An electronic signature for the tax is necessary if reports are sent to this state body electronically, and not on paper, in order to give the document legal significance.
The concept of electronic signature
An electronic signature for the tax is considered equivalent in comparison with the handwritten, which are certified paper documents. In addition to submitting reports to the Federal Tax Service Inspectorate, it can be used in the performance of various legally significant actions, for example, such as registering an individual entrepreneur through a tax website, in the Internet Bank and Client Bank systems, in secure correspondence and some other cases.
IFTS provides an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities with an electronic tax signature, which will be described below.
Security of the facility in question
When personally signing documents, the only confirmation of the signature made on it can serve as a graphological examination. With the development of information technology, paperwork is becoming a thing of the past, because reports prepared in this way can be lost, stolen, scanned, copied, or tampered with.
The latter, by the way, absolutely does not threaten files with electronic signature (EDS). For it is a guarantee, which is a special type of confirmation of a computer document. And to fake or hack it is almost impossible, since two keys are used - private and public (both have a limited validity period).
Types of EDS
An electronic signature can be simple. In this form, it is used to work on the website of government services or the like. However, this type of signature does not have legal force. It only confirms that the document was created by a specific person.
A signature with authentication and authorship protection is called an unqualified electronic signature.
It can be used for both internal and external workflow. This product is manufactured using modern methods of cryptographic protection.
For tax, an electronic signature must be qualified. The cryptographic systems used for keys in this digital confirmation are certified by security authorities after passing an appropriate check in the FSB. Thus, the use of this electronic signature limits access to confidential information and protects it from theft.
Documents for EDS
An electronic signature for tax for individuals can be obtained by submitting an application to which a copy of the passport certified by a notary and a copy of the receipt of payment for the service must be attached.
Registration is fast enough. On average, it takes about 3 days to review the submitted application. All requests are considered upon receipt.
How to get an electronic signature for a tax IE? For this purpose, it is necessary to bring an identity card or a copy of it certified by a notary and SNILS to the confirmation center. In addition, you need a receipt confirming the fact of payment of services for the production of electronic signatures or make a payment through a current account assigned to the individual entrepreneur.
Submission of documents to the certification center by individuals must be carried out in person.
We receive the digital signature in the MFC or certification center
Since 2017, it has become possible to obtain an electronic signature for tax through multifunctional centers. Application processing is carried out within 10 days from the date of its registration.You can make an application by making an appointment by the federal telephone center of the MFC or by taking a ticket to the nearest branch of the Center.
The application form for an individual is provided by the MFC specialist on site. You must have a passport, SNILS and TIN with you. This service is free for individuals.
The procedure for obtaining is to register on the website of the corresponding certification center. The system is simple: we select a design service, prepare documents and pay for this service. Further, the applicant is informed of the number and time of the next visit to the MFC in order to receive a certificate and keys, which must immediately be installed on a computer or laptop.
The certificate is issued on paper, and the public and private electronic signature keys for tax are on a USB flash drive. In order to strengthen the qualified signature, the applicant receives a digital signature certificate confirming its authenticity.
Get the key of the digital signature verification certificate
On the portal of the Federal Tax Service, an electronic digital signature of the tax can be obtained for free. To do this, you need to visit the personal account of the taxpayer - an individual. We go to the "Profile" and click on the hyperlink "Obtaining a certificate certificate key of electronic signature." After that, we find ourselves on the page for generating an electronic digital signature for an individual.
To continue working, you need to download and install ViPNet Local Signature Service, which is located on the same portal, on your computer. It should be noted that this application can not be installed under any OS, but only under Windows or Mac OS.
Creating an electronic signature is possible in two ways:
- the key to it for the tax can be stored on the user's workstation;
- he can remain in a protected tax system.
The first option is most convenient for the user. When you select it, a new window opens, the data in which you will need to check, and then confirm them. After that, the system will require you to create a password. Then, a mandatory operation is performed to confirm and preserve it. The last action will be tied to the name of the container, which is generated automatically.
Certificate generation should be accompanied by clicking on any button on the keyboard or moving the mouse around the table. After this, an inscription appears from which the user finds out that the request has been sent, and the answer will be ready after a while, not exceeding several hours. Usually this information appears the next time you log in to your “My Account”.
After the certificate is received and installed in the program (the name of which is given above), the installed one appears in the "Certificates" menu.
Extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities with electronic tax signature
It is formed by the Federal Tax Service for a specific legal entity. You can get a regular statement in the section "Checking contractors" on the website of the Federal Tax Service. However, it cannot be used as a legally significant document.
You can get an official and expanded version of this extract, printed on paper, certified by the signature and seal of the relevant Federal Tax Service Inspectorate, but only the legal entity itself or the relevant law enforcement agencies are entitled to request such a document.
An extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities with the electronic signature of the tax inspectorate has legal force, since the Inspectorate, in accordance with the law, has the appropriate qualified enhanced digital signature. It completely replaces print on paper.
An electronic statement can be obtained through the personal account of the taxpayer or through an appeal to the State Services portal. In both cases, the receipt of an electronic official extract requires an individual to have a qualified electronic signature.
Digital signature transfer
The transfer of electronic signature keys for IP to the tax one, as well as other similar signatures from one computer to another, is usually done using a special application called “Crypto-Pro”.However, if the check box “Mark the key as exportable" was not checked during the key generation, the program will swear, and the key will not download.
But Windows users have advantages. They can copy the key from the registry of this OS, located in the HKML section in the \ SOFTWARE \ CryptoPro \ Settings \ Users \ {SID} \ Keys \ branch (for 64-bit systems, additional Wow6432Node \ is used after SOFTWARE), save it in .reg format .
Next, you need to transfer this file to a new computer, change the SID of the old user to a new one and import it into the registry.
The loss and restoration of EDS
In the event of the loss of a laptop or damage to the hard drive, it becomes necessary to restore the electronic signature if it is stored on these storage media.
But, a lost key cannot be recovered. In this case, again you need to apply for a key (new), that is, an individual will have to go through the familiar procedure for obtaining an EDS again.
To avoid this, you must periodically back up the system, including the keys of electronic signatures. They can be saved on other hard drives or flash drives. This is especially true for individual entrepreneurs whose key loss often occurs on the eve of the report to the tax office. It will be impossible to restore it by any means, since the certification center does not have a copy, and you cannot create a private key using the public key.
For these categories of individuals, storage of private keys that have expired is also relevant. This is especially important if the tax reporting was only submitted electronically with the same signature, but if the electronic signature valid for that period was lost, then IP will not be able to decrypt the submitted reports if necessary.
Finally
Electronic signature for tax inspection can get individuals, legal entities and individual entrepreneurs. It makes it possible to send reports to this organization via telecommunication channels without using a personal signature and seal.
Many individuals prefer to receive a simple electronic signature, but the use of its enhanced types gives more opportunities.