In the process of financial relationships between organizations, cash and cashless payments are possible. In most cases, legal entities, of course, prefer to use the first option. Settlements using bank accounts is a typical format for transferring compensation for goods and services provided by one legal entity to another.
However, the "cache" has not yet left the practice of transactions between organizations. Legally, cash settlement between legal entities (as well as individual entrepreneurs) is allowed. However, legal norms regulating this process contain a large number of nuances. We will study them.
Sources of law
The way that cash payments between businesses should be carried out is regulated by several legal acts at once. One of the key experts consider the Decree of the Central Bank of October 7, 2013 "On the implementation of cash settlements". This source of law was registered by the Ministry of Justice and has become binding upon commercial organizations and IP by-laws. The effective date of the document is June 1, 2014.
Also, the process of settlements between legal entities by cash is regulated by the Central Bank Regulations and a number of other legal acts of the federal level, such as the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, Federal Law "On the use of cash registers."
A number of laws regulate, by the way, cash payments between legal entities not only in rubles, but also in foreign currency. True, such operations are applicable only in the interaction of Russian companies with foreign ones. Inside the Russian Federation, all payments are only in rubles.
Not controlled by law
Probably, it is necessary to talk about those entities that cannot make cash payments provided for by current Russian laws. That is, the CB rules do not apply to them. This is primarily individuals who are not registered in the status of individual entrepreneurs. These are entities that make settlements in accordance with the norms of customs and tax laws. This, finally, the Central Bank itself, as well as other financial institutions (within a separate circle of operations with cash).
Cash desk and equipment
The most important condition when working with cash is correct fiscalization. That is, it is important for the state represented by the Federal Tax Service that all necessary taxes are paid from the funds received by the company. If non-cash channels are used in the calculations, then you can track the movement of finances quite easily - all the necessary information about them is stored in the databases of banks. If the company accepts payments in banknotes, then information about incoming cash should be reflected in other formats. Typically, these are fiscalized files with cash registers (CCP) or paper forms of strict reporting (SSR).
By default, KPTs are required to use individual entrepreneurs and organizations whenever cash settlement occurs. There are exceptions. But there are relatively few of them. Settlements in cash, entrepreneurs can make without CCP in such cases:
- if the company operates on UTII (at the same time it gives customers and customers an analogue of a check reflecting the fact of payment for the purchase or use of services);
- if it is possible to write out the very same BSO instead of checks.
At the same time, there are some types of financial transactions that do not fall under the definition of "trading." Accordingly, CCP for their fiscalization is optional. Among them - the acceptance of payments for the loan, fines, return of working capital to the cashier by sellers.
Cash Terms
A company that intends to make cash settlements with individuals and legal entities must comply with a number of criteria. Namely:
- have a cash book;
- have the resources to carry out work on special orders;
- have properly registered types of CCV.
Among lawyers, there is an opinion that these rules are not valid in respect of cash payments between legal entities, since the CCP, based on the norms of a number of laws, is intended to issue checks to entities purchasing goods without their subsequent use in entrepreneurial activity. That is, individuals. However, there is an opposite point of view. It is based on some decisions of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation, according to which the application of KKT can be carried out regardless of the legal status of the buyer of the goods or the consumer of the service. Calculation of cash, therefore, when using the CCP can be made both with individuals and with organizations and individual entrepreneurs.
Tricks of the rule of law
In connection with what did the discussion in question arise? Should entrepreneurs worry about whether the FTS wants to interpret the rules of the law in their own way? Experts believe that there is no need to worry. And that's why.
On the one hand, of course, cash settlement is a procedure that is primarily designed for financial interaction between businesses and individuals. In accordance with the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, as soon as the seller issues a cashier's check or other similar document to the buyer that confirms the fact of settlements, the conclusion of the contract of sale is recorded.
You can use the purchased product if you follow the requirements of the law, for personal purposes or for transferring it to family members. As we said above, subsequent entrepreneurial activity (as an option, in the form of resale of goods) is not expected. In turn, legal entities are entities that, as a rule, assume corresponding commercial activities.
