. Documents related to the presence of fixed assets - here the company can draw up such documentation from the list of primary accounting documents:

• Certificate of acceptance and transfer of fixed assets in the OS-1 form - upon receipt or disposal of an object not related to buildings or structures.

For more information about this act, see the material "Unified form No. OS-1 - Certificate of acceptance and transfer of fixed assets" .

• If the fixed asset is a building or structure, then its receipt or disposal is formalized by an act in the OS-1a form.

For more details, see the article “Unified form No. OS-1a - form and sample” .

• The write-off of an asset is formalized by an act in the OS-4 form.

For more details, see the material “Unified form No. OS-4 - Act on decommissioning of an asset” .

• If it is necessary to document the fact of the inventory carried out, a inventory list OS in the INV-1 form.

For more information about such a primary document, see the article “Unified form No. INV-1 - form and sample” .

• If the inventory was carried out in relation to intangible assets, then the inventory will be compiled according to the INV-1a form.

For more information, see the material “Unified form No. INV-1a - form and sample” .

1. A separate group of primary documents are cash documents. These include, in particular, the following list of primary accounting documents for 2018-2019:

• Receipt cash order.

For more information on its compilation, see the article “How is a cash receipt order (PKO) filled out?” .

• Account cash warrant.

1. Payment order.

Read about the rules for preparing this document.

1. Advance report.

1. The act of offsetting mutual claims.

Read about the specifics of using this document.

1. Accounting information.

For information on the principles of its design, see the material “Accounting certificate of error correction - sample”.

The above list does not exhaust the entire scope of primary documents used in accounting, and can be expanded depending on the characteristics of accounting carried out in each specific organization.

IMPORTANT! They are not primary accounting documents from the 2018-2019 list - the list was proposed above:

• Agreement. This is a document that stipulates the rights, obligations and responsibilities of the parties involved in the transaction, the terms and procedure for payment, special conditions etc. His data is used to organize accounting based on the analytics of settlements with counterparties, but he himself does not generate accounting transactions.
• Check. This document reflects the amount that the buyer agrees to pay by accepting the supplier's terms. The invoice may contain Additional Information on the terms of the transaction (terms, payment and delivery procedures, etc.), i.e. it supplements the contract.
• Invoice. This document is drawn up for tax purposes, since on its basis buyers accept for deduction the amounts of VAT presented by suppliers (clause 1 of Article 169 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Thus, in the absence of other documents characterizing a particular transaction, it will be impossible to confirm expenses for this transaction with an invoice (letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated June 25, 2007 No. 03-03-06/1/392, Federal Tax Service dated March 31, 2006 No. 02-3 -08/31, resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the East Siberian District dated April 19, 2006 No. A78-4606/05-S2-20/317-F02-1135/06-S1).

It should be borne in mind that the unified forms of primary accounting documents given in the list are not mandatory for use, since since 2013 (after the adoption of Law No. 402-FZ), forms of such forms can be developed independently. But in most cases they continue to be used. Therefore, in 2018-2019, the list of unified forms of primary accounting documents contained in the resolutions of the State Statistics Committee continues to remain relevant.

What information should the forms of primary documents contain?

Despite the fact that there are currently no mandatory primary documents for all forms, the legislator has established requirements for the content of such documents. The list of mandatory details that must be contained in each primary document is given in paragraph 2 of Art. 9 of Law No. 402-FZ. These are, in particular:

• document's name;
• the date on which such document was drawn up;
• information about the person who compiled the document (name of the company or individual entrepreneur);
• the essence of the fact of economic life that was formalized by this document;
• monetary, numerical characteristics, measures of the event that occurred (for example, in what volume, in what units and for what amount were the products sold to customers);
• information about the responsible specialists who documented the event, as well as the signatures of such specialists.

Primary documents and accounting registers

How can primary accounting documents be classified?

If the primary document was issued by the company itself, then it can belong either to the group of internal or to the group of external. A document that is drawn up within the company and extends its effect to the compiler company is an internal primary document. If the document was received from the outside (or compiled by the company and issued to the outside), then it will be an external primary document.

