What is the procedure for assessing VAT on transport services

Application of a 0% rate on transport services

In accordance with paragraph 1 of Art. 164 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, sellers apply VAT on transport services using a 0% rate when carrying out:

international transportation of goods with a point of departure/destination outside the Russian Federation, including transport and forwarding services by sea and river transport, mixed vessels, aircraft, railway and road transport;
transportation of oil and natural gas outside the Russian Federation or into the territory of the Russian Federation;
services for the transportation of goods placed under the customs transit regime;
transportation of passengers and luggage with a point of departure/destination outside the Russian Federation;
passenger transportation by rail in suburban traffic in the Russian Federation (in the period from 01/01/2015 to 12/31/2029);
transportation of passengers and luggage by public railway transport in long-distance traffic across Russia (from 01.01.2017 to 31.12.2029);
domestic air passenger and baggage transportation with a point of departure/destination in the territory of the Republic of Crimea or the city of Sevastopol, as well as in the territory of the Kaliningrad region.

You can find out more about how VAT is paid and tax deductions for freight forwarding services are applied in the Ready-made solution from ConsultantPlus. Get trial access to the system for free and proceed to the material.

Since 2022, the norm according to which the provision of railway trains and containers for the transportation of export goods was subject to 0% VAT only if these trains and containers were owned by the taxpayer or were rented has been excluded from the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

In order to take advantage of this rate for transportation outside the Russian Federation, the taxpayer must submit the following package of documents:

copies of agreements with counterparties (in the form of a single or several documents);
copies of shipping/transport documents or their register;
copies of customs declarations or their register.

The listed documents are submitted to the tax authorities within 180 days, counted from the date of marking by customs officers on shipping documents (clause 9 of Article 165 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). If the taxpayer does not collect the required package of documents on time, he will be forced to pay VAT to the budget at a rate of 20%.

NOTE! The 0% VAT rate can be waived. Read more here.

The state will no longer tolerate the schemes of cargo carriers. Disclaimer: article from the taxman

After the abolition of licensing for road transport in 2005, any citizen of the Russian Federation has the opportunity to engage in commercial activities in the field of domestic cargo transportation. This attracted many unscrupulous participants to the market.

Schemes related to road freight transportation cause damage to the consolidated budget of the Russian Federation. Their consequence is the concealment of taxes such as VAT, profit tax, and income tax. They also incur losses to state extra-budgetary funds due to non-payment of insurance premiums. These schemes create commercial risks for both the trucking industry itself and their customers.

Today, tax authorities are moving away from the traditional model, when the department had a punitive function and exercised total control. The Tax Service strives to build partnerships with taxpayers and jointly create a legal field where the full fulfillment of tax obligations occurs voluntarily.

The main achievement of this approach is that the service approaches business not only from the position of a tax administrator, but also as a regulator and leader capable of uniting the efforts of business and the state to achieve common goals aimed at developing the Russian economy and increasing the welfare of the state.
We identify the risk of tax violations specific to the selected industry, bring it to the attention of taxpayers in this industry, and offer to independently analyze the risks and voluntarily clarify their obligations. And the final stage of the project is monitoring by the tax authorities, in case of refusal of self-correction - documenting such violations of an individual payer (drawing up a tax audit report and deciding on the inclusion of on-site tax audits for previous periods in the plan).

The tax authorities of Primorsky Krai are currently also implementing industry projects to “whitewash” the most significant sectors of the region’s economy. To date, in the region, when registering as the main type of activity, “the activities of road freight transport and transportation services” were declared by 249 business entities. According to preliminary estimates, as a result of illegal actions of transport and logistics companies of the region, the budget does not receive taxes of more than 60 million rubles. annually.

In addition, carriers still bear tax risks for other market participants, since they often use schemes to minimize their tax obligations.

The schemes used by companies in the transport and logistics industry, of course, have their own specifics, but fundamentally they are not very different from other industries.

Thus, the tax authorities of the region have established that cargo carriers mainly practice underestimation of the income tax base and illegal VAT refunds due to:

— division of business (so-called fragmentation);
— use of shell companies for illegal VAT refunds;
— avoidance of personal income tax through “gray” wages;
— concealment of income received through cash payments.

