Letter about an error in the purpose of payment - sample 2021

The role of the “Payment purpose” detail in a payment order

In accordance with clause 1.7.2 of Bank of Russia Regulation No. 579 dated February 27, 2017, the owner of a bank account is required to indicate the purpose of the payment in his payment orders. All payment documents must disclose the essence of the transaction being carried out, and correctly filled in field 24 (payment purpose) will help to do this.

IMPORTANT! In the payment order there is another field with the purpose of the payment, but coded. This is field 20 “Name.” pl." From 06/01/2020, a code for the type of income is entered in it when making payments to employees. Read more about filling it out here.

When filling out this column, you should keep in mind that the maximum number of characters is set for it - 210. Such information is contained in Appendix 11 to the Bank of Russia Regulation “On the Rules for Transferring Funds” dated June 19, 2012 No. 383-P.

According to Appendix 1 to Regulation No. 383-P, attention should be paid to indicating the purpose of payment in the payment order. Thus, the name of works, goods, services, details of contracts, invoices, invoices or other primary documents can be given here. If there is a payment (prepayment) for the sale of goods and materials or services, it is important to indicate the necessary VAT information.

If a payment is made to the budget, field 24 may indicate the type of tax (insurance contribution), period, as well as other information important for the fiscal authorities.

Why is this necessary?

More than 90% of settlements between counterparties are made non-cash. One party fulfills the terms of the contract, and the second pays for services or supplies. To transfer payment, a special document is drawn up - a payment order. For each field of the form there are separate rules for filling out payment orders; no changes are envisaged in 2021. The filling procedure was approved by Bank of Russia Order No. 383-P dated June 19, 2012 (as amended on October 11, 2018).

An error in payment details or in the identification data of the payer and recipient will result in the bank rejecting the document. It will simply refuse to fulfill it. But there are some shortcomings that the banking organization cannot check. For example, an error or typo in the purpose of payment. The bank cannot verify the information specified in field 20 of the payment slip. After all, the payer is not obliged to submit contracts and invoices for verification.

IMPORTANT!

We are talking only about settlements with counterparties. Errors when transferring taxes, contributions and fees are corrected differently.

For more details, see the material “How to write an application to the tax office for clarification of payment.”

Payment "for the wrong thing"

Let's look at the most insidious mistakes. For example, the purpose of the payment is incorrect, that is, the name of the goods or services is incorrect. Buyers clearly indicate the wrong name of goods or services on the payment order. For example, instead of “payment for installation” - “rent”. Sometimes instead of “ and vice versa. For example, they transfer money for the transportation of goods, but in the payment slip they indicate “payment for tools.” The larger your company, the higher the risk. And it’s really bad if the name of the goods for which the bank tracks cash withdrawals is mistakenly indicated. For example, a company receives payment for building materials. And he writes off money from the account mainly with the purpose of payment “for food products”, “rent of commercial equipment”. The bank will ask for clarification and may block the client-bank connection. In this case, it will refer to the Methodological Recommendations approved by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation on July 21, 2021 No. 18-MR.

And after comparing payment receipts with the company’s OKVED codes, bankers may be interested in a situation where the main receipts into the account are not related to the company’s activities. Sometimes questions arise from one-time payments, especially for large amounts. For example, if a wholesale company received payment for advertising services. And if deposits with an incorrect payment purpose become regular, suspicions will turn into confidence.

To reduce the likelihood of errors, it is better to include the text in the invoice that must be indicated in the purpose of payment. If your counterparty nevertheless manages to transfer money to you “for the wrong reason,” immediately inform him about it and try to get a written response in which the buyer confirms the correct purpose of the payment. You will forward this correspondence to the bankers if they have any questions.

Errors in the names of goods and services will also interest tax authorities. In this sense, such mistakes are especially risky for “simplifiers” and “imputers”, as well as entrepreneurs on the PSN. If the tax authorities see in the statement receipts for goods or services that do not fall under the special regime, they will demand that taxes be paid according to the general system. You will have to prove that the company or individual entrepreneur conducts only activities that fall under the special regime (Resolution of the Arbitration Court of the Volga District of October 25, 2021 No. F06-26038/2017). Therefore, for large payments, it is safer to agree with the supplier on the correct name of the goods.

