VAT payers use a universal transfer document instead of a consignment note in order to reduce the number of accounting papers and simplify the execution of business transactions. The use of UPD is recommended by the Federal Tax Service of Russia (letter of the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation dated October 21, 2013 No. ММВ-20-3/96). The document must contain all the necessary “primary” details established by the Law “On Accounting”. The form of the document is approved by the head of the organization and is enshrined in the accounting policy.
Purpose of UPD
A universal transfer document is an invoice combined with a primary document. On its basis, VAT can be deducted. The UPD meets all legal requirements for primary documentation, so the buyer has the right to recognize expenses on its basis.
In addition to the invoice, the UPD can replace a number of transfer documents:
- waybill TORG-12;
- certificate of completed work (services);
- act of acceptance and transfer of OS;
- invoice for the release of materials to the third party.
All organizations and individual entrepreneurs (even those that do not pay VAT) can use the universal form. UTD numbering is carried out in a single chronology with invoices.
When is it issued?
To simplify document flow, a single form of a universal transfer document has been developed. UPD can be used by both organizations and individual entrepreneurs. Its application is possible under any taxation system.
UPD is issued when:
- supply of goods, services or performance of work;
- transfer of property rights of use.
Benefits of use:
- reduction of document flow;
- a unified style and form of registration of various accounting documents such as TORG-12, M-15, transfer acts, TTN;
- reduction of time for registration, processing, verification of all types of documents when there is a single form;
- a single document reduces the risk of discrepancies in numbers and details between documents for one economic transaction;
- reducing costs for paper and archival storage space.
When does the UPD replace the invoice?
You can replace the UTD invoice in the following cases:
- when shipping goods (including for export);
- when transferring property rights;
- when transferring the results of work performed or services provided (when drawing up a universal transfer document for services, it is recommended to attach a detailed report on them).
Sometimes situations arise when UTD and invoices are mixed together under one contract. There is no need to worry about this, since this will not affect the accounting of VAT and expenses. But in order to avoid chaos in the document flow, it is necessary to consolidate this method of registering shipments in the VAT accounting policy and in contracts with counterparties. Then representatives of the Federal Tax Service will have no reason to make claims regarding why different primary documents were drawn up within the same agreement.
What kind of document is this - UPD, what to do with it and its decoding
This is the name of the paper that combines the functionality of an invoice and primary documents. The Tax Service has established a recommended form, what such a form should look like and what it should contain. But it is worth remembering that this is the recommended view.
Each company can modify some fields, provided that all of them are contained on the sheet. An organization can update the blocks by adding their information as they deem necessary.
It is important to fix the format in the accounting policy and use the same type every time with the following lines:
- Name;
- Date of preparation;
- content;
- meter;
- persons who are responsible for proper preparation.
The form recommended by the Federal Tax Service is one of the possible ones when transferring products and property rights. It specifies that some details are required, but it does not contain an exhaustive list of the values that must be included. Therefore, the parties can record their additional property rights and enter transactions. In addition, they may use other primary papers; a single conveyance document is only one of the forms available to them.
Why may you need a paper version of the form?
It is often used instead of primary documentation.
With its help, it is easy to supply a wide variety of products or transfer property or other rights to objects.
The law does not force you to use this particular method of document flow.
It is signed in the first status by the selling side of the MOL, those responsible for the Federation Council and the like. In the second, the seller signs the persons who must monitor the condition of the primary securities. And it is always the persons who are involved in primary matters who sign for the buyer.
Accounting documents created in electronic format, abbreviated as UPD
This format differs from the standard form; it can be:
- one-sided, in which there is only one xml file containing a signature and information about the seller;
- two-sided, in this case one file contains data about the selling and buying parties and their signatures.
It is signed by persons authorized to do so. If different people are responsible for the SF and the primary department, then there will be several lines - according to the number of MOLs.
It is necessary to indicate what status the person has:
- employee;
- an employee of the organization that compiles the seller’s file;
- a member of another company, when activating this option, you must enter the data in the “Base of authority” field;
- authorized individual.
The main differences between paper and electronic forms are that the second type has more advantages and is much more convenient to use in modern realities.
At a minimum, it’s easier to send it to the client - you don’t have to spend money on couriers or other delivery methods. The exchange speed increases significantly, no consumables are needed - paper, printer ink, storage space. Nothing is lost and the error rate is close to zero.
It is worth integrating an EDI system if the organization plans to develop and increase sales. Contact Cleverence to select software to perform and optimize your tasks.
What is better – invoice or UTD?
Using universal transfer documents in an organization has a number of advantages:
- simplification of document flow;
- reduction of the archive of accounting papers;
- preparation of documents in a uniform style;
- reduction of errors in document preparation;
- saving time on preparing documents, reducing paper costs.
The UPD is very convenient to use, since when registering various transactions it is filled out according to a single template. Responsible persons will not have to think about how to fill out the invoice in the TORG-12 or M-15 form. A sample of filling out the UPD for services can be taken as a basis.
It can be concluded that the use of UTD is more profitable compared to the use of conventional invoices. The need for UPD has been brewing for a long time, and it is the future. But sometimes situations still arise when it is impossible to do without issuing invoices.
