Accounting certificate on write-off of accounts receivable - sample

The correct procedure for writing off receivables

According to the law, you can’t just write off DM. The following procedure must be followed:

1. The manager must issue an order to carry out an inventory of settlements with suppliers, customers and other debtors and creditors.
2. The audit indicated above is being carried out. Based on its results, an act is drawn up in the INV-17 form, where the actual amount of the debt will be indicated. It will need to be written off.
3. The head of an enterprise or company issues an order to write off the debt.
4. The accountant makes a write-off. The grounds will be an inventory act and an accounting certificate. The procedure is accompanied by the creation of a corresponding act.

Attention! All available documents confirming the write-off must be attached to the report, since tax authorities very carefully check this area of ​​accounting.

The purpose of the act is to become the basis for recognizing non-operating expenses when calculating income tax payments, according to subparagraph. 2 p. 2 art. 265 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, and for entering information into the accounting of an enterprise or company.

Accounting entries for debt recovery

When funds are received to repay doubtful debts, the amounts are written off from off-balance sheet accounting and taken into account in the corresponding balance sheet accounts for accounting for settlements. The balance sheet records entries that are “reverse” to those entries that were used when writing off receivables from the balance sheet (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated February 11, 2016 No. 02-07-10/7306).

More on the topic: Transfer of balances under non-exclusive rights: new clarifications from the Russian Ministry of Finance

Example. The institution's commission decided to write off doubtful receivables for prepayment for materials from the balance sheet to the off-balance sheet to monitor the possibility of collection. The debtor's property status has changed and funds to repay receivables have been transferred to the personal account.

Decrease in off-balance sheet account 04 – debt is written off from off-balance sheet accounting;

Debit KRB 2,206 34,564 Credit KRB 2,401 20,273 – the debt was accepted onto the balance sheet.

How to draw up an accounts receivable statement

There is no legally established form for such a document, so it is developed based on the rules for drawing up such documents. You can draw up the act by hand on A4 sheet, but for greater readability it is recommended to use a typewritten version.

In the header you need to indicate the following information:

• full and short name of the company, its address, tax identification number, checkpoint;
• name of the paper (act of writing off accounts receivable);
• place of registration of the act;
• date of execution of the act.

The main part contains the following information:

1. On the basis of what paper and when was the inventory of settlements with suppliers, customers, etc. made?
2. On what date was the inventory taken?
3. List of organizations for which the DZ has been established. This item is presented in the form of a table. It may contain the following columns: name of the debtor, details of the agreement with him, date of payment under the agreement, amount of debt, papers that are the basis for writing off debts. At the end of the table, the total amount of debt is calculated.
4. That the amount received is subject to write-off and is included in non-operating expenses for income tax. It is necessary to refer to the norms of the law: clause 77 of the Regulations, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of July 29, 1998 No. 34n and sub. 2 p. 2 art. 265 Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Next, the chief accountant or another employee assigned this responsibility puts his signature. Draw up the document in one copy.

Attention! Instead of an act, a similar document with a different name can be drawn up: protocol, decision.

The document must also be accompanied by supporting documents. These may be court decisions, reconciliation acts, primary documents and payment documents. They must be with the organization to confirm the impossibility of a refund.

Mandatory document after issuing an accounting certificate on the write-off of receivables

Drawing up a certificate is necessary, but not the only condition for the full write-off of the debt. It is not a sufficient condition for reflecting all “debtor” transactions in accounting and reducing the tax base for income tax.

Moreover, if the above-mentioned certificate can be replaced by another document - an act or protocol containing the information necessary to justify the write-off of the property, then the name of the mandatory document, drawn up immediately after drawing up the certificate, is specified by law.

We are talking about clause 77 of the Regulations on accounting and reporting, approved. by order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 29, 1998 No. 34n, according to which at the final stage of writing off the assets, it is necessary to issue an order (instruction) from the manager.

There are no requirements for the content of such an order in the legislation, however, when drawing it up, all aspects that allow this internal administrative document to acquire official status should be taken into account.

You can download such an order for free by clicking on the image below:

Among these important aspects are the following:

• design - the order form must contain at least 3 mandatory parts (heading, content and final);

The material “Orders for core activities - what are these orders?” will introduce you to the design nuances and examples of drawing up orders.

• organizational - the appearance of an order is possible only at the final stage of the procedure for writing off the property (after collecting all the necessary documents, conducting an inventory and drawing up an appropriate justification);

Find out what to pay attention to when conducting an inventory of receivables from the material “Inventory of receivables and payables.”

• accounting - only after the order to write off the property is issued, any accounting actions are possible (reflection of the written-off property in expenses, transfer of information about the written-off property to an off-balance sheet account, etc.).

Accounts receivable

Accounts receivable are a property claim of an organization against its debtors, arising as a result of a concluded agreement or legal norm. Accounts receivable arise due to failure to fulfill contractual obligations.

Overdue receivables are debts that are not repaid on time. The debt is listed on the organization’s balance sheet until it is repaid by the debtor or is considered uncollectible.

The organization has the right to collect overdue receivables within the limitation period. According to Article 195 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the limitation period is the period for protecting the right in a claim of a person whose right has been violated.

Accounts receivable are considered uncollectible and must be written off from the balance sheet in full, including VAT, if one of the following circumstances occurs:

• the statute of limitations has expired;
• the debtor is liquidated;
• excluded from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities as an inactive legal entity;
• The bailiff issued a decision to terminate the enforcement proceedings and return the writ of execution to the recoverer due to the impossibility of collection.