But it is best to indicate the specific name of goods, works or services on the payment slip (Appendix No. 1 to the Central Bank Regulations dated June 19, 2012 No. 383-P). Take it from the contract, invoice or specification. If there are a lot of products, you can indicate a generic name, for example, “office supplies.” Or indicate the goods that make up the largest share of the purchase price.

Incorrect VAT rate

Now, during the transition period, due to the increase in VAT, buyers confuse the rate in their payments - they reflect 18% instead of 20% or vice versa. In this case, a letter stating that there is an error in the payment may not be required from the counterparty. The main thing is to calculate VAT at the correct rate. That is, if you shipped goods to the buyer in 2021, apply the new VAT rate - 20%, even if in the payment slip the buyer mistakenly indicated the previous rate and the amount of tax calculated based on 18% (clause 4 of article 5 of the Federal Law of August 3 2021 No. 303-FZ).

note

Recently, bankers, in accordance with the instructions of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, have taken payment for such goods as cars and spare parts, medicines, tobacco products, vegetables, fruits, confectionery and other food products under close “anti-money laundering” control

If the buyer made a payment for goods shipped in 2018, you should have calculated VAT at a rate of 18%. There is no need to make any recalculations on the payment date. This also applies to the situation where the buyer mistakenly indicated a 20% rate on the payment order.

In general, such an error in the payment order does not entail tax risks for the buyer. But it is worth checking that the supplier has indicated the correct VAT rate on the invoice. If he confuses the rate, the inspectors will refuse the deduction (Clause 2 of Article 169 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

When and what errors occur

Errors in payments between counterparties are made by the compilers of payment orders, i.e. employees of accounting departments. In this case, incorrect data can be in a variety of points in the document: for example, the number of the agreement under which funds are transferred is incorrectly indicated, the purpose of the payment is incorrectly written, or, sometimes, VAT is allocated where it is not necessary, etc.

This can be corrected unilaterally by sending a letter to the partner to clarify the purpose of the payment.

In this case, the other party is not obliged to send a notification of receipt of this message, but it will not be superfluous to make sure that the letter has been received.

Causes and common types of errors

Payment orders are usually drawn up by an employee of the accounting or financial department. When filling out a document manually, errors are inevitable. Most often, employees make mistakes in the contract number or its date, incorrectly indicate the name of the paid goods or services, and when transferring tax, they make mistakes in the BCC and payment period. In 2021, due to the change in the VAT rate from 18% to 20%, cases of errors in indicating the tax rate and amount have become more frequent. We will tell you how and in what cases to write a sample letter about an error in the purpose of payment.

Some details must be corrected, but in some cases this is not necessary. A clarifying letter must be drawn up if the translation cannot be clearly identified, that is, it cannot be determined for what and on what basis the payment was made. If the error is not critical, a clarification notice need not be drawn up.

Who and in what cases draws up a notification to clarify the details of the payment order?

A letter of clarification is drawn up and sent by the person who transferred the funds. After all, only the payer has the right to dispose of his funds.

If the recipient of the money believes that there is an error in the payment order, he needs to contact the payer and request a correction. The recipient of the money cannot independently take into account the funds at his own discretion without the permission of the payer.

Who writes a letter to clarify the purpose of payment?

This letter is drawn up by the company that transferred the funds.

Usually the text itself is written by a specialist in the accounting department or another employee authorized to create this type of correspondence and who has access to the generated payments.

In this case, the document must be signed by the head of the company.

Who has the right to correct an incorrect payment purpose in a payment order?

The recipient of funds does not have the right to change the purpose of the payment at his own discretion; he can only clarify it with the payer. Banks also do not have the right to arbitrarily change the purpose of payment.

As a result, only one party has the right to change the purpose of payment - the payer (the owner of the funds). Such a change must be made in writing and certified by the persons who signed the payment document (Article 209 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, paragraph 7 of Article 9 of the Law “On Accounting” dated December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ).

