How to check the number of employees in an organization. Average headcount. We calculate the payroll for a month

The activities of an economic entity are characterized by a number of criteria, among which a special place is given to such an indicator as information about average headcount employees of the company. It is used when assigning a company to a particular group in accordance with the size of the company. Therefore, the payroll is recorded in many reports that represent organizations.

The average headcount is data on how many employees work for certain period in the company on average.

It must necessarily be determined on each subject that is an employer. labor resources... When calculating this indicator, a wide variety of reporting intervals are used - one month, three, twelve (year).

Regardless of the time, the norms of the law established a unified methodology for determining this indicator.

The provision of information, which includes the average headcount for newly created organizations, is also mandatory, as well as for operating companies. The legislation requires that these enterprises, before the twentieth day of the month, after registering in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, send reports with these indicators to the tax authorities.

In the future, they submit a report on the average headcount in the usual way. Thus, these reports are submitted by them twice when creating a company.

Attention! Information on the average number of employees does not have to be presented only to business entities who work as individual entrepreneurs without hiring hired labor. This rule came into effect only in 2014.

The value of this information is determined by the way it is used in determining other critical indicators, for example, the average salary.

The division of firms according to the size of the enterprise occurs according to the average number of employees. On the basis of these data, a list of declarations and the method of their presentation are established.

Important! If, on the basis of the information provided to the tax authorities, it turns out that the organization has more than 100 employees, then it will no longer be able to apply such simplified tax regimes as UTII and STS. And with an individual entrepreneur, there can be no more than 15 employees.

Where are the reports submitted?

For enterprises, it is provided by the norms of the law that they must send these reports to the Inspectorate of the Federal Tax Service at their location. If the enterprise includes branches and other external departments, then one general report containing this information is submitted for the organization.

KND form 1,110,018 entrepreneurs who have labor contracts with employees, surrendered at the place of their registration and registration.

Important! An entrepreneur carrying out economic activities in a territory other than the one where he was registered must send a report on the average number of employees at the place of his registration.

Methods of submitting information

These reports are generated either manually, by filling in the appropriate forms, or using special software systems.

There are several ways to submit such a report to the IFTS:

Take it to the tax office yourself or by asking a representative, in paper form... In this case, the report must be drawn up in two copies, on the second of which the inspector puts down the appropriate mark.
By post with a mandatory list of attachments.
With the help of a special operator using.

Attention! Depending on the region, the inspector who accepts the report on paper may also ask for an electronic file.

Deadlines for submitting the report of the average headcount

Depending on the situation, there are three deadlines for submitting this report:

Until January 20 of the year after the reporting year - they are handed over to general order all organizations and entrepreneurs who are employers of workers. When this time falls on a weekend, it is transferred to the next next working day. Thus, the report for 2017 is submitted until January 22, 2018.
By the 20th day of the month that follows the month of registration of an economic entity, both newly created companies and individual entrepreneurs... Those. if either individual entrepreneur was registered in March, then the report must be submitted by April 20.
Not later than the date of exclusion of the subject from the register of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs - when the business is closed.

Download .

How to fill out the report on the average headcount correctly

Filling out the report begins with indicating the TIN of the organization or individual entrepreneur. In this case, the TIN of an LLC consists of 10 digits, and the TIN of an entrepreneur - of 12. Further, for organizations it indicates a checkpoint, and for an individual entrepreneur, we put a dash, since they do not have this code. We indicate the number of the filled sheet.

Below we enter data on the tax office where the report is submitted and its four-digit code. For example, for the 29th tax department of Moscow, this is 7729.

Next, we put the date on which the reporting is submitted:

If the report is submitted at the end of the year, then we put 01.01 and the corresponding year.
If you just registered a company or individual entrepreneur, then as indicated earlier - the deadline is the 20th day of the month that follows the months in which the registration was made.
If the report is submitted on the occasion or closure of an individual entrepreneur, then the date of delivery must be before you submit the documents on closing the business.