Most large companies in the industry build extremely complicated management schemes from a whole chain of companies. Such actions create unfair price competition, a favorable environment for corruption, and increase the safety risks of drivers and cargo. There are also negative consequences in the form of non-payment of taxes to the budget. According to the results of the analysis, over the past three years, budget losses from uncollected taxes in the country as a whole amount to about 400 billion rubles.

The state is no longer going to put up with the fact that more than half of the transport industry is in the “gray” zone. If about ten years ago, identifying “gray” schemes was a difficult task for tax authorities, requiring painstaking work and in-depth analysis, but now, in the times of big data, universal automation and technology, this process has become significantly simplified.

Today, VAT refund checks are carried out automatically: thanks to the automated VAT control system (ASK “VAT-2”), several million electronic VAT declarations and about a billion electronic invoices per year are quickly processed.
This allows you to instantly identify inconsistencies and stop fraudulent activities throughout the supply chain. Not long ago, a third modification of this program was introduced, which has advanced capabilities, which allows you to track a chain of more than a dozen companies; the previous version tracked the chain up to the sixth level of connections. Tax authorities promptly identify actions aimed at minimizing the difference between input and output VAT payable to the state budget through shell companies and fictitious invoices.

When conducting desk tax audits, the level of tax risk assigned to the taxpayer by the risk management system of ASK NDS-2 is first taken into account: high, medium, low. Information about the assigned tax risk criteria is displayed in the form of color indicators in the ASK “NAS-2” software package in the “Operational Work Window” and “Link Tree” sections.

1. A taxpayer with a low tax risk conducts real financial and economic activities, fulfills his tax obligations to the budget in a timely manner and in full, has the appropriate resources (assets), and, accordingly, is subject to simplified control.
2. A taxpayer with a high tax risk, as a rule, has the characteristics of an organization used to obtain unjustified tax savings, including by third parties, does not have sufficient resources (assets) to conduct relevant activities, does not fulfill its tax obligations (or fulfills them at a minimum). size). The maximum range of tax control measures is applied to such a taxpayer.
3. Medium tax risk includes taxpayers who are not included in high or low tax risk groups that are subject to normal controls.

In such conditions, a risk-oriented approach to organizing desk control allows one to move away from the model of continuous inspections and focus efforts on control activities in relation to those taxpayers whose activities have the highest tax risks.
At the same time, the administrative burden is reduced in relation to respectable taxpayers whose activities do not show any signs of violations. In fact, it often turns out that the owner of the finished product enters into a contract for transportation, but the contractor who performs this service does not actually own enough transport or does not have it at all. In addition, it does not have a sufficient staff of drivers to provide the service, or no staff at all. Then this so-called contractor enters into a lease agreement with the crew, but the customer of the service no longer sees this agreement. At the same time, the subcontractor also does not have a sufficient number of vehicles and a staff of drivers; it cashes out money and pays cash to real carriers and drivers. And this actually means that the transaction will be executed by some other person, the obligation to perform which has not been transferred by contract or law.

These are, of course, risks for the customer. During inspections, tax authorities may deduct from expenses for the purpose of calculating income tax such undocumented transport services, since the provisions of paragraph 2 of Article 54.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation stipulate that the transaction must be carried out by a person whose performance obligations are transferred under the contract, and, accordingly, be confirmed by primary documents.

In addition, there are also risks of the tax authorities not confirming the incoming VAT deduction for the customer for such services, since the actual carriers are not VAT payers. The contractor, using fly-by-night organizations, “draws” the tax “out of thin air” for the customer of the service, thereby allowing him to receive an unreasonable discount on the service in the amount of VAT by reducing the amount of tax payable to the budget for an incoming deduction.

Thus, from July 1, 2022, new transportation rules have already come into force for participants in the agro-industrial complex, aimed at eliminating “gray” schemes from this market and removing risks from transport customers.

Today there is a need to form a charter (that is, an association) of bona fide participants in the road freight transport market. Companies that sign the charter accept the following rules for doing business:

1. Do not gain a competitive advantage and do not derive unjustified tax savings through:

— non-payment of tax payments;

— use of business division schemes;

— attracting personnel/employees without formalizing labor or civil relations;

— violations of the requirements of the road transport charter and the rules of transportation by freight road transport.