When is it necessary to issue a TTN and a waybill?
Without such a consignment note, the carrier does not have the right to accept cargo for transportation. The goods can be delivered to the buyer by the seller using his own transport. In this case, no contract of carriage is concluded with a third party. To agree on the conditions of transportation and its cost, the place and date of delivery of the cargo, the shipper must issue either a consignment note in form 1-T or a consignment note.
It should be noted that in its last letter dated November 8, 2011, the Ministry of Finance clarified that the presence of a consignment note is a necessary condition for accepting the costs of transporting products in tax accounting, and the consignment note is also required to be filled out, since it establishes the procedure for transportation cargo. Thus, the Ministry of Finance noted that the purpose of the consignment note and the consignment note are different.
Required details
The mandatory details of the UPD coincide with the details of the primary documents listed in clauses 5-6 of Art. 169 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and Part 2 of Art. 9 of Law No. 402-FZ. Along with the invoice details, the mandatory UTD details are:
- Title of the document;
- Date of preparation;
- name of the legal or natural person;
- content of the fact of economic activity;
- the value of natural or monetary measurement;
- position of the responsible person who completed the transaction;
- Full name and signatures of responsible persons.
Entrepreneurs have the right to add additional details to the UTD in the same way as to the invoice. Previously, Federal Tax Service specialists stated that additional details should be provided outside the frame that separates the invoice from the “primary” one, but now the tax service does not prohibit adding information inside it (based on Federal Tax Service letter No. SD-4 dated August 17, 2016 -3/15094).
Those responsible for document preparation may have a question: is it necessary to fill out the product code in the UPD? This column is filled in if the organization or individual entrepreneur shipped goods to the EAEU member countries. If the required information is missing, a dash is placed in the column.
How to fill in the code of goods, works, services in the UPD? The product code is indicated in accordance with the foreign economic Unified Commodity Nomenclature of the EAEU (TNVED).
Universal transfer document - what is it?
UPD is a kind of hybrid of a transfer document and an invoice. When completing a trade transaction, the seller can issue not two documents, but only one, which will contain the features of both:
- The invoice details in the UPD are surrounded by a black frame. This part (the presence and sequence of lines, columns and other details) must correspond to the form approved by the Government of the Russian Federation for the invoice. That is, when changes are made to the form, the last part of the UPD highlighted in a frame must also change in accordance with the new requirements.
- The part of the UPD outside the black frame can be changed and supplemented according to the needs of the document compiler - such modifications are not prohibited by law.
The UPD form is not mandatory for use. It was recommended by the Federal Tax Service in 2013 in order to simplify document flow.
We will describe below how controllers feel about the use of a set of consignment note and invoice and UPD separately.
UPD status
When filling out the form in the upper left part, you must select one of two statuses. It is the status of the document that determines the list of mandatory details that must be indicated in it.
A universal transfer document with status “1” must contain all the details of the primary document and invoice. In this case, the UPD will perform the function of two documents simultaneously. This status is indicated if the document reflects the fact of economic activity, both for accounting purposes and for the imposition of VAT and income tax.
UPD with status “2” acts only as a primary document and contains indicators of the delivery note (act). It does not perform the function of an invoice, so it must be issued separately. In the form with status “2”, fill out only those details that should be contained in the deed of transfer that it replaces. Some fields can be left blank.
What is the purpose of a shipping invoice?
An invoice is the primary tax accounting document for VAT. Organizations and individual entrepreneurs are required to submit this document on the OSN, highlighting in it the amount of tax to be paid to the budget for this operation.
Business entities that have received tax exemption under Art. 145 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
In turn, special regime officers, for example, persons using the simplified tax system, may refuse to issue invoices, except in cases where they carry out intermediary or import operations.
The buyer on the OSN requires a correct invoice with all the details in order to accept VAT for deduction. Therefore, sellers should approach the issuance of this document with the utmost care. Its form was approved by Government Decree No. 1137 dated December 26, 2011. Economic entities do not have the right to develop any of their own forms on the basis of this, otherwise the buyer will not be able to accept VAT for deduction, and this is precisely the main purpose of the invoice (Art. 169 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).
However, there is a document to replace the invoice - a universal transfer document. We'll talk about it in the next section.
We are preparing the implementation: is it possible to issue a UPD instead of TORG-12 and an invoice?
In order to formalize ongoing trade transactions using UTD, organizations/individual entrepreneurs must consolidate this point in the accounting policy (AP).
All forms of documents used in business and not included in the albums of unified forms must be recorded in the UP in order to avoid conflict situations.
By registering a transaction with a universal transfer document, an economic entity does not violate the requirements of legislative norms, since, according to Art. 9 of Law No. 402-FZ, he has the right to independently determine the forms of documenting the facts of economic life - tax officials speak about this in a letter dated October 21, 2013 No. MMV-20-3 / [email protected]
In accounting programs, when registering shipments, you often need to write out both documents - a waybill, for example, in the TORG-12 form, and an invoice, and when choosing a printed form, take advantage of the opportunity to print one document (UPD) instead of two. When performing work or providing services, a set of invoices and deeds can also be replaced by a universal transfer document, but in practice this is quite rare.
