In order for the state to influence the state of the economy, it needs certain financial resources. Their source is taxes and fees, which direct funds to the state budget.
The essence of the tax and tax system
In order to better understand the essence of the topic, it is better to initially determine the meaning of key terms.
A tax should be understood as a mandatory payment that the state levies on organizations and individuals. It takes the form of alienation of funds received by payers in the course of business or operational financial management. The purpose of this alienation is extremely simple and it boils down to financial support for the activities of state entities and municipal institutions.
When it comes to collection, this refers to a mandatory contribution, which is also levied on individuals and companies, but in this case, already for actions by the state, which are in the interests of payers.
As for the tax system, this term is used to define the totality of legal and economic relations taking shape on the basis of the process of redistribution of resources that have a monetary value. In other words, this is a unilateral forced withdrawal of a certain part of the income of individual and corporate owners for subsequent national use of these resources.
The essence of the tax and its functions
Determining the essence of taxes and fees will be much easier if you study the key functions that they perform.
The first function is fiscal. This means that taxes are the main tool by which the formation of state financial resources takes place. We are talking about extrabudgetary and budget funds.
The second function that reveals the essence of the tax is a regulatory or economic impact. With the help of various taxes, the state is able to stimulate and exert other types of influence on the economic interests of business entities. As the goal of such an impact, it is possible to determine the quantitative and qualitative regulation of reproduction parameters.
It is important to note the fact that the tax system determines not only the totality of fees and taxes. An important role is played by the principles of its construction, which are fixed in the conditions of taxation. Thus, such a system is a procedure for changing, maintaining, establishing and canceling various obligatory payments to the budget. The system of distribution of funds received by the state between various types of budgets can also be attributed to this system. The essence of the tax is also characterized by the regulation of duties and rights of payers, the responsibility of taxpayers and the organization of control and reporting that relate to the payment process.
Indirect taxes
This type of tax is included in the form of an allowance in the price of a product or service. They are not directly related to the property or income of the payer. But they are directly related to revenue. This means that the owner of an enterprise providing any services or producing any products deducts a certain amount from the profits of his company in favor of the state.Moreover, it is the consumer who turns out to be the final payer of indirect fees, because he buys a product or service at a cost in which the amount paid to the state has already been taken into account.
This information makes it possible to better understand the nature of taxes. If you pay attention to the Russian Federation, then the indirect group includes tax on the sale of fuels and lubricants, customs duties, VAT and excise taxes.
Direct taxes
This