Considering that the procedure for adjusting the purpose of payment is not established by law, judicial practice on this issue should be taken into account.

What errors can be corrected?

It is necessary to prepare a letter indicating the purpose of payment in the payment order if the defect is significant. For example, if a spelling or punctuation error is identified in the purpose of a payment, no notifications need to be drawn up. But there are categories of shortcomings that can negatively affect the company’s activities.

What errors need to be corrected:

1. Invalid contract number. Of course, the payment will go to the recipient’s account, but mis-grading may occur in the accounting department. As a result, payment under a specific contract will not be taken into account. It is likely that penalties will be applied - the accrual of penalties for late payment under the contract.
2. Invalid invoice or invoice number. A defect can cause similar problems as an incorrect contract number. The likelihood of accruing penalties and fines for late payment is quite high.
3. VAT is indicated incorrectly. The payer may allocate tax at the wrong rate or may not indicate the VAT amount at all in the payment order. An error may provoke disagreements with the Federal Tax Service when presenting the tax for deduction.

If you find a defect, prepare a clarifying letter regarding the payment order to the counterparty. The document will exclude penalties on the part of partners due to failure to fulfill the terms of the agreement or contract. It will also protect the company from VAT tax risks.

“Advance” or “payment”?

The risks in case of confusion in these terms (if the second is indicated instead of the first) are high. And for both the payer and the recipient. It is a risky situation for the supplier when the buyer mistakenly indicated “prepayment” on the payment slip, transferring money after the goods have been shipped. If the tax authorities analyze the extract, they will check whether the supplier has reflected VAT on this advance in the declaration. You will have to explain that the buyer paid for the shipped goods. Therefore, it is safer to agree with the buyer in correspondence that he indicated “advance” in the payment slip by mistake.

Inspectors may refuse to deduct VAT from the advance payment for the payer if the buyer has not indicated in the payment slip that he is making an advance payment (clause 9 of Article 172 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). There are chances to defend your case in court, but they are not very high (Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Ural District dated April 4, 2014 No. F09-114/14). In this case, either do not reflect the deduction in the purchase book, or agree on the correct purpose of payment in correspondence with the supplier.

By the way, in addition to “misunderstandings” with government agencies, friction between the partners themselves is also possible. Due to an incorrect purpose of payment, the supplier may offset the payment in a different way than the buyer intended. For example, he may decide that he did not receive an advance payment and, because of this, does not ship the goods. If you notice that you indicated “advance” instead of “payment” or vice versa, it is better to immediately inform the supplier about this.

We draw up a correction letter about the purpose of payment in the payment order to the supplier

When it is necessary to change the purpose of payment in a payment order, the letter is drawn up in any form. There is no approved form at the legislative level.

The document must indicate:

• document number and date;
• sender and recipient data;
• details of the payment document in which the error was made;
• correct name of erroneous details;
• signature of the responsible persons (the same ones who signed the payment).

You can send a notification in any convenient way. It is not necessary to receive notification from the counterparty about the receipt of the letter. But it’s better to get it to make sure that the recipient of the money has made accounting corrections.

Legal meaning of changing the purpose of payment

Today, in judicial practice there is an ambiguous situation regarding the recognition of the legality of making changes to the purpose of payment:

1. It is believed that the sender and recipient of funds must reach mutual agreement to change the purpose of the payment by exchanging letters. This position is supported by a number of courts.

Thus, the resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the West Siberian District dated December 2, 2011 No. A70-2105/2011 states that banks cannot interfere in the contractual relations of the parties to a transaction carried out using a payment order executed by the bank. In this connection, further disagreements that arose between the parties through no fault of the financial institution must be resolved without the participation of the bank. The court points out the need to obtain the consent of the party to make changes to the purpose of the payment document.

A similar position is reflected in the decisions of the following federal arbitration courts:

• Ural District dated June 23, 2011 in case No. A76-18273/2010-62-513;
• Central District dated July 13, 2011 in case No. A54-2219/2010С16.