The company's internal documents are divided into the following categories:

• Primary administrative documents are those with which a company gives orders to any of its structural units or employees. This category includes company orders, instructions, etc.
• Executive primary documents. In them, the company reflects the fact that a certain economic event has occurred.
• Documentation accounting registration. With their help, the company systematizes and summarizes information contained in other administrative and supporting documents.

After a business event has been documented as a primary document, it is then necessary to reflect the event in the accounting registers. They, in fact, are carriers of ordered information; they accumulate and distribute the characteristics and indicators of business transactions.

By appearance The following registers are distinguished:

• books;
• cards;
• free sheets.

Based on the method of maintaining the register, the following groups are distinguished:

• Chronological registers. They record the events that happened sequentially - from the first in time to the last.
• Systematic registers. In them, the company classifies completed transactions by economic content (for example, a cash book).
• Combined registers.

According to the criterion of the content of information reflected in the registers, the following are distinguished:

• synthetic registers (for example, a journal order);
• analytical registers (payroll);
• combined registers, in the context of which the company carries out both synthetic and analytical accounting.

Read more about accounting registers see article “Accounting registers (forms, samples)” .

Results

At present, there are no mandatory forms and lists of primary accounting documents: any business entity has the right to independently determine for itself the forms of primary documents that it will use in its activities.

At the same time, the most common primary accounting documents are those that have analogues among the unified forms approved by the State Statistics Committee.

After the primary document is drawn up, it is necessary to transfer information from it to the accounting register.

"Accounting", 2010, N 6

Tax authorities pay attention to non-use of documentation or shortcomings in their execution, which often becomes the subject of litigation. Is the use of these forms mandatory?

Unification of forms of primary accounting documentation. Tax authorities have the right to demand from the taxpayer documents that serve as the basis for the calculation and payment of taxes in the forms established by the relevant federal executive body.

What forms are we talking about and are the documents such?

The concept of unified forms of primary accounting documentation appears in the Accounting Law. They found that the primary accounting documents are accepted for accounting if they are compiled according to the form contained in the albums of unified forms of primary accounting documentation.

Documents whose form is not provided for in these albums must contain the mandatory details listed in Art. 9 of this Law. Albums of unified forms were approved by the State Statistics Committee of Russia, but not for all sections of accounting (Table 1). As you can see, the albums were not created for unified accounting forms intangible assets, materials, fixed assets, labor and its payment, construction machinery work, cash transactions, inventory results.

Table 1

List of albums of unified forms of primary accounting documentation

Album name	Source
Unified primary accounting forms documentation for agricultural accounting products and raw materials	Resolution of the State Statistics Committee Russia dated September 29, 1997 N 68
Unified primary accounting forms documentation for accounting transactions in public nutrition	Resolution of the State Statistics Committee Russia from December 25, 1998 N 132
Unified primary accounting forms accounting documentation trading operations when selling goods on credit and on commission trade
Unified primary accounting forms documentation for accounting cash payments with the population when carrying out trade operations using cash register
Unified primary accounting forms documentation for accounting of trade operations (general)
Album of unified primary accounting forms documentation for product accounting, inventory items in the field storage	Resolution of the State Statistics Committee Russia dated 08/09/1999 N 66
Unified primary accounting forms documentation for accounting of work in capital construction and repair and construction work	Resolution of the State Statistics Committee Russia from 11/11/1999 N 100

The concept of “album of unified forms” is not subject to a broad interpretation, and the list of existing albums given in table. 1 is comprehensive.

Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated July 8, 1997 N 835 assigned the functions of developing and approving albums of unified forms to the State Statistics Committee of Russia, which was later transformed into Federal service state statistics (Rosstat). However, the latter was not vested with any powers in relation to unified forms.

Recognition of decisions of federal executive authorities as normative legal acts. Let us turn to the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of August 13, 1997 N 1009, which approved the Rules for the preparation of normative legal acts of federal executive bodies and their state registration(Rules).