2. They do not allow distortions of information in shipping (transport) documents and strictly comply with the requirements for filling out reliable information about the actual shipper and carrier. And, of course, we must follow certain rules:

1. Transportation is carried out using our own resources (by drivers who are in labor or civil relations with the carrier) and vehicles (which are in the legal possession of the carrier).

2. When organizing transportation through agents/forwarders (transportation organizers):

— the organizer of transportation seeks to involve third parties in the execution of transportation, who are the actual performers of work/services, for which they have all the necessary resources;

- transportation organizers, when carrying out activities in the interests of another person on the basis of transport expedition contracts, determine their income in the form of remuneration for the execution of these contracts, reflecting operations to attract third parties - actual carriers and other actual performers of work/services - in reporting, accounting and tax accounting as an intermediary (agency) activity.

In order to reduce tax risks, the engaged carrier must own the vehicles necessary for cargo transportation, including ownership, economic management, operational management, rent, and leasing. The carrier must also have the necessary labor resources: drivers hired on the basis of labor or civil contracts.

An unconditional condition for reducing risks will be the provision by the carrier (agent), depending on the legal relationship of the parties, of the necessary documents confirming that the carrier has the appropriate resources. Such documents are contracts, vehicle registration certificates, reporting forms, etc.

Thus, the implementation of industry projects (the development of so-called charters) is carried out by tax authorities in order to encourage taxpayers to voluntarily abandon the applied schemes, pay taxes in good faith, and learn to independently analyze their suppliers, excluding dubious counterparties.

Based on this task, the tax authorities of the Primorsky Territory work with taxpayers in exactly this way today:
- inform participants in economic relations about possible risks;

— hold working meetings with taxpayers, both general (similar to this meeting) and targeted with specific organizations;

— offer to independently assess the risks and pay additional taxes in full.

Independent elimination of tax risks by taxpayers, including by eliminating contractual relationships with unreliable counterparties, will allow them to avoid the risk of negative consequences in the form of a tax audit and preserve their business reputation. We are closely monitoring the dynamics of taxes in the cargo transportation industry and intend to take active action if there is no positive response from taxpayers and refusal to voluntarily clarify their obligations.

Source - online publication Konkurent.ru.

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Application of a 10% rate for transport services

A rate of 10% can be applied to domestic Russian air passenger and baggage transportation (subclause 6, clause 2, article 164 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). The exception is similar transportation with a point of departure/destination in the territory of the Republic of Crimea, Sevastopol, Kaliningrad region - for them the rate is 0% (subclauses 4.1, 4.2, clause 1, article 164 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

You can read more about products whose sales are subject to VAT at a rate of 10% in the following articles:

“What is included in the list of goods subject to VAT at a rate of 10%?”;
“New list of medical products for a VAT rate of 10%.”

Application of a 20% rate for transport services

According to paragraph 3 of Art. 164 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, in all other cases, sellers using OSNO as a tax regime are subject to VAT on transport services at a rate of 20%. When a Russian organization provides transportation services under an agreement with a foreign organization that does not have a representative office on the territory of the Russian Federation, if the points of destination and departure are located on the territory of the Russian Federation, by virtue of the norms of sub. 4.1 clause 1 art. 148 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, a Russian organization must accrue and pay VAT to the budget at a rate of 20%.

Another case of applying a 20% rate on transport services is when a foreign carrier that does not have a representative office in the Russian Federation provides services to a Russian organization or individual entrepreneur on the territory of the Russian Federation. In this situation, the Russian company - the customer of the services - has the obligation of a tax agent: according to sub-clause. 4 paragraphs 1 art. 148 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the place of provision of these services will be determined by the location of the buyer of the services - a Russian organization that is obliged to withhold VAT from the cost of services at a rate of 20% and transfer it to the budget.