Below we write the number of employees in accordance with the calculation made.

Next, fill in only the left side of the form. In the appropriate field, the director, individual entrepreneur or representative must put his signature, and the date of signing the statements.

Attention! If the report is signed by a representative, then it will be necessary to attach a power of attorney to the reporting, on the basis of which this person acts.

How to calculate the average number of employees

This responsibility for determining the average headcount can be assigned to a personnel officer or an accountant.

Due to the significance of this indicator, its calculation should be given great attention in order to ensure the accuracy of the calculation performed. Moreover, the controlling authorities can check it.

Initial information should be taken from personnel documents on time tracking, as well as orders of the management on admission, vacation or dismissal.

Special PC programs allow you to create this indicator automatically, excluding calculation errors. In this case, it is imperative to check the sources of information.

The employee making the determination of this indicator must know the entire calculation algorithm so that at any time he can check these calculations.

Step 1. Determination of the number for each day of the month

The first step is to determine the number of employees who worked for the company on each day of the month. For each of the working days, this number is equal to the number of employees with whom there are labor contracts, including workers on sick leave and on business trips.

The calculation does not include:

Part-timers, whose main place is another company;
Working on the basis of work contracts;
Female workers on maternity leave or childcare;
Employees who, by agreement, have a shorter working day. If the reduction in operating time is enshrined in law, then they are included in the calculation.

Attention! The number on a weekend or holiday is taken as the number on the previous day of work. Thus, an employee who quit on Friday will still be on Saturday and Sunday.

If the company has not signed any agreements, then for the calculation the number of employees is "1", taking into account the director, even if he is not paid a salary.

Agency "Private detective" has been providing services for checking the number of employees of the counterparty for more than 15 years. As soon as possible, we will provide reliable information about the employees of your counterparty's company.

The laws of big business are pretty harsh. In order to survive in the competition, you have to take risks, that is, expand your activities through cooperation with new counterparties. But before concluding an agreement with a potential partner, it should be checked for reliability and financial stability. This will reduce the risk of falling into a fraudulent scheme, which is fraught with loss Money and reputation. For this, it is recommended to use the services of a detective agency. Private detectives know how to check a turnkey counterparty. Huge information about the stability of his work is provided by the fact that he has his own staff. This is what private detectives will do on your behalf.

Why do you need to establish the presence of company staff and the number of employees?

Almost all existing fraudulent schemes are carried out with the participation of fly-by-night firms. They are usually stateless. Their only employee and founder is a figurehead. Often, such companies are opened with the help of "black" notaries for dead or missing people, with lost or fake passports, or even without documents at all.

The presence of its own staff of employees indicates:

Whether she has actual activity;
Stability of work;
Availability of real authorized capital, as well as the main and revolving funds, with which, if necessary, you can close the resulting debt.

At the same time, you need to pay attention to how the real staff of the company corresponds to the type of activity and the volume of operations that is declared by the company. After all, it so happens that commercial enterprise, whose monthly turnover exceeds 10 million rubles, the staff includes only a director and an accountant. This may indicate that her activities are fiction or that employees do not work according to labor books and receive an envelope salary for their services.

All these facts do not in the best way affect the reputation of the company and, accordingly, your reputation if you become partners. It is recommended to stay away from such counterparties in business, so as not to harm your activities, not to let down a team of like-minded people, not to lose investments and not run into solid penalties, fraught with tangible loss of profits. Services of private detectives will allow you to prevent all this.

Several ways how to check the number of employees of the counterparty?

Professional private detectives have several ways to check the number of employees of the counterparty and compare it with the data they declared. All of them are absolutely legal and do not violate anyone's rights and freedoms. These include:

Study of public information;
Obtaining data from the state employment fund on the search for employees and the availability of vacancies;
Prompt departure to the site of the current activity of the counterparty of interest;
Interviewing real people working in a given company;
Studying information on the Internet, including on thematic forums, and on job search sites.

