VAT Declaration - ways to solve tax contradictions

Value added tax is an indirect tax that comes to the budget in the form of a part of the added value that is created in the process of production, performance of work and provision of services. This tax was introduced in France in 1954 and found its application in 137 countries. Only in the US and Japan did the VAT replace the sales tax at a rate between three and fifteen percent. The highest VAT rates in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Iceland - 25 percent, other countries apply tax at a rate of 20 percent.

The tax declaration for VAT is submitted to the tax authorities by organizations, as well as by individual entrepreneurs - taxpayers. The duties of paying this tax are regulated by the Tax Code. The form and procedure for completing the tax return are approved by the relevant order of the Ministry of Finance. The completed document is provided in electronic or paper form, and for payers with the number of employees from 100 people, the submission in electronic form is mandatory. The deadline for submission of the declaration is up to the 20th day of the month that follows the reporting period.

Today in the tax legislation of Russia there are three VAT rates: 0%, 10% and 18%. The rate at a rate of 10% is used at the agricultural enterprises, at realization of the goods for children, food stuffs, periodicals and medical production. A zero VAT rate is used for export and for a certain list of shipments. It is with the application of this rate that the concept of "zero VAT declaration" exists.

The VAT declaration, apart from a positive tax charge, may contain a negative result, which is called an "application for VAT refund". This situation arises if, as a result of the tax period, the total amount of tax deductions (tax credit) exceeds the amount of tax liabilities. In other words, if during the tax period the organization bought products subject to VAT, more than it sold. In this case, the payer may submit, in addition to the tax return, an application for VAT refund. If the tax authority during the desk audit within seven days confirms the operations reflected in the declaration, then the head of the tax service makes a positive decision. If there is a tax debt, the payer shall be refunded to the settlement account for the difference in repayment of this debt.

The new VAT tax return is effective from 2010 and has an electronic format.

If the VAT declaration is filed electronically, then the payer must fulfill two conditions: the current form of the report and the required format corresponding to that required for automated processing of the received data. However, there are disagreements between these two parameters in connection with the different time intervals for their adoption. So, the form of the declaration is approved by the Ministry of Finance, and the format of electronic reporting is the Federal Tax Service.

A new VAT declaration is given to a machine-oriented (unified) version with decomposition of data into cells. Changed settings for the formation of the electronic file, namely: font, character height and print format.

The VAT declaration has undergone some changes in its separate sections. It became a little smaller. So, if earlier this document was formed on 12 sheets, now - on 10 sheets. The reduction in volume was due to the consolidation on one sheet of section 3 and the removal of section 8.

Thus, thanks to the introduction of new technologies in tax administration, the formation of a VAT tax return has been automated, which greatly simplifies the work of the accountant, and the submission of reports via the Internet saves the time of specialists of organizations.