The tax authorities informed under what conditions the “cameral inspection” for VAT will be reduced to a month

The term for a desk review of the declaration, in which VAT deductions are declared, can be reduced from two to one month. However, for this, the conditions that the Federal Tax Service listed in the letter dated 06.10.20 No. ED-20-15 / 129 @ must be met.

VAT declarations “by default” must be checked within two months (clause 2 of article 88 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). However, the FTS considered that the “cameral” declarations, in which the right to VAT refunds provided for in Article 176 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation is declared, can be completed after one month from the date of submission of the reporting (officials recalled that the day of submission of the declaration means the 25th month following the expired tax period, or the day of submission of the “revised”).

The letter tells what actions the inspectors will take during the “short” inspection.

So, no later than 10 calendar days from the date of reporting, an assessment is carried out for compliance with the following conditions:

• an application for the application of the declarative procedure for VAT refunds was not submitted;
• the taxpayer in accordance with the data of the PP “VAT Control” refers to a low, medium or indefinite (for individual entrepreneurs) level of risk;
• VAT refund was declared in the previous tax period and, according to a decision on refund (in whole or in part), the confirmation of the VAT amount to be refunded amounted to more than 70% of the tax amount declared for refund;
• more than 80% of VAT deductions from the total amount of deductions declared in the audited declaration fall on counterparties of low, medium or indefinite (IP) risk levels, and at least 50% of the amount of VAT tax deductions falls on counterparties indicated in the declaration for the previous taxable period;
• the amount of taxes paid for the three years preceding the tax period for which the VAT declaration is submitted exceeds the amount of tax declared for reimbursement from the budget for such a declaration.

In addition, supervisors will assess the following factors:

• whether there are errors in the declaration and (or) contradictions between the information contained in the submitted documents, or discrepancies between the information provided by the taxpayer and the data held by the tax authority;
• are there any contradictions (discrepancies) between the information on the transactions contained in the verified declaration and the information on the specified transactions contained in the declaration submitted by another taxpayer;
• whether there are signs of violations of tax legislation leading to an understatement of the amount of tax payable to the budget, or an overstatement of the amount of tax declared for refund.

If all of the above conditions are met and no errors (contradictions, discrepancies, violations) are found, a desk audit will be carried out in an expedited manner – in one, not two months.

The FTS offices and interdistrict inspectorates for the largest taxpayers have been instructed to apply the new rules in relation to VAT returns submitted after October 1, 2020 for tax periods starting from the third quarter of 2020.