The rules for calculating the payroll and average payroll were approved by Rosstat Order No. 428 of October 28, 2013. Together with the head of the Kontur-Personnel project, Anastasia LOZHNIKOVA, we will consider in more detail how to perform calculations in either case.

How to calculate the payroll number of employees?

The payroll number of employees includes employees who worked on employment contract and who performed permanent, temporary or seasonal work for one day or more, as well as working owners of organizations who received wages in this organization.

The payroll is calculated on a specific date. It includes whole units both actually working and absent from work for any reason. For example, the main employee who is on vacation, a business trip, absent due to illness or for other reasons is included in the payroll as a unit. The rules for inclusion in the payroll are listed in great detail in paragraph 79 of the order.

If an employee works in an organization as an internal part-time employee or takes more than one rate, he is counted in the payroll as one person - for his main job. If an employee works in an organization as an external part-time worker, then he is not taken into account in the payroll. Other (more rare) exceptions from the calculation of the payroll are listed in paragraph 80 of the order.

Please note that the number of employees on the payroll for each day must correspond to the data in the time sheet of employees.

The procedure for calculating the average number of employees

In general, the average number of employees per month is calculated by summing up the payroll number of employees for each calendar day of the month, including holidays (non-working) and weekends, and dividing the amount received by the number calendar days months. In this case, the number of employees on the payroll for a weekend or holiday (non-working) day is taken to be equal to the payroll number of employees for the previous working day.

However, from general rule counting there are some exceptions, which are listed in detail in paragraph 81 of the order. So, for example, the average number does not include employees on maternity leave, childcare (paragraph 81.1).

In addition, part-time employees work time(in accordance with Article 93 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), are taken into account proportionally time worked. But at the same time, if part-time working time is established at the initiative of the employer (in accordance with Article 74 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation) or the employee, the reduced working time is established by law (for example, disabled people I and II groups, as well as other categories of workers in accordance with Art. 92 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation), such employees are accounted for in the average headcount according to the general rule.

Consider the scheme for calculating the average headcount for the most frequent cases:

Employee type	Accounting in payroll	Accounting in the average headcount	Example
Principal full-time employee	Whole units	n m	In the payroll for June 30, he is included as 0 (since he no longer works in the organization as of June 30).
The main employee with part-time work established by agreement of the parties (Article 93 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation)	Whole units	x- the number of hours worked by the employee per month (at the same time, for days of illness, vacation and other absenteeism falling on working days, hours on the previous working day are conditionally included in the number of worked man-hours); y- the number of working hours per month according to the standard work schedule	Let's say an employee who is on parental leave is part-time on a 5-day schedule with a 6-hour day instead of an 8-hour one. If, under such conditions, the employee worked the entire June 2015 (21 working days in June), then her payroll as of June 30 will be equal to 1, and the average payroll: (621)/(821)=0.75 If a woman was absent from June 8 to June 10, for example, due to temporary disability, then these days are still included in the calculation of the average headcount, and in June it will still be equal to 0.75. If a woman quit on June 11 (that is, she worked 9 working days), then her average headcount for June will be: (69)/(821)=0.32
The main employee with a reduced working day established by law (Article 92 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation)	Whole units	(1 * n) / m n- the number of calendar days worked by the employee in a month; m- the number of calendar days of the month	The employee worked all June during harmful conditions labor 36 hours a week. It is included in the average headcount for June as:
The main employee with part-time work established at the initiative of the employer (Article 74 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation)	Whole units	(1 * n) / m n- the number of calendar days worked by the employee in a month; m- the number of calendar days of the month	To avoid mass layoffs of employees, the employer introduces part-time work for a number of workers in June. The average headcount for June includes such an employee as: (1*30) /30=1
On parental, maternity and maternity leave	Whole units	Not taken into account	The employee was on parental leave throughout June. It is included in the average headcount for June as 0.
External part-time	Not taken into account	Not taken into account	The employee worked all June as a technician as external part-time, by 0.5 rates. It is included in the average headcount for June as 0.
Internal part-time		It is taken into account only at the main place of work	The employee worked throughout June in the organization as an engineer at his main job (full-time) and as a part-time laboratory assistant. In the average headcount for June, he is included as 1 for the position of engineer.