CCP is mandatory for everyone
Another thesis common in the business community that is recognized by experts as incorrect is that when accepting cash from one legal entity from another it is not necessary to issue a cashier's check - it is enough to issue an appropriate type of order. It's not like that at all. Lawyers say - it’s only a matter of the fact that checks are, like, in principle, cash payments themselves - an element most characteristic of business relationships with individuals. And therefore, according to lawyers, in some sources of law, emphasis may be placed on the fact that issuing this document is the obligation of businesses in relation to customers who are not organizations or individual entrepreneurs. But it does not mean at all that it is not necessary to provide a check to legal entities.
The use of CCPs is therefore mandatory for cash payments between organizations.
Some experts urge that special attention be paid to the fact that the Law governing the use of CCP businesses does not mean that buyers should be divided into individuals and legal entities.
Legal acts of this type only include provisions reflecting the need for the use of CCV in certain cases.
In addition, as some lawyers have noted, the Law on CCV does not say anything about the mandatory use of CCV (as well as exemption from the use of this type of equipment) in payments for a product or service of a particular type. Thus, it does not matter what is the subject of a transaction between legal entities, made in cash.
The specifics of settlements between legal entities
What is the specificity of cash payments between legal entities? Experts note the relevance of the following rules governing such relationships in business.
Firstly, a company that sells goods (or provides services) must issue “paper” elements prescribed by law to the purchasers of goods (or to consumers of services) - cash receipts (and, if necessary, cash receipts) or BSOs legally equivalent to them. In this case, the fact of the transaction should be recorded in the fiscal mechanism of the cash desk, regardless of whether the buyer asked for the relevant document or not.
Secondly, cash payments between legal entities, as well as in the case of similar procedures involving individuals, should be subject to the execution of transactions through credit orders. Also, the seller is required to keep a cash book.
Thus, as soon as one legal entity provides services for another or sells something, the transaction is fixed by check and at the same time a cash order is issued (which reflects the amount of the transaction). Some lawyers consider some relief as applicable to the procedures noted.
Cash settlements between legal entities may not be accompanied by a cash warrant issued after each payment if the purchase and sale transaction process is carried out outdoors specially equipped for issuing fiscal documents. All formalities prescribed by law can be observed, experts say, at the end of the working day. It is perfectly permissible, according to lawyers, to draw up one “summing up” cash warrant for all sales transactions concluded up to this point.
Subtleties of reporting to the Federal Tax Service
Cash payments between legal entities, as we said above, require filling in receipt orders, as well as maintaining cash books. The correctness of these procedures is usually controlled by the tax authorities. Federal Tax Service, in accordance with the Federal Law on the application of CCP, may:
- check the completeness of calculating profits, the procedure for cash settlement;
- to study the documents used by the organization in the process of working with CCP;
- check how cash receipts are issued;
- in case of violation, fine the organization.
What will happen if you do not accept the CCP?
Organizations and individual entrepreneurs that accept funds from legal entities without a CCP will have to deal with significant penalties. Similarly, if the company refuses to give out to the buyer (or counterparty, if he pays in cash) cash receipts and other necessary documents. In some cases, the inspector of the Federal Tax Service, of course, may limit itself to a warning. However, he can also write a fine - up to 40 thousand rubles. And also report the offense to the police.
Cash Restrictions
The Russian legislation contains rules restricting cash payments between legal entities. And quite substantial. What is the current cash settlement limit? What is the policy of regulatory organizations regarding this method of financial interaction between legal entities?
The main source of law, which contains prescriptions on how cash settlements should be carried out when organizations or individual entrepreneurs are parties to the transaction, is the Regulation of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, approved in 1997, but which has not lost its relevance so far.
This legal act, in particular, contains the norm according to which businesses are obliged to transfer free cash - those in paper bills, to banks and not accumulate them, thereby, at the box office. The maximum that a store or service can be kept outside of financial institutions is determined by law. This is the so-called "cash limit".
In addition, in cash should be only those funds, the feasibility of which is due to the objective economic needs of the company. The value of the "limit" is determined according to a special document - form No. 04-08-020, which is officially approved. Actual figures are determined by the management of the company, and they are certified by the CEO and chief accountant.
There is another type of limit established for such a procedure as cash settlement. It concerns the maximum amount of the amount of one transaction concluded between legal entities, and reflects, according to lawyers, the interest of controlling departments in following by the business the very requirement on keeping banknotes in the bank. What is the marginal cash settlement? Today it is 100 thousand rubles.In turn, cash payments between individuals and organizations can occur without restrictions.
