If you digitalize field tax audits, you can free up the resources of the tax office and do not distract from the work of the company's employees. For this purpose, the mechanism of control measures is replaced by a system of tax monitoring. Companies that have switched to tax monitoring provide the Federal Tax Service with direct access to accounting data and primary documents in online mode. For this purpose they integrate their software with the system «Tax-3». Inspectors do not need to schedule a separate audit to see whether the company has calculated and paid tax correctly. 

It is possible to join the system voluntarily 

Not all taxpayers switch to tax monitoring. Companies do so voluntarily (paragraph 3 of Article 105.26 of the Tax Code). By the beginning of 2024, 569 organizations have joined the tax monitoring system. The Federal Tax Service plans that the number of participants will increase by 20 percent annually. The regulator specified such a goal in the Concept of development and functioning of the tax monitoring system, which the Government approved by the order of 21.02.2020 № 381-r (hereinafter - the Concept of tax monitoring development). However, there are exceptions. Participants of agreements on protection and promotion of capital investments are obliged to switch to tax monitoring (clause 7.1 of part 8 of article 10 of the Federal Law No. 69-FZ dated 01.04.2020). The Federal Law No. 69-FZ "On the Protection and Promotion of Capital Investments in the Russian Federation" dated 01.04.2020 determines how such organizations and the authorities interact. 

Mandatory indicators. To be eligible for tax monitoring, a company must meet certain criteria. The tax authorities will assess the amount of income of the organization, the value of its assets, the amount of taxes paid. These indicators are checked when the company submits an application. In this case, the data is taken for the previous year. If everything is suitable, then from the beginning of the next year you can use the system.

Let's consider an example. The company is going to switch to tax monitoring in 2026, then by the results of 2024 it is necessary to achieve certain financial indicators. In particular, the amount of income should be at least 800 million rubles, the value of assets - at least 800 million rubles, and the amount of taxes paid - at least 80 million rubles. Earlier we commented on these changes in the Kommersant publication.

The Federal Tax Service plans to carry out full automation 

The tax authorities intend to increase the share of automatic procedures in tax monitoring by at least 20 percent annually. Increase the volume of automation is possible if companies will deeply integrate their information systems with AIS «Tax-3». It is possible to do this with the help of services of automated information exchange offered by the Federal Tax Service. 

At the moment the Federal Tax Service has published 29 services, each of which provides for sending to the agency various information or documents of the organization in a strictly defined format. They can be found on the official website of the agency at nalog.gov.ru.

Special working groups. In order to prepare for and test the integration of information systems, the Federal Tax Service creates special working groups with organizations, current information about which is provided on the website taxmonitoring.rf. Both participants of tax monitoring and companies that are planning a transition can apply to join a working group. Thus it will be possible to promptly receive advice and support from the Federal Tax Service on how to implement services of integration with AIS «Tax-3». 

Participants must use special software 

To disclose accounting data and interact with the tax authorities, companies use different ways. 24 percent of tax monitoring participants provide direct access to the accounting system of the organization, for example, 1C:Accounting, SAP ERP and others. There are companies that interact through telecommunication channels - 6 percent of them. About 70 percent of system participants use separate software - analytical data showcase. 

Accounting systems. Accounting systems do not always have enough functions to make it easy for the tax service to get the company's data. In addition, it usually does not manage the amount of information that can see the FTS. Sometimes such functionality cannot be realized in principle or it will require significant resources of the company, which are incomparable with the cost of implementation of the data showcase.

Telecommunication communication channels. An organization sends only certain documents to a tax authority via telecommunication channels. This method of interaction was used when tax monitoring just appeared. New participants of tax monitoring can not apply it, and its current users must switch to access to the accounting system or data showcase until 2026. 

Data showcase. With the help of the data showcase it is possible to demonstrate tax reporting, registers, entries, primary documents and other information in accordance with the requirements of the Federal Tax Service. The business adjusts such a complex IT solution to its needs and adapts it to the information systems it already uses. It is possible to load and determine the volume of information disclosure independently. Thus, companies can control what information and in what form they disclose to the regulator. 

Data showcase can be integrated with several information systems of the company at once and supplemented with new modules or functions in the process of operation. In this way, the business can adapt to new requirements of the tax authorities and reduce the burden on employees. 

The Tax Compliance team has developed its own Data Showcase. Our IT product Tax Review offers a modern and technological approach to working with the tax authority.

The legislator motivates to join the system 

The state is interested in tax monitoring, because it allows to control all operations of the taxpayer and greatly simplifies the detection of non-payment of taxes. The legislator additionally motivates business to switch to tax monitoring and disclose accounting data, primary documents. For this purpose the participants of tax monitoring are provided with advantages in comparison with the general regime of tax control. 

Companies do not pay fines and penalties. If the regulator reveals that the company has not paid taxes, the organization will pay only the amount of arrears. There are no additional sanctions for the participant of tax monitoring (subparagraph 3 paragraph 7 of Art. 75, subparagraph 3 paragraph 1 of Art. 111 of the Tax Code). Meanwhile, if a regular tax audit reveals underpayment for three years at once, the amount of penalties can be significant (paragraph 4 of Art. 75 of the Tax Code). The organization, which joins the tax monitoring system, significantly reduces the cost of repayment of tax charges. 

The period open for inspection within the framework of tax monitoring is less than two years. During the regular tax audit, the verifiable period may exceed three years. That is, if the organization has allowed underpayment, it may learn about it and the amounts of additional charges with penalties more than three years later (paragraphs 4, 6, 8 of Art. 89 of the Tax Code). Therefore, companies often take into account the existing tax risks and form special reserves to pay off possible additional charges.

If a company has switched to tax monitoring, the Federal Tax Service carries out an audit during a calendar year and the following nine months. For example, tax declarations for 2023 will be audited by inspectors until October 1, 2024. For participants of tax monitoring, the period open for inspection has been significantly reduced (paragraph 5 of Article 105.26 of the Tax Code). 

The Federal Tax Service will clarify how to calculate taxes. A participant in tax monitoring may request clarification from the tax authorities on how to calculate taxes for transactions which have already taken place or are only planned. The company will be sure that it calculates taxes correctly and correctly interprets the new provisions of the Tax Code. If an organization requests such a reasoned opinion from the tax authorities, it will be obliged to apply it. Unlike the information clarifications published by the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Tax Service, both the company and the tax authority are obliged to follow the reasoned opinion. This makes it possible to agree in advance with the tax authorities on ambiguous issues. The participant of tax monitoring can be sure that such a position will not be challenged (paragraph 7 of Article 105.30 of the Tax Code). 

The company will build a system of self-checking. This is not an obvious advantage of tax monitoring. To join the system, the organization must build internal control and check the correctness of calculation and payment of taxes. The list of verification procedures performed by employees is agreed with the Federal Tax Service before the moment of transition to tax monitoring and then regularly updated.

The burden on employees is reduced. In the process of adapting the company to a new format of interaction with the tax authorities and automatizing work processes, it is possible to redistribute areas of responsibility among the staff. This will reduce the workload of individual employees and increase the efficiency of overall work. In addition, it will no longer be necessary to transfer documents to the tax office on paper. The company will be able to interact with the Federal Tax Service online in a "one-stop-shop" mode. 

Also read the extended version of the material in the Corporate Lawyer magazine.