2. The sender of funds has every right to change the purpose of the payment.

In the resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the West Siberian District dated December 23, 2010 in case No. A75-12877/2009, the court stated that since corrections in the payment order are unacceptable, changes to it must be made in another way, for example, in the form of a statement from the sender issued in the form of a letter money. In accordance with paragraph 2 of Art. 209 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the owner of property can perform any actions with his property if they do not contradict the law and do not violate the rights of other persons.

Since the bank cannot control what and where the money is sent, the court found it sufficient for the sender to draw up a letter that should be used together with the payment order.

A similar position is reflected in the decisions of the following federal arbitration courts:

• FAS Volga-Vyatka District dated October 16, 2013 in case No. A31-7149/2012;
• East Siberian District dated 03/02/2010 in case No. A19-11526/2009;

• West Siberian District dated December 22, 2010 in case No. A03-2483/2010.

3. Changing the purpose of payment in an executed payment order is unacceptable.

This position of the court is set out in the decision of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Moscow District dated 06/09/2011 in case No. A40-15801/09-105-184.

Why change the purpose of payment?

This is done in order to:

• <or>fix the error. For example, your buyer allocated VAT when sending you a payment for a transaction not subject to this tax, you yourself incorrectly indicated the contract number in the payment slip, etc. The courts do not see any obstacles to correcting such technical errors in the purpose of payment. Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Federal Antimonopoly Service dated March 26, 2009 No. A48-3261/08-15, dated 04/22/2008 No. A36-1744/2006; Nineteenth AAS dated 07/09/2010 No. A35-463/2010; Eighth AAS dated 13.05.2011 No. A46-3214/2010 and even believe that this can be done without the consent of the counterparty Resolution of the FAS PO dated 15.01.2010 No. A65-14220/2009 and without notifying the bank Resolution of the FAS PO dated 10.12.2008 No. A55-5200 /08; FAS NWO dated April 13, 2010 No. A56-48259/2009. That is, it is enough to send a letter to the counterparty indicating which payment purpose should be considered correct. But if you don’t want disputes, it’s better to agree on clarification of the payment with the counterparty and make changes through the bank (we’ll show you how to do this later);
• <or change the purpose of the money transfer. For example, you decided to consider an advance payment under one agreement as payment of a debt under another, already executed.

Please note that when nominating. 414 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation there is no need to change the purpose of payment indicated in the payment order. For example, under a supply agreement you paid an advance to the seller. He was unable to purchase the necessary goods by the time specified in the contract, but he could not return the money immediately. You and he have entered into an agreement that from this moment the money you transferred is considered to be on loan and the failed seller is obliged to pay interest on it. The transformation of the obligation to deliver goods into the obligation to repay the loan with interest is innovation. It does not require changes to the payment order - everything was correct in it at the time the money was transferred.

Sometimes the purpose of transferring money is changed to minimize taxes. For example, in order for the seller to avoid charging VAT on an advance payment that could not be “covered” with deductions by the end of the quarter, the supply agreement is replaced with a loan agreement (pretending that the money was initially transferred as a loan). This cannot be called legal, so we will not consider such cases.

How to correct a tax payment

There are rules for clarifying tax payments:

1. No more than three years have passed since the date of transfer.
2. Clarification will not lead to arrears.
3. The payment went to the budget.

It is impossible to clarify the payment if the payer made a mistake in the Federal Treasury account number or bank details. It is considered not to have been received by the budget, and can only be returned.

To correct an error in a payment order, you must compose a letter in any form and also attach a copy of the incorrect payment order to it.

In what cases do disputes arise and how to avoid them?

If you are the payee, contact the payer

For example, a buyer transfers money to you for current deliveries or even makes an advance payment towards future deliveries, while long-standing shipments to his address remain unpaid. You have an understandable desire to offset incoming payments to pay off old debts and interest accrued on them.