During the period of approval of decisions on unified forms, the State Statistics Committee of Russia was a federal executive body.

A resolution of a federal executive body acquires the status of a legal act subject to its registration by the Ministry of Justice of Russia. The very fact that it was published in pursuance of a decree of the Government of the Russian Federation does not yet allow it to be classified as a legal regulation. None of the decisions of the State Statistics Committee of Russia that interest us were registered with the Ministry of Justice of Russia.

Acts that do not require registration with the Ministry of Justice of Russia do not acquire the status of legal acts and do not contain legal norms mandatory for all organizations. Therefore, the unified forms approved by the resolutions of the State Statistics Committee of Russia are advisory in nature.

In this regard, the Letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 04.05.2009 N 07-02-10/24 and the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated 27.07.2009 N 3-2-09/147 deserve attention, in which it is reported that Rosstat, the Ministry of Finance of Russia, the Federal Tax Service of Russia do not have powers to explain the use of forms of primary accounting documents. Therefore, Letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 01.08.2001 N 16-00-14/364, prohibiting deviation from “landscape” forms, in our opinion, cannot be applied.

The procedure for the entry into force of laws and regulations. From clauses 8 and 10 of Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated May 23, 1996 N 763, which sets out the procedure for the publication and entry into force of acts of the President of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Russian Federation and regulatory legal acts of federal executive bodies, it follows that the legal acts of federal executive bodies , which have not passed state registration, as well as not published in the prescribed manner, do not entail legal consequences as they have not entered into force. They cannot serve as a basis for regulating relevant legal relations or applying sanctions to officials and organizations for failure to comply with the instructions contained in them. They cannot be relied upon when resolving disputes. A similar position is stated in the Definitions Constitutional Court RF dated 03/02/2006 N 58-O and dated 11/02/2006 N 537-O.

State registration of a legal entity involves assigning a registration number to it. Consequently, references in tax disputes to decisions of the State Statistics Committee of Russia on the approval of unified forms are unlawful.

Tax disputes regarding the use of unified forms. The use of the provisions of Decree N 763 has more than once allowed companies to win tax disputes in arbitration courts(Table 2).

table 2

Application of Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of May 23, 1996 N 763 in tax disputes

Judgment	Arguments of the court
Resolution Ninth Arbitration court of appeal from 10/22/2008 N 09AP-11557/2008-AK	Requirements for compiling primary accounting records documents according to the forms contained in the albums unified forms of primary accounting documentation, as opposed to accounting when the presence of a direct link in the relevant law, cannot be extended to tax accounting, so as unified forms N N KS-2 and KS-3 are considered to be not entered into by law in force and not subject to application
FAS Resolution Volga region dated 05/08/2009 on the case N A12-17574/2008	Resolution of the State Statistics Committee of Russia dated November 28, 1997 N 78 was not published in official publications, therefore cannot serve as a basis to regulate relevant legal relations, application of sanctions to citizens, officials and organizations for failure to comply with the contained there are instructions in it. If the Resolution of the State Statistics Committee of Russia dated November 28, 1997 N 78 is not subject to registration and publication as not affecting the rights and responsibilities of legal and individuals, link tax authority for failure to fulfill obligations on the use of forms of primary accounting documents all the more unfounded
FAS Resolution Volga region dated 05/21/2009 on the case N A55-16309/2008	The organization has the right to apply non-binding her officially unpublished forms of primary accounting documents contained in albums unified forms of primary accounting documentation, or other primary accounting documents, meeting mandatory requirements, established by Art. 9 Federal Law "About accounting"
Resolution Ninth Arbitration court of appeal from 03/19/2007, from 03/26/2007 N 09AP-1769/2007-AK	At the time of adoption of the Resolution dated December 25, 1998 N 132 Goskomstat of Russia in accordance with Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated August 14, 1996 N 1177 related to federal authorities executive authorities. Therefore, the said Resolution had to go through the registration procedure with the Ministry of Justice Russia and published in the official publication. However, to date this Resolution was not submitted for state registration and not published in official publications. So Thus, the organization had the right not to apply unified form of commodity transport invoice contained in the above Resolution

Today, arbitration practice on the application of unified forms is developing mainly in favor of taxpayers.