To be displayed in the P-4 report, the final indicator of the average headcount of the organization is rounded to the nearest whole number according to the rules of arithmetic.

Sometimes at cadres the question arises, how to calculate the average number of employees for the quarter? This indicator is determined by summing the average number of employees for all months of operation of the organization in the quarter and dividing the amount received by three.

The average number of employees for the period from the beginning of the year to the reporting month inclusive is determined by summing the average number of employees for all months that have elapsed from the beginning of the year to the reporting month inclusive, and dividing the amount received by the number of months for the period from the beginning of the year.

To quickly and accurately calculate the indicators of the payroll and average headcount, use HR automation programs. For example, the Kontur-Personnel program calculates indicators for any date and for any period, while taking into account all of the above rules. If you doubt the indicators calculated by Kontur-Personnel, you can use the verification reports in the program, which will tell you how each employee is taken into account in the payroll and average number of employees.

Annually, no later than January 20, LLC and individual entrepreneurs must submit information on the average number of employees for the previous year. Moreover, individual entrepreneurs submit this report only if there are employees in the state, and legal entities - regardless of the presence of personnel. In addition, no later than the 20th day of the month following the date when the organization was created, must be handed over.

We calculate the payroll for a month

How to calculate the average number of employees for one month? Here is the calculation formula from the Rosstat Instructions: “The average number of employees per month is calculated by summing up the payroll for each calendar day, i.e. from 1 to 30 or 31 (for February - to 28 or 29), including holidays (non-working) and weekends, and dividing the amount received by the number of calendar days. Number of employees per weekend and holidays is recognized as equal to the one that was on the previous working day. "

Important: there are two categories of workers, which, although they are taken into account in the payroll number, are not included in the calculation of the average payroll number of employees. These are women who are on maternity and childcare leave, as well as those who have taken an additional unpaid leave for training or admission to educational institutions.

Here is the following calculation of the average number of employees:

At the end of December, the average headcount was 10 people. After the New Year holidays, 15 more people were hired from January 11, and 5 people quit on January 30. Total:

from 1 to 10 January - 10 people
from 11 to 29 January - 25 people
from January 30 to January 31 - 20 people

We count: (10 days * 10 people = 100) + (19 days * 25 people = 475) + (2 days * 20 people = 40) = 615/31 days = 19.8. Rounding up to whole units, we get - 20 people.

To calculate the average number of employees for a month with several working days, you need to apply a different algorithm. For example, an LLC was registered on March 10, 2018, 25 people were hired under an employment contract, until the end of March the payroll did not change. How to be in this case?

The Guidelines provide the following formula: “The average number of employees in organizations that worked incomplete month, is determined by dividing the sum of the number of payroll for all days of work in the reporting month, including weekends and holidays (non-working) days for the period of work by the total number of calendar days in the reporting month. "

Determine the amount of personnel from March 10 to March 31: 22 days * 25 people = 550. Despite the fact that only 22 days have been worked, we divide the amount by the total number of calendar days in March, ie 31. We get 550/31 = 17.74, round up to 18 people.

Calculation of the average number for the reporting period

How to calculate the average headcount for a year or other reporting period? In the reporting for the tax inspectorate, the CER is compiled at the end of the year, and for filling out the 4-FSS form, the necessary periods are a quarter, half a year, nine months and a year.

