Tax agents: definition, their rights and obligations

As taxpayers, legislation recognizes citizens and organizations that are obligated to make regular gratuitous and non-refundable contributions to the budget. In the cases provided for by regulatory provisions, such entities are foreign entities that are not legal entities. The legislation also provides for such a category as tax agents. Their responsibilities are somewhat broader and, accordingly, their responsibilities are higher. Let us further consider the difference between taxpayers and tax agents.

Subject Responsibilities

As a general rule, taxpayers and tax agents must:

1. To carry out the deduction of statutory amounts to the budget.
2. Register with the control service.
3. Keep records of income and expenses, as well as objects of taxation in the prescribed manner.
4. Submit declarations to the tax office.
5. Send to the supervisory authority and its officials the documents that are necessary for the calculation and subsequent payment of mandatory fees.
6. Submit book accounting for expenses and income. This obligation is imposed on individual entrepreneurs, private notaries, lawyers who have established offices.
7. Send to the supervisory authority the financial (accounting) annual statements no later than three months from the end of the period. This obligation is not assigned only to those organizations which, in accordance with the Federal Law No. 402, are exempted from the need to keep records or are religious associations for which a taxable item has not arisen for a certain period of time.
8. Comply with the requirements of regulatory authorities to eliminate identified violations of the law, do not impede the legitimate activities of employees.
9. To ensure the safety of tax and accounting information and other documents required for the calculation and payment of established fees for 4 years. These include, but are not limited to, evidence of expenditure and revenue.
10. Perform other duties provided for in the Tax Code.

Tax agent

In some cases, it becomes necessary to accumulate the financial resources of a large number of entities. In this case, it is advisable to introduce another participant into the relationship. It is a tax agent (individual or organization). This entity has extended authority. In particular, the personal income tax agent carries out not only the receipt, but also the calculation, as well as withholding of the corresponding amounts. For example, employers, when calculating salaries for employees, deduct from them deductions to be allocated to the budget.

Specificity

Tax agents receive their status only for the purpose of fulfilling specific duties. They, in turn, can be assigned only to those citizens and organizations that act as a source of income. In various respects, one entity may act as a tax agent and taxpayer. A person cannot refuse his or her status, if at the same time he does not give up his obligations to transfer and pay income. Tax agents are, among other things, Russian organizations from which foreign legal entities make a profit acting as an object of taxation.

Legal Opportunities

The legislation establishes the following rights of tax agents:

1. Receive formal written clarification from an authorized supervisory authority.
2. Manage mandatory contributions to the budget.
3. To receive the necessary information for the performance of their duties.
4. Return excessively paid amounts in the framework of the tax legal relationship.
5. Explain the nature of their actions in the field of calculation, deduction and payment of established fees.
6. To participate in tax relations in person or through a representative.
7. Do not comply with legal requirements and regulations.
8. Appeal against decisions of control bodies.
9. Demand the correct attitude from other participants in the legal relationship.
10. To protect their own interests and rights.
11. Claim compensation for unlawfully incurred losses.

What should tax agents do?

In accordance with the legislation, these entities have the following responsibilities:

1. Accrue withhold and pay to the budget the established amount of fees. This provision is fixed in the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 of Article 24 of the Tax Code.
2. Notify control services and their employees about the results of their own activities. This requirement is provided for in subparagraphs 2 and 4 of paragraph 3 of Article 24 of the Tax Code.
3. Keep records in the manner prescribed by law. The specified obligation is established in the third subparagraph of paragraph 3 of Art. 24 of the Code.
4. Ensure proper preservation of the documentation necessary for the performance of their duties. This provision is recorded in the fifth subparagraph of paragraph 3 of the above article of the Tax Code.

General order

The obligation to pay statutory payments to the budget means that the tax agent must timely and correctly calculate, withhold from the funds that it pays to the taxpayer, and also send them the required taxes to the appropriate accounts. One important point should be noted here. Legislation that governs tax deduction for taxpayers applies to agents only with respect to amounts withheld. Directly sending the established fees to the budget itself is carried out according to general rules.

Informing

The obligation to notify the control body and its employees of the results of the activities carried out assumes that, in the specified period (within a month) at the place of registration, the entity reports:

1. On the impossibility of withholding from the taxpayer the amounts prescribed by law.
2. About total debt.

In addition, the law establishes the obligation to provide the documentation necessary to control the correctness of the calculation of the amounts that the tax agent calculated, withheld and transferred (for personal income tax, to extrabudgetary funds).

Accounting

The obligation to record in the prescribed manner for a tax agent requires the need for personal (for each individual taxpayer) and general (for all entities) generalization of information about:

1. Accrued and received income that is subject to taxation.
2. The amounts calculated, withheld and sent to the budget system as prescribed by law.

A responsibility

As mentioned above, the requirements for tax agents are higher than for payers. This is due to the wider powers of the former in comparison with the latter. In tax legal relations, an agent, unlike, for example, a representative of a payer, represents not his, but his interests. For failure to comply or improper execution of the requirements established by the legislative norms, the former is subject to more severe sanctions. At the same time, the law does not allow the taxpayer to be held accountable for violations that a tax agent has committed in its activities. This provision applies to cases of improper performance by the latter of the statutory duties imputed to him in calculating, withholding, and sending to the budget the necessary amounts.