Unified forms for cash transactions. According to clause 12 of the Procedure for conducting cash transactions in the Russian Federation, approved by the Bank of Russia dated September 22, 1993 N 40 (Procedure), cash transactions are formalized using standard interdepartmental forms of primary accounting documentation for enterprises and organizations, which are approved by the State Statistics Committee of Russia. The order is considered normative legal act on the basis of Order of the Bank of Russia dated December 1, 1992 N 02-209. It follows from it that the resolution of the State Statistics Committee of Russia approving standard forms of primary documentation is of an interdepartmental nature. Clause 13 of the Accounting Regulations and financial statements in the Russian Federation identifies standard forms with unified ones.

But Resolution of the State Statistics Committee of Russia dated August 18, 1998 N 88 was not registered with the Ministry of Justice of Russia. Consequently, the Unified forms for cash transactions, in our opinion, are not mandatory.

Are unified forms applicable to small businesses? Clause 5 of the Standard Recommendations for the Organization of Accounting for Small Businesses (Order No. 64n) states that small enterprises can use independently developed forms containing mandatory details, provided for by law about accounting. This position is also supported in the Determination of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated April 10, 2008 N 3856/08. Nevertheless, it is not recommended to refer to Order No. 64n. Why?

Firstly, it is not registered with the Russian Ministry of Justice, which means it is not a legal legal act. Therefore, the reference to it may be disputed tax authority; secondly, the Model Recommendations were developed in accordance with Federal Law No. 88-FZ of June 14, 1995, which became invalid as of January 1, 2008 due to the adoption of Federal Law No. 209-FZ of July 24, 2007.

And most importantly, the criteria for small enterprises contained in the old and new Laws do not coincide.

In conclusion, we note that accountants often underestimate the requirement of paragraph 4 of PBU 1/2008 to approve the forms of primary accounting documents in the accounting policy, which does not contain any mention of unified forms. However, it is incorrect to assume that an organization has the right to refuse to use unified forms. It is necessary to either develop your own forms or determine which details of the unified forms can be used.

The organization has no influence on the accounting policies of its counterparties. And since unified forms are not mandatory, it does not have the right to demand their compliance from counterparties. However, you can take care of the quality of the documents that the organization receives from them at the stage of concluding the contract. Fulfillment of the agreed condition can be achieved from the counterparty in court.

E.Yu.Dirkova

NIFI Academy of Budget and Treasury

1. Why are primary accounting documents needed and what will happen if they are missing.

2. What to consider when developing your own forms of primary documents.

3. In what cases is the use of unified forms mandatory?

As is known, the current law on accounting (No. 402-FZ) does not contain requirements for the mandatory use of unified forms of primary accounting documents. That is, organizations and entrepreneurs are given the right to independently develop forms of primary documents, taking into account their needs and characteristics of their activities. However, such a right hides many pitfalls. For example, all primary documents, including those independently developed, must meet certain requirements, and some documents must be drawn up only according to unified forms due to other federal laws. It is necessary to know about such nuances of drawing up primary documents both when drawing up your own documents and when accepting documents from counterparties, because primary accounting documents are the foundation on which not only accounting, but also tax accounting is built. How to make this foundation reliable - we’ll figure it out in this article.

Why are primary accounting documents needed?

To begin with, let's remember why primary accounting documents are needed in principle, and why it is so important to pay attention to the correctness of their execution. As stated in Law No. 402-FZ, Every fact of economic life must be documented in a primary accounting document(Part 1, Article 9). In this case, a fact of economic life is understood as any event, operation, transaction that has or may have an impact on financial condition an economic entity, the financial result of its activities and (or) cash flow. Facts of economic life include, for example, the acquisition of a fixed asset and the calculation of depreciation on it, the accrual wages employees and her, etc. Thus, almost everything accounting records must be based on relevant primary accounting documents.