Bank instead of the Federal Tax Service
The most interesting thing is that it is not government departments, not the Federal Tax Service, but the banks with which businesses interact that it is necessary to monitor compliance with the limits in question. They are obliged to monitor whether firms restrict cash payments with other legal entities, how correctly the approval of "cash limits" and other procedures is going on.
Banking structures carry out checks on the work of their customers, guided by the algorithms recommended by the Central Bank.
If the limit is exceeded
What is the responsibility of organizations for exceeding both types of "limits" and is not quite correct, according to the Central Bank and its credit and financial organizations conducting cash transactions? Experts note that the following types of offenses recorded by banks are most common:
- cash is not capitalized in full;
- banknotes are accumulated in amounts that exceed the standards established in internal corporate calculations;
- actually exceeding the "limit" on transactions.
Violations in question may result in a fine of up to 50 thousand rubles.
Subtleties of working with BSO
Having released the goods for cash, the organization can issue to the buyer in legal status not a check printed by KKM, but a strict reporting form. What are the nuances of using BSO?
Among experts, there is an opinion that strict reporting forms may not necessarily be paper. It is perfectly permissible, according to lawyers, to keep them and provide legal entities in electronic form. However, the software used when working with BSO should provide complete protection of these documents from unauthorized use by third parties. In addition, experts say that computers where it is intended to store BSO files must be sufficiently reliable so that all operations with forms are stored in them for 5 years.
BSO content
BSO, with the help of which cash settlements can be organized, should contain all the necessary details that are indicated in the regulatory legal acts governing their use. What can we talk about here? What details are required? It all depends, experts say, on the type of activity of the organization.
For example, if a company provides services, then information about them according to the all-Russian classifier can be marked in the BSO. Also, the form may contain rules relevant for the provision of a particular type of service, the address of the organization’s website. The company develops the BSO design independently - there are no strict requirements in this regard. The only exception is companies that provide passenger transportation services. For them, the BSO must comply with the format approved by law.
What is the responsibility for a company’s refusal to provide BSO? If the organization that has accepted cash from the counterparty does not issue a strict reporting form, then this action will be regarded by the regulatory authorities as similar with respect to the cash receipt. And because the company may face the same fine up to 40 thousand rubles.
How can I spend cash
Above, we talked about the limitations that are characteristic of cash turnover in settlements between legal entities in the form of two types of "limits". But there are also other kinds of prohibitions concerning transactions of entrepreneurs with banknotes.
Individuals and organizations can spend free cash on financing the following basic obligations:
- salary of employees;
- transfer of insurance amounts;
- payment for services and work of other companies;
- payment for the supply of goods.
The individual who used cash settlement cannot direct the generated money to his personal needs without registration as taxable income (unless, of course, the entrepreneur does not work on UTII when the amount of actual revenue does not matter).However, as experts especially emphasize, there are no problems in order to withdraw the necessary amount of funds from the current account.
Which, in turn, is quite possible (and this is even welcomed - we said about it above) to replenish due to cash receipts from contractors. In this sense, the line between the concepts of "cash" and "cashless" payment, as noted by some experts, is erased upon the receipt of funds to the bank account of the enterprise.
If, nevertheless, an organization or individual entrepreneur needs cash to carry out certain procedures (for example, the issuance of business trip sums of money, payment of rental property, etc.), experts recommend taking it not at the expense of revenues from counterparties, but from the company's current account in the bank. In this case, however, lawyers advise to get documents in advance that can confirm the fact that the cash received at the cash desk was debited from the current account, and not as a result of transfers for work or sale of goods by contractors or individuals.
Legal trick
There is one interesting fact regarding restrictions on the use of organizations and individual entrepreneurs by cash from the cash desk. On the one hand, there is a list of operations that it is forbidden to carry out using banknotes - we gave some examples above. However, as some lawyers have noted, entrepreneurs, however, have a great chance to avoid responsibility for carrying out such procedures.
The fact is that the limitation period regarding precedents with violation of cash transactions is only two months. It is unlikely, experts say, that the inspection authorities monitor the company so closely that they are guaranteed to identify possible violations. The imposition of penalties after the fact, lawyers believe, is illegal. But experts still do not recommend entrepreneurs to use this feature of the legislation relating to cash payments.