If the year has been worked out in full, then the calculation rule is as follows: (AHR for January + AHR for February +… + AHR for December) divided by 12, the resulting total is rounded to whole units. Here's a simple example:

The payroll of the enterprise for 2018 changed insignificantly:

January - March: 35 people;
April - May: 33 people;
June - December: 40 people

Let's calculate the average payroll for the year: (3 * 35 = 105) + (2 * 33 = 66) + (7 * 40 = 280) = 451/12, total - 37.58, round up to 38 people.

If the year is not fully worked out, then the calculation is carried out in the same way for an incomplete month: regardless of the number of months worked, the total number of working hours is divided by 12. From the Rosstat Instructions: “If the organization has been working for an incomplete year, then the average number of employees for the year is determined by summing the average number of employees. for all months of work and dividing the amount received by 12 ".

Suppose an enterprise with a seasonal nature of activity has worked only five months in a year, the monthly average number of employees is:

April - 320;
May - 690;
June - 780;
July - 820;
August - 280.

We count: 320 + 690 + 780 + 820 + 280 = 2890/12. We get that the average is 241 people.

The calculation for any other accounting period is carried out in the same way. If you need a quarterly report, then you need to add up the NIT for each month of real activity and divide the amount received by 3. To calculate for half a year or nine months, the amount received is divided by 6 or 9, respectively.

Part-time tracking

In the examples provided, we showed how to calculate the payroll for full-time employees. But what if they are busy part-time or a week? Referring again to the Guidelines: "Individuals who worked part-time are counted in proportion to the hours worked."

For this you need:

Find out the number of man-hours worked by all employees employed part time.
The result is divided by the length of the working day, based on the established norms, this will be the number of man-days for part-time workers for a given month.

Now the indicator of man-days must be divided by the number of working days in the calendar of the reporting month.

For example, in LLC "Alpha" one employee is employed for 4 hours a day, and the second - for 3 hours. In June 2018 (21 working days), they worked together 147 hours at the rate of (4 hours × 21 days) + (3 hours × 21 days)). The number of man-days in a 40-hour week for them in June is 18.37 (147/8). It remains to divide 18.37 by 21 working days in June, we get 0.875, round up to 1.

If you have employees who are employed full-time and part-time, then in order to get the total average headcount for the year, you need to add up their average number for each month separately, divide the result by 12 months and round up.

"One-day" counterparties can harm both the state in the event of tax evasion and the taxpayer, who will have to prove the validity of the tax benefit received when refunding VAT or when accounting for expenses for tax purposes of profits as a result of interaction with such unscrupulous counterparties.

The inspections are guided by the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation of October 12, 2006 No. 53 "", which fixed the main signs of bad faith taxpayer and rules for their determination.

Taxpayers, on the other hand, may contact Public criteria
self-assessment of risks for taxpayers used by the tax authorities in the process of selecting objects for conducting field trips tax audits(approved by order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated May 30, 2007 No. MM-3-06 / [email protected]""), as well as explanations of the financial authorities about in which case the taxpayer is considered to have fulfilled the obligation to check the counterparty.

In order to protect yourself from risks when conducting economic activity and possible claims from the tax authorities, there are many opportunities to ascertain the integrity of a potential business partner.

We have highlighted a number of actions that, in the opinion of tax authorities and courts, should be taken in order to confirm the exercise of due diligence and caution when choosing a counterparty.

You can find out if a license was issued to a potential counterparty at sites of licensing authorities- the licensing authority will be its own for each type of activity. For example, the Rospotrebnadzor website allows you to search through the registers of licenses issued for activities related to the use of pathogens of infectious diseases and activities in the field of using sources of ionizing radiation.

7. Get acquainted with the annual accounting statements of the counterparty... In accordance with clause 89 of the Regulation on accounting and accounting statements v Russian Federation(approved by the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 29, 1998 No. 34n), the organization's annual financial statements are open to interested users(banks, investors, lenders, buyers, suppliers, etc.), who can familiarize themselves with it and receive copies of it with reimbursement of copying costs, and the organization should provide an opportunity for interested users to familiarize themselves with the accounting statements.