In tax accounting, primary documents also play an important role: according to the provisions of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, justified and documented expenses of the taxpayer are recognized as expenses. That is the presence of primary accounting documents is one of the grounds for recognizing expenses and, accordingly, for the calculation tax base for income tax (or according to the simplified tax system “income-expenses”).

The absence of primary documents is considered by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation as a gross violation of the rules for accounting for income and expenses, objects of taxation, for which a fine is provided (Article 120 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation):

• from 10 to 30 thousand rubles. – if the lack of primary documents did not lead to an understatement of the tax base;
• from 40 thousand rubles. up to 20% of the amount of unpaid tax – if the lack of documents led to an underestimation of the tax base.

In addition, the absence of primary documents may serve as a basis for bringing officials to administrative liability for gross violation of accounting rules and the presentation of financial statements in the form of a fine of 2 to 3 thousand rubles. (Article 15.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation). A gross violation of the rules of accounting and presentation of financial statements is considered:

• understatement of accrued taxes and fees by at least 10% due to distortion of accounting data;
• distortion of any article (line) of the financial reporting form by at least 10%.

From all of the above, two main conclusions follow:

1. primary accounting documents must be available;

2. primary accounting documents must be properly prepared.

If everything is clear with the first requirement, then the second, concerning the correct execution of primary accounting documents, should be discussed in more detail. The point is that, according to current Law“On Accounting” No. 402-FZ, the forms of primary documents used are determined by the head of the economic entity upon presentation official, which is entrusted with maintaining accounting records (clause 4 of article 9 of Law No. 402-FZ). The following options for establishing the forms of primary documents are possible:

• use of unified forms of primary documents;
• use of independently developed forms of primary documents (completely independently developed, or created by making changes to unified forms);
• It is also possible to combine these two options for different documents. For example, using self-developed forms accounting certificate and an act for writing off materials and unified forms of all other documents.

! Whatever option for using the forms of primary documents is chosen, it must be reflected either in the accounting policy itself for accounting and tax accounting purposes, or in a separate order. At the same time, independently developed forms of primary accounting documents are usually given in the appendix, but if unified forms are used, a link is made to the corresponding document (Resolution of the State Statistics Committee). If the used forms of primary accounting documents are not approved by the head, then in the event of an inspection, inspectors may consider that the documents were drawn up in an unspecified form, that is, in violation of the law, and, accordingly, are not the basis for accepting expenses.

Self-developed forms of primary accounting documents

When developing your own forms of primary accounting documents, two options are possible:

• completely independently developed form;
• a form developed based on an existing unified form (for example, by removing or adding details).

In any case, the resulting form of the primary accounting document must contain the following: required details, established by Part 2 of Art. 9 of Law No. 402-FZ:

• name and date of preparation of the document;
• name of the economic entity that compiled the document;
• content of the fact of economic life;
• the value of the natural and (or) monetary measurement of a fact of economic life, indicating the units of measurement;
• signatures, surnames (with initials), as well as positions of the persons who made the transaction, operation and those responsible for its execution, or the persons responsible for the execution of the accomplished event. The list of persons authorized to sign primary accounting documents, as well as the forms of documents, must be approved by the manager.

! Note: Law No. 402-FZ does not include affixing a seal on the primary document as a mandatory requirement. Therefore, including this detail in the document form or not is the choice of the organization itself. For organizations that have refused to use a round seal (this right is granted by Federal Law No. 82-FZ dated April 6, 2015), it is advisable to exclude this detail from all used forms of primary accounting documents.

For some documents the following the list of required details can be expanded in accordance with other regulations. For example, a waybill should mandatory contain the following details (clause 3 of Order of the Ministry of Transport of Russia dated September 18, 2008 No. 152):

• name and number of the waybill;
• information about the validity period of the waybill;
• information about the owner (holder) of the vehicle;
• information about the vehicle;
• driver information.