Often in such cases, sellers, having decided to independently change the purpose of received payments, limit themselves to notifying the payer. Both tax authorities and the counterparty can take advantage of this in order to challenge a change in the purpose of payment. And in court you are unlikely to be able to prove that it is permissible to unilaterally change the purpose of payment without the written consent of the payer; Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of December 22, 2010 No. A03-2483/2010; FAS PO dated September 29, 2008 No. A57-569/08; FAS NWO dated July 15, 2009 No. A05-13645/2008; FAS MO dated November 15, 2010 No. KG-A40/13584-10; FAS UO dated February 28, 2011 No. F09-565/11-S3; Second AAS dated 06/01/2006 No. A29-8863/05-2E. After all, these are his funds and it is he who has the right to dispose of them. 209 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, which means that initially it is he who must contact the bank with a letter about changing the purpose of the payment.

And even if the contract stipulates your right to independently change the purpose of the money transferred to you (so that you can distribute it between contracts, direct it to pay penalties, interest, fines, etc.), the court will most likely recognize this condition as invalid. Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the North-West District dated 03.03.2010 No. A56-10328/2009. It will be legal only in relation to amounts overpaid as part of the fulfillment of a separate obligation. Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the North-West District of July 15, 2009 No. A05-13645/2008. For example, a buyer owes you for three deliveries. When transferring the money, he indicated in the purpose of payment the repayment of debt for only one of them. However, the amount he transferred is more than the cost of this delivery. You can independently attribute the difference to repay the debt (part of it) for one of the other two deliveries, if such a possibility is specified in your contract.

If you are the payer, obtain the consent of the recipient

It is you, as the payer, who has the right to change the purpose of the transferred money by sending a corresponding application to your bank. However, you must first agree on the change in writing with the recipient of the money - simply notifying him is not enough. Otherwise, a dispute is likely, and the court is unlikely to be on your side. Resolution of the FAS VSO dated 05.05.2006 No. A33-11771/05-F02-1348/06-C2; Seventeenth AAS dated August 23, 2006 No. 17AP-78/2006-GK; FAS ZSO dated November 12, 2009 No. A03-1681/2009; FAS CO dated 03.03.2011 No. A09-5609/2010. An exception may be the case when the payer’s right to change the purpose of payment is provided for by the agreement; Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Eastern Military District of May 27, 2011 No. A82-1485/2010; Thirteenth AAS dated 02/07/2011 No. A56-32680/2010-z.2.

The payer's bank must be notified

If we limit ourselves to the consent of the parties and do not tell the bank anything, then tax authorities can take advantage of this to challenge the specified purpose of the payment; Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the North-West District of April 13, 2010 No. A56-48259/2009; FAS Central Election Commission dated April 22, 2008 No. A36-1744/2006. The courts, as a rule, support taxpayers Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Moscow Region dated June 22, 2009 No. KA-A40/5514-09; Nineteenth AAS dated 07/09/2010 No. A35-463/2010, but once the dispute was won by the inspectors Resolution of the FAS North Kazakhstan region dated 07/23/2010 No. A32-46778/2009-63/638. And vice versa, the bank’s notification helped the taxpayer win a dispute with the tax authorities. Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service ZSO dated May 25, 2005 No. F04-3305/2005 (11525-A70-34).

As we can see, in order to minimize the risk of a dispute about the purpose of payment, it is necessary for the payer to inform the bank about the change. To do this, a letter is sent to the bank. It is important to indicate in it the main details of the changed payment order: number, date, amount, payer, recipient and his current account Resolution of the FAS VSO dated June 27, 2003 No. A19-10165/02-15-Ф02-1903/03-С1. It must be signed by the same people who signed the payment slip, because this is the primary document documenting transactions with funds. 3 tbsp. 9 of the Federal Law of November 21, 1996 No. 129-FZ “On Accounting” (hereinafter referred to as the Law on Accounting). Since there is no established form of the letter, the payer can draw up this document arbitrarily, for example like this.