In addition, Rosstat is obliged to provide information on the annual financial statements of organizations free of charge (Regulation on the Federal State Statistics Service, approved by the Government of the Russian Federation dated June 2, 2008 No. 42, Rosstat dated May 20, 2013 No. 183 "On approval of the Administrative Regulations for the provision of Federal Service state statistics public service"Providing interested users with accounting (financial) reporting data legal entities operating on the territory of the Russian Federation ").

8. Examine the register of unscrupulous suppliers... Of course, a potential counterparty is not necessarily a participant in the procurement system for state and municipal needs, but there is such a possibility. Therefore, we still recommend that you go through this optional verification stage and search for the appropriate registry, updated by FAS Russia.

Advice

We recommend to develop local normative act on the organization and improvement of pre-contractual work with potential counterparties, which would indicate its goals, principles of activity and interaction of managers, supply and security services, lawyers and others officials the taxpayer in contact with potential counterparties, as well as listed documents that must be requested from counterparties and other persons. The courts also draw attention to the presence of such a local act (resolution of the FAS MO dated May 23, 2013 in case No. A40-98947 / 12-140-714). In addition, it makes sense to publish separate orders on the verification of a specific counterparty for subsequent confirmation of his innocence in the event of a conflict.

9. Check the authority of the person signing the contract. Courts often point to the need to verify powers as a condition for recognizing a taxpayer as good faith (FAS ZSO dated May 25, 2012 in case No. A75-788 / 2011, the Eighth Arbitration Court of Appeal dated September 20, 2013 in case No. A46-5720 / 2013) ... Moreover, if the taxpayer received all the necessary documents and information, but did not verify the authority of the counterparty's representative to sign the documents, this will be the basis for recognizing this taxpayer as unscrupulous (resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Moscow on July 11, 2012 in case No. A40-103278 / 11 -140-436).

When considering a case, in the event that the signatory refuses his signature on the documents, it is usually appointed handwriting examination- but sometimes it does without it (FAS UO dated June 30, 2010 No. F09-4904 / 10-C2 in case No. A76-39186 / 2009-41-833). However, more often the courts emphasize that a simple visual comparison of the signatures and the testimony of the taxpayer's representative cannot be considered a sufficient basis for recognizing that the documents were signed by unidentified persons (ruling of the Third Arbitration Court of Appeal dated October 13, 2010 in case No. A33-4148 / 2010).

And of course, the courts state the fact of bad faith of the taxpayer in the event that the authorized representative of the counterparty at the time of signing the documents died(The Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation of December 6, 2010 No. VAS-16471/10) or his powers were terminated(FAS PO dated February 28, 2012 No. F06-998 / 12 in case No. A65-14837 / 2011). On the other hand, the latter case cannot, in the opinion of the courts, testify to the receipt of an unjustified tax benefit if, prior to the conclusion of the disputed transaction, the taxpayer had a long-term economic relationship with the counterparty (FAS SKO dated April 25, 2013 No. F08-1895 / 13 in the case No. A53-12917 / 2012, resolution of the FAS ZSO dated October 27, 2011 No. F07-8946 / 11 in case No. A52-4227 / 2010).

Before signing documents, you should pay attention to the following:

is the transaction being made for your counterparty large;
has not expired term of office a representative of the counterparty (it is determined by the charter of the organization or by a power of attorney);
not limited whether charter powers of the director to conclude transactions, the amount of which exceeds a certain value.

10. Make a request to the tax office at the place of registration of the counterparty... The courts emphasize that this is also regarded as a manifestation of the prudence of the taxpayer (FAS ZSO dated October 14, 2010 in case No. A27-26264 / 2009, FAS ZSO dated March 5, 2008 No. F04-1408 / 2008 (1506-A45-34) in case No. A45-5924 / 07-31 / 153, the Third Arbitration Court of Appeal dated October 11, 2013 in case No. A74-5445 / 2012, the Eleventh Arbitration Court of Appeal dated September 5, 2012 in case No. A55-1742 / 2012 ).