In accordance with paragraph 77 of Regulation No. 34n, on the basis of an inventory, accounts receivable with an expired statute of limitations, as well as debt that is unrealistic for collection on other grounds, are written off as expenses for each obligation, as well as in accordance with written justification and order of the head of the organization.

Accounts receivable are written off at the expense of the created reserve for doubtful debts or against financial results, if the reserve was not created in the manner prescribed by paragraph 70 of Regulation No. 34n.

What initial data are required to draw up a certificate of write-off of accounts receivable?

To draw up a certificate of write-off of accounts receivable (RA), you will need the following information:

• about the occurrence of debt (terms, amounts, payment terms);
• payments made and offsets carried out;
• legal periods of interruption of the limitation period;
• actions taken to collect debt, etc.

The set of documents from which this information can be obtained may include:

• agreements with counterparties on unpaid (or partially paid) transactions;
• payment documents (payments, PKO), indicating the dates and amounts of repayment of the loan;
• acts of reconciliation and offsets for debt subject to write-off;
• extracts from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities confirming the fact of liquidation of the debtor;
• court decisions indicating the completion of the bankruptcy procedure of counterparties;
• other documents (correspondence with debtors, their responses to demands for payment of debt, orders of bailiffs, etc.).

In each specific case, a separate set of documents is collected to write off the debt, depending on the situation (if the statute of limitations expires, bankruptcy and (or) liquidation of the debtor, or in connection with the write-off of the debt on other grounds established by law).

The accounting certificate form must contain the mandatory details of the primary document. You can get an accounting certificate for free by clicking on the picture below:

A sample accounting certificate for writing off accounts receivable can be downloaded from the link below:

Read about the nuances of preparing an accounting certificate in the Typical Situation from ConsultantPlus. Study the material by getting trial access to the K+ system for free.

Statute of limitations for debt write-off

The limitation period may be interrupted when the debtor commits actions that indicate recognition of the debt.

Contents of the act (protocol) for writing off accounts receivable

Since the legislation does not regulate the mandatory sections of the document for writing off property, when preparing it, general approaches to documenting business transactions are used, namely:

• opens a document block containing information about the company (name, tax identification number, address, etc.);
• the title should briefly reflect the purpose of drawing up the document (“Act for writing off accounts receivable”, “Protocol for writing off accounts receivable”, etc.);
• the content must reflect complete information about the written-off property and the grounds for its write-off (for more details, see below);
• The document is completed by the signature of the chief accountant or other authorized person who is responsible for maintaining accounting in the company.

The volume of the main part of the act for writing off debt depends on the types, volume and structure of the debt being written off, as well as the detail of the legal and other aspects that justify the recognition of debt as subject to write-off from accounting accounts.

In particular, the following items may be included in the contents of the act on write-off:

• details of orders to conduct an inventory and review its results (including details of the act of conducting an inventory);
• transfer of initial data on the debt that is subject to write-off (details of contracts with debtors, amounts and deadlines for fulfilling obligations under the contract, etc.);
• history of relations with the debtor for debt collection (listing of requests for payment of debt sent to the counterparty, the fact of receipt of responses and their nature);
• a description of the grounds for writing off the debt (for example, in the event of liquidation of the debtor - data from an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, a court decision on the completion of the bankruptcy procedure, etc.);
• conclusions with references to legal norms on the need and possibility of writing off remote control.

For what the act of write-off of fixed assets looks like, see the material “Act of write-off of fixed assets - sample filling”.

To the act of writing off the debt, it is necessary to attach the most complete set of documents confirming the fact of the occurrence of the debt, its repayment, as well as recognition as uncollectible, including inventory (for example, an act in the form of INV-17, approved by Resolution of the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation dated August 18, 1998 No. 88).

Drawing up an act for writing off debt requires the simultaneous issuance of an order signed by the head of the company, on the basis of which the outstanding debt is written off.

You can see a sample act for writing off accounts receivable on our website.

Form

The act is drawn up in free form. The main thing you need to pay attention to is the reliable indication of all information. Sometimes companies develop and approve company forms with accounting policies. Although such a document can be drawn up on a regular sheet of A4 paper.

Why do you need an act of writing off accounts receivable?

It is worth noting that the law does not define the reasons for writing off debt. In fact, the state does not care why the head of the company made this decision. The main thing is that this fact is correctly formalized. You could say this is more in the interests of the company itself. This is explained by the fact that write-offs cause expenses for the company. Their legality must be confirmed by the appropriate document, which is this act. Proper registration of write-offs will allow you to avoid unnecessary questions from tax authorities.

( Video : "Act of Writing Off Bad Debt")

Cases of debt write-off

There are many different situations in which the head of a company decides to write off debt. The main ones:

• the debt collection period has passed, so it cannot be recovered even through the court;
• the CEO decided to forgive the debt for some personal reasons;
• the debtor company was liquidated;
• there is no way to collect the debt for other reasons.

If this decision was made for the reason that it is not possible to collect the debt, you will need to take care of the availability of supporting documents. For example, this could be a court decision.

Particular attention should be paid to the situation when a company simply forgives a debt on its own initiative. This happens extremely rarely. You need to understand that not everyone can forgive a large debt just like that. There must be good reasons for this. The tax service may equate such a gesture of generosity to illegal cash withdrawal. To avoid such a problem, the head of a company that forgives a debt will have to explain in detail the reason for such a decision.

Taking into account the above, we can conclude that there are situations in which it is not enough to draw up only an act. Additional documentation may be required. But if the debt collection period has passed, this is equated to the company’s unwillingness to collect the debt. This also includes the liquidation of the debtor company. In fact, in this case there is simply no one to demand the debt from. In such situations, issuing a write-off act will be sufficient.