To Privatbank from LLC “Seven Fridays in the Week” Tel. No. 128/I11 dated July 25, 2011

In the payment order dated 07/05/2011 No. 134 for the transfer of 47,000 rubles. to the current account of LLC "Cucumbers and Tomatoes" No. 40702810838123456789 in Extrabank of Moscow in the "Purpose of payment" field it was erroneously indicated: "Advance payment under the contract for the supply of tomatoes dated 07/04/2011 No. 158/p, including VAT (18%) — 7169.49 rubles.” The following purpose of payment should be considered correct: “Payment on invoice No. 34 dated 06/01/2011 No. 124/o for supplied cucumbers, including VAT (18%) - 7169.49 rubles.”

Appendix 1. Copy of payment order dated 07/05/2011 No. 134. Appendix 2. Copy of a letter from the payee of Cucumbers and Tomatoes LLC, confirming his consent to change the purpose of the payment.

So, the scheme for clarifying the purpose of the payment will be like this.

STEP 1. One of the parties notifies the other party by letter of the need to change the purpose of the payment. The party receiving the notification sends written consent or the parties sign a separate agreement.

STEP 2. The payer notifies the bank in writing of the need to change the purpose of the payment and asks to put an acceptance mark on a copy of the notification.

STEP 3. The payer attaches a notice with a bank mark to the payment document.

STEP 4. The payee receives a notification about the change in the purpose of the payment from his bank and files it with the payment document.

Registration and sending

Prepare four copies of the document at once to change the purpose of payment in the payment order; be sure to have the letters certified by your manager. One copy will remain with the company, the second will be sent to the counterparty, and one copy each for the recipient and payer banks.

There are several ways to send a document. For example, in person at a meeting, send a letter by mail or courier delivery, or, as a last resort, by email. But online correspondence is considered the most unreliable way to send a message. After all, the recipient may not even read the letter.

After sending, the letter should be registered in the journal of outgoing documentation and filed together with the current primary document of the company. It is acceptable to attach a copy of the clarification letter to the payment order with an error. Keep the application for at least three years.

Sample letter about incorrect purpose of payment to the Federal Tax Service

When composing a notice, it must indicate:

• sender's details (name, address, TIN, OGRN);
• tax office details;
• data of the payment document in which there was an inaccuracy;
• details that need to be corrected with their correct values.

Sample form for incorrect VAT

Letter to clarify the purpose of payment

Dear Ivan Ivanovich!

On December 12, 2021, you transferred funds to the settlement account of Smena LLC in the amount of 150,050.00 rubles under contract No. 125 dated December 12, 2019. At the same time, in payment order No. 48, the purpose of payment erroneously stated: “Including VAT 18%.” The price of contract No. 125 is 150,050.00 rubles and does not include VAT, since Smena LLC applies a simplified taxation system, does not pay VAT, and does not issue invoices to buyers. Please inform your credit institution about the error and instruct it to replace the words “Including VAT 18%” with the phrase “Excluding VAT”. It is also necessary to send a notice of changes to the recipient's bank.

How to make an application

The payer who made a mistake must independently prepare a change in the purpose of payment in the payment order (letter). Moreover, the notification will have to be sent not only to business partners, but also to the banking organization.

There is no unified form or template provided. An application to clarify the details of a payment order is drawn up in any form, taking into account the norms of business correspondence.

What to include in your application:

Approximate sample

How and for how long to store a letter

After sending, all letters about clarification of the purpose of payment must be registered in the journal of outgoing documentation, and one copy must be placed in the folder of the current “primary” company. Here it must remain for the period established for such documents by law or internal regulations of the company, but not less than three years . After losing its relevance and expiration of the storage period, the letter can be transferred to the archive of the enterprise or disposed of in the manner prescribed by law.

How to format a letter

The law makes absolutely no requirements for both the informational part of the letter and its design, so you can write it on a simple blank sheet or on the organization’s letterhead, and both printed and handwritten versions are acceptable.

The only rule that must be strictly followed: the letter must be signed by the director of the company or a person authorized to endorse such documentation.

It is not necessary to stamp the message, since since 2021 legal entities are legally exempt from the need to do this (provided that this requirement is not specified in the company’s internal regulations).

The letter must be written in at least four copies:

• you should keep one for yourself,
• transfer the second to the counterparty,
• the third to the payer's bank,
• the fourth to the recipient's bank.