Thus, developing your own forms of primary accounting documents requires deep knowledge and analysis current legislation. Therefore, in some cases it is preferable to use ready-made forms. For example, the form of a universal transfer document recommended by the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation (Letter No. ММВ-20-3/96@ dated 10/21/2013). This document combines the details of the primary accounting document for the transfer of material assets, as well as the details of the invoice, and therefore can be used both for accounting purposes and for tax accounting purposes (for the purpose of calculating VAT). In addition to the universal transfer document, the Federal Tax Service of Russia has also developed a recommended form of a universal adjustment document, which is drawn up in the event of a change in the cost of delivery after shipment (Letter No. ММВ-20-15/86@ dated 10/17/2014). The fact that the organization has decided to use the UPD and UCD forms must be enshrined in the accounting policy or in a separate order of the manager.

Unified forms

Law No. 402-FZ does not contain mandatory requirement apply unified forms of primary accounting documents, but at the same time does not contain a ban on their use. That's why economic entity has the right to use unified forms of those documents for which they are established. The use of unified forms has a number of advantages:

• unified forms are familiar to most counterparties, so their use will avoid questions and misunderstandings when processing transactions;
• Accounting software typically focuses on the use of standardized forms. The implementation of independently developed forms will require additional costs for setting up programs.

In addition, replacing all unified forms with independently developed ones is risky, since forms of primary accounting documents established by authorized bodies in accordance with federal laws and on their basis are still mandatory for use (Information of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation No. PZ-10/2012 to the Federal Law No. 402-FZ). Such documents include, for example, registration documents. Directive of the Bank of Russia dated March 11, 2014 No. 3210-U “On the procedure for conducting cash transactions legal entities and simplified procedure for conducting cash transactions individual entrepreneurs and small businesses" provides for the use of the following unified forms:

• incoming and outgoing cash orders (forms No. KO-1 and KO-2);
• cash book (form No. KO-4);
• book of accounting of funds accepted and issued by the cashier (form No. KO-5);
• settlement and payment statements (forms No. T-49 and T-53).

Thus, cash transactions must be formalized with documents drawn up according to unified forms approved by Resolutions of the State Statistics Committee of the Russian Federation dated August 18, 1998 No. 88, dated January 5, 2004 No. 1.

Particular care must be taken when developing personnel documents, as well as documents on labor accounting and payment, and, if possible, use unified forms of such documents. This is due to the fact that personnel documents and labor accounting documents must meet the requirements of labor legislation, which do not always coincide with the requirements of Law No. 402-FZ: starting from the composition of the details (for example, a time sheet, an employee’s personal card, etc. .) and ending with the form of the document (the Labor Code of the Russian Federation does not provide for the preparation of personnel documents in electronic form).

So, in this article we recalled the importance of primary accounting documents for accounting and tax accounting, and also made sure that in the case of primary documents, “form matters.” To summarize, let us once again briefly formulate main conclusions:

• Each fact of economic life must be documented in a primary accounting document.

• The form of the primary accounting document must contain the required details, established by law No. 402-FZ, and in some cases - details established by other regulations.

• The forms of primary accounting documents used must be approved by the manager in the accounting policy or in a separate order - this applies to both independently developed forms and unified ones.

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Normative base

1. Tax Code of the Russian Federation
2. Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation
3. Federal Law of December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ “On Accounting”
4. Federal Law No. 82-FZ dated 04/06/2015 “On amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation regarding the abolition of the mandatory seal of business companies”
5. Directive of the Bank of Russia dated March 11, 2014 No. 3210-U “On the procedure for conducting cash transactions by legal entities and the simplified procedure for conducting cash transactions by individual entrepreneurs and small businesses”
6. Order of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation dated September 18, 2008 No. 152 “On approval of mandatory details and the procedure for filling out waybills”
7. Information of the Ministry of Finance of Russia No. PZ-10/2012 “On the entry into force on January 1, 2013 of the Federal Law of December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ “On Accounting”
8. Letters from the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation

• dated October 21, 2013 No. ММВ-20-3/96@
• dated 10/17/2014 No. ММВ-20-15/86@

Find out how to read the official texts of these documents in the section

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