Moreover, the District Arbitration Courts confirm duty of tax authorities provide the requested information within the scope of information that is not recognized in accordance with tax secrets. Thus, the FAS ZSO emphasized that the inspectorate's refusal to provide information about the taxpayer's counterparty affects the rights of the latter related to obtaining tax benefits, taking into account the taxpayer's obligation to confirm due diligence and caution when choosing a counterparty (Resolution of the FAS ZSO dated December 14, 2007 No. F04- 67/2007 (77-A67-32) in case No. A67-1687 / 2007).

Sometimes the courts even emphasize that the taxpayer had the opportunity to contact the relevant services to verify the counterparty, but he did not do this (resolution of the FAS MO dated September 14, 2010 No. KA-A40 / 10728-10 in case No. A40-4632 / 10- 115-57).

True, sometimes the courts still come to the conclusion that the taxpayer could not apply to the inspectorate at the place of registration of the counterparty, since only the tax authorities have this authority (FAS SZO dated July 31, 2013 in case No. A13-8751 / 2012).

But even if the tax office refuses to respond to the request, the fact of his direction will indicate that the taxpayer wished to protect himself when choosing a counterparty and can serve as proof of due diligence in the future. At the same time, it is important that the request be submitted personally to the office of the tax office (a copy of the request with a mark of acceptance should remain on hand) or by mail with a receipt acknowledgment and a list of attachments (in this case, one copy of the inventory and the returned notice remain).

As we can see, the positions of the courts regarding the scope of actions that must be performed to verify the good faith of the counterparty differ. True, sometimes the courts are a little cunning.

So, they point out that the tax inspectorate has not proved the lack of due diligence of the taxpayer - on the contrary, when making controversial transactions, they were asked for notarized copies required documents... At the same time, the courts emphasize that in the field of tax relations there are presumption of good faith, and law enforcement agencies cannot interpret the concept of "bona fide taxpayers" as imposing additional obligations on taxpayers not provided for by law (resolution of the FAS MO dated January 31, 2011 No. KA-A40 / 17302-10 in case No. A40-30846 / 10-35 -187, resolution of the FAS MO dated December 16, 2010 No. KA-A40 / 15535-10-P in case No. A40-960 / 09-126-4, resolution of the FAS MO dated July 22, 2009 No. KA-A40 / 6386 -09 in case No. A40-67706 / 08-127-308).

This understanding of good faith was developed by the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation in October 16, 2003, No. 329-O, which is often referred to by taxpayers when justifying their position. In particular, the Court emphasized that the taxpayer cannot be held responsible for the actions of all organizations participating in the multi-stage process of paying and transferring taxes to the budget.

At the same time, the courts often point to the need to request the relevant documents from the counterparty, emphasizing that these actions have for the taxpayer nature of duty(FAS PO dated July 14, 2010 in case No. A57-7689 / 2009, FAS ZSO dated July 20, 2010 in case No. A81-4676 / 2009).

Sometimes the attention of the courts can be drawn to other details - for example, the conclusion of a contract for the "trial" delivery of goods small batch to check the counterparty (resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Moscow District of December 16, 2010 No. KA-A40 / 15535-10-P in case No. A40-960 / 09-126-4), the fact of registration of the counterparty in several days before the transaction (FAS UO dated November 28, 2012 No. F09-11410 / 12 in case No. A60-7356 / 2012), etc. Tax authorities may also refer to the fact that the counterparty organization has "mass leaders and founders", and this fact should have alerted the taxpayer (FAS MO dated November 3, 2011 No. F05-11505 / 11 in case No. A41-23181 / 2010).

In conclusion, note that the presence just one sign of bad faith the counterparty, as a rule, is not an obstacle to the recognition of the tax benefit received by the taxpayer as unjustified. However, their combination often makes tax inspectorates alert, and the courts - to make a decision not in favor of the taxpayer.