All copies must be identical and properly certified.

Is it possible to challenge a payment change?

Sometimes the recipient of the money does not agree with the changes made by the payer. Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to challenge a letter of clarification. This must be done in court. It is advisable to resolve the problem through negotiations.

When making changes to the purpose of payment, you must remember that such transactions are carefully reviewed by regulatory authorities. If the Federal Tax Service sees signs of tax evasion in such letters, then claims may be made: additional taxes and penalties will be assessed. The most common issue that arises is prepayment under a supply agreement, which is later reclassified as a transfer under a loan agreement. This clearly shows a way to avoid paying VAT on the buyer's advance payment, and questions from the tax inspectorate are inevitable.

Drafting for the bank

Also, if errors are detected, a letter is sent to the servicing bank. The message form is arbitrary. The letter is signed by the persons whose autographs were on the incorrect document.

To make changes to the purpose of the payment, the number of copies of the letter must be 4: the first remains with the applicant, the second with the payer's bank, the third with the recipient's bank, and the fourth with the counterparty.

The letter is drawn up by the enterprise that transferred the monetary assets. As a rule, accounting department employees have access to prepare such a document. The letter is subject to mandatory registration.

Example for the Federal Tax Service

Letter to clarify the purpose of payment

“Smena LLC”, when transferring funds to the supplier Trud LLC under agreement No. 125, in the purpose of payment of payment order No. 56 dated December 10, 2019, the phrase “Including VAT 18%” was incorrectly indicated. Trud LLC applies a simplified taxation system and does not pay VAT. Please make changes to the purpose of payment and replace it with the words “Without VAT”. A copy of the payment document is attached.

Director of Smena LLC Petrov P.P.

15.12.2019

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Inflated payment amount

The buyer transfers an amount greater than indicated in the contract or invoice. This is by no means a cause for joy. The negative consequences of such “generosity” will not be long in coming, as they say. For example, according to the contract, the buyer must transfer an advance in the amount of 30% of the cost of goods, but in fact transferred 50%. The supplier will have to charge VAT on the entire amount of the advance received, otherwise the inspectors will have claims when they check the bank statement. The overpayment, by the way, may be an advance payment against the next shipments, but this does not change the essence.

If you rely on the clarifications of the Russian Ministry of Finance in letter No. 03-07-11/8323 dated February 12, 2021, the buyer has the right to claim VAT deduction from the advance payment, even if its amount is greater than that provided for in the contract. But inspectors can pretend that they don’t know anything about them (or really don’t know). To avoid disputes with tax authorities, it is better to draw up an additional agreement to the supply agreement, indicating in it the amount of the advance payment transferred upon delivery. By the way, in this case, as in the previous one, disputes between counterparties cannot be ruled out - if the overpayment is incorrectly offset or not returned. Check the terms of the contract.

It may tell you how to offset the overpayment. For example, these amounts are considered an advance against future shipments. Or they are offset against the debt. In this case, apply the rules of the contract, and also inform the buyer how you offset the overpayment.

If there are no such conditions in the contract, judges allow the supplier to offset the overpayment against the debt (clauses 2, 3 of Article 319.1 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, Resolution of the Administrative Court of the Ural District of December 21, 2015 No. F09-9691/15). But it is worth agreeing on the offset with the buyer.

If the buyer has no debt, it is safer to return the overpayment to him. If the supplier does not return the overpayment, the buyer has the right to go to court and demand interest at the key rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (Article 395, paragraph 2 of Article 1107 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). Companies can also agree that the overpayment is considered an advance towards future shipments.

Results

Summarizing the above, we can conclude that there is no direct prohibition on making changes to the purpose of payment in Russian legislation. You can correct the information in this column even after the payment has been made, if it does not correspond to the content of the transaction and was indicated by mistake or carelessness.

If making changes to the purpose of the payment does not infringe on the interests of the recipient of the money, but, on the contrary, helps to establish fairness and clarify unclear points, then obtaining consent from the recipient of the funds may not be required. But it is still better to enlist the written support of the counterparty.

