By the end of the year, the Federal Tax Service will approve the format of electronic contracts.
By the end of the year, the Federal Tax Service will approve the format of electronic contracts.
The Tax Service is developing a new regulation for working with electronic document management. They expect to finish by the end of 2021.
Electronic document management will create a legislative framework.
The law provides for the possibility of electronic document management, but it is quite problematic to perform it technologically. Without using paper, you can only conclude certain types of contracts: tenders, loans in microfinance organizations, etc.
Experts agree that digitizing documents is complicated by the lack of regulations on electronic document management, namely: creation, storage, transfer of papers.
Tax experts believe that the situation will change dramatically after the approval of the regulations (by analogy with electronic invoices), which will significantly reduce the cost of this process. As a result, the document flow will be simplified between tax authorities and business. The Federal Tax Service is making every effort to achieve this goal by the end of 2021.
What are the changes until the end of 2021?
The tax authorities intend to solve the issue of electronic document turnover in two months.
If you look at the situation in perspective, they are very impressive:
• Significant time savings in the negotiation of contracts.
• Expansion of markets for the sale of goods, new partners from different regions of the Russian Federation.
• Overhead costs are saved (paper and printer cartridges, payment for courier service, etc.).
• There is no need to rent a large office and install bulky cabinets for storing documentation.
• Documents cannot be lost.
Business assesses the initiative of the tax authorities very restrained.
The concept of the development of electronic document management in economic activity, which was approved by the Government Commission on December 25, 2020 reflects certain factors that influenced the choice of a business that is in no hurry to use electronic document management. During the survey, the merchants talked about their motives:
• The benefits of switching to electronic document management are not fully understood.
• How will the interaction between different providers, issuers of EDS be built.
• Electronic document management requires the help of qualified specialists whose work is expensive.
• There is no certainty that counterparties will also use EDM.
• There is no approved format for working with documents in electronic form.
These reasons do not allow small businesses to actively use EDM in their work.
Most of the merchants are sure that EDM is an unreliable system and prefer to work as before, using a seal and signing documents with their own hands.
The future has already arrived
Many business sectors are already actively using EDM. For example, the law allows you to sign an employment contract electronically with an employee who will provide services remotely. To do this, a future employee needs to have a simple EDS.
The «Gosuslugi» service also provides an opportunity to conclude contracts with mobile operators in electronic form, however, for this operation, the user needs an enhanced EDS.
The project started in the summer of 2021 and will last until July 31, 2022.
Businesses can also conclude contracts electronically – this system is abbreviated as EDM (electronic document management).
To do this, you need to have a valid EDS, according to the new rules, it can now be obtained only in centers accredited by the tax service.
When using EDS, the information in full will be encrypted and accessible only to certain persons. The use of EDS guarantees the authenticity of the signature. Documents are stored encrypted in an electronic cloud.
When switching to EDM, you still have the right to continue using part of the document flow in paper form – the use of such a combination is not prohibited by law.