It should be noted that transport services can be provided both within the framework of a contract for the supply of any products, and within the framework of an intermediary agreement. It should be borne in mind that in the case when the cost of transport services is subject to reimbursement by the buyer, he cannot deduct VAT on them (letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated 02/06/2013 No. 03-07-11/2568). In the case of concluding intermediary agreements, the carrier charges VAT only on the amount of remuneration (letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated December 29, 2012 No. 03-07-15/161).

In addition, if there is an intermediary agreement, the seller of the goods, purchasing these services on his own behalf, acts as an agent (commission agent) for transport services, therefore, in addition to the invoice for the goods, he also issues an invoice for this service to the buyer. Moreover, in this invoice in line 2, he indicates as the seller not himself, but the transport company (its full or abbreviated name) that delivered the goods (subclause “c” of clause 1 of the Rules for filling out the invoice used in calculating the tax on added value, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated December 26, 2011 No. 1137).

For a sample of filling out an invoice, see the article “Invoice for services - sample of filling out in 2019-2020.”

In a situation in which, within the framework of an intermediary agreement, a Russian company or individual entrepreneur performs the functions of an agent (commission agent) for transport services, being on the simplified tax system, the obligation to calculate and pay VAT follows from the provisions of sub-clause. 1 clause 5 art. 173 Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Cargo transportation with cashless payments

Our company is ready to offer non-cash payment for freight transportation not only to legal entities, but also to owners of individual entrepreneurs who do not have simplified taxation, but individual entrepreneurs with UTII with non-cash payment and VAT.

You can order vehicles for transporting goods and a number of other services from us.

We can offer the services of an accompanying forwarder.

We employ experienced professionals who can:

initially pack your things, correctly distributing them into boxes, containers, and other containers;
if disassembly of the equipment is required, then the company’s employees will promptly carry out these manipulations and mark everything so that installation can be carried out without difficulty at the destination;
carefully load and unload all items, rationally using the space inside the vehicle;
work not only relying on your physical abilities, but also skillfully handling complex equipment (manipulators, cranes).

Freight transport - Vehicle fleet

Exemption from VAT

According to sub. 5 clause 1.1 art. 148 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, when the points of departure and destination are located outside the Russian Federation, transport delivery refers to services that are not provided on the territory of the Russian Federation. In such a case, there is no need to charge VAT to the taxpayer. Also, VAT does not arise when transporting passengers at established rates by city and public transport due to subclause. 7 paragraph 2 art. 149 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

If the carrier applies a special taxation regime and operates on the territory of the Russian Federation, he also does not have the obligation to charge VAT on transport services (letter of the Ministry of Finance dated November 24, 2016 No. 03-07-08/69349). Art. 346.11 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation stipulates that persons applying the simplified tax system are not recognized as VAT payers. Thus, if an organization or individual entrepreneur is on the simplified tax system, they are not required to charge and pay VAT on transport services.

TN or TTN?

Can only a TTN be a document confirming transportation?

The Ministry of Finance believes that issuing a TTN alone is not enough. The basis is paragraph 2 of Article 785 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, which states that the TN is the appropriate document confirming the conclusion of a transportation agreement (see, for example, letter of the Ministry of Finance dated April 30, 2013 No. 03-03-06/1/15213).

As for the VAT deduction on purchased goods, one tax mark is also clearly not enough; you will need a tax bill or another primary document, for example, a TORG-12 invoice.

However, if you have a properly executed waybill (TN) and consignment note (TORG-12) for documentary evidence of expenses in the form of the cost of the goods sold (purchased) and the costs of its delivery, the consignment note may not be required at all (see letter from the Federal Tax Service of Russia on Moscow dated September 27, 2011 No. 16-15 / [email protected] ).

Results

The norms of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation stipulate that when providing transport services, it is possible both to apply all established rates and to exempt transport services from VAT. If a taxpayer applies a 0% rate, then he needs to justify the possibility of its application within 180 days, otherwise he must pay VAT to the budget at a rate of 20%. For most transport services provided on the territory of the Russian Federation, the carrier using OSNO is required to charge VAT at a rate of 20%. The application of a 10% rate must be justified documented. If transportation services are carried out outside the Russian Federation, VAT does not need to be paid.

Sources:

Tax Code of the Russian Federation
Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of December 26, 2011 N 1137

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