Is it possible to challenge a new payment assignment?

Typically, changing the “Purpose of payment” parameter occurs by mutual agreement and without any special consequences. But in some cases complications are possible. For example, if the tax inspectorate during an audit discovers such a correction and considers it a way to evade taxes, sanctions from the regulatory authority can be considered inevitable. It happens that friction regarding the purpose of payment arises between counterparties, especially in terms of payments on debts and interest. In most cases, in order to challenge the correction, the party protesting it will have to go to court, and no one will give guarantees of winning the case, since such stories always have many nuances.

An important condition necessary in order to avoid possible problems is that information about changes in the purpose of the payment must be transmitted to the banks through which the payment was made. To do this, you just need to write similar letters in a simple notification form.

What can you do wrong when filling out the payment details?

An error in any of these points can lead to negative consequences for both the recipient of the money and the payer (legal proceedings and material costs).

Company 1 transferred payment to company 2 in the amount of RUB 661,474. 22 kopecks, designating the purpose of the payment as “Payment of invoice for materials,” although no agreements were concluded between the counterparties for the supply of materials or other goods.

Company 2 considered that the money transferred was rent, since the rental relationship with company 1 actually existed at that moment.

Company 1, through the court, managed to recover from company 2 as unjust enrichment the specified amount plus interest for the use of other people's funds (decision of the Court of Justice of the Tula Region dated 06/09/2016 in case No. A68-10135/2015).

The above example shows how you can suffer serious material losses because of one phrase in the payment instructions.

Find out who and what needs to be done if there is an error in the purpose of the payment.

In the payment order of the individual entrepreneur on the simplified tax system, he erroneously indicated VAT: how to correct the situation?

Hello! You need to move on with your life in peace, not paying attention to the VAT allocated by the counterparty in the payment slip; the counterparty sent a letter admitting his mistake, and everything is fine. You only need to provide copies of documents if the Federal Tax Service requests them. The obligation to pay VAT to the budget arises from the special regime only when issuing an invoice with allocated VAT. The Federal Tax Service rarely issues letters on this topic, because the issue was resolved more than 10 years ago: there is no obligation to file a VAT return and pay tax to the budget.

DEPARTMENT OF THE FEDERAL TAX SERVICE FOR MOSCOW LETTER dated 03/31/2009 N 20-14/2/ [email protected] Question: An individual entrepreneur applies the simplified tax system. When providing services, one of the counterparties indicated in the payment order the amount to be paid, including VAT. Should an entrepreneur pay VAT in this case? Answer: According to paragraph 3 of Art. 346.11 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, individual entrepreneurs who apply the simplified taxation system are not recognized as VAT payers, with the exception of VAT payable in accordance with the Tax Code of the Russian Federation when importing goods into the customs territory of the Russian Federation, as well as VAT paid on the basis of Art. 174.1 Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

In paragraph 5 of Art. 173 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation establishes that the amount of VAT is calculated by taxpayers if they issue an invoice to the buyer highlighting the amount of tax. As follows from the presented materials, the individual entrepreneur did not allocate VAT in all primary documents submitted to buyers (contractors) in connection with the provision of services. In addition, no invoices were issued to them. Thus, given that VAT is allocated only in the buyer’s payment order (erroneously or on his initiative), an individual entrepreneur is not obliged to pay VAT to the budget and submit a tax return for this tax. Moreover, in accordance with paragraph 1 of Art. 346.15 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, funds received from buyers are included in income in full (including the amount of VAT). If the buyer’s payment order (with the allocated VAT amount) has not yet been executed by the bank, then the payer has the right to revoke it on the basis of clause 2.17 of the Regulations on non-cash payments in the Russian Federation, approved by the Bank of Russia dated October 3, 2002 N 2-P. If the specified payment order is executed by the bank, then the buyer (counterparty) must send a letter to the individual entrepreneur with a message that the VAT amount was allocated erroneously in the corresponding payment order. Deputy Head of the Office, 2nd Class Advisor to the State Civil Service of the Russian Federation E.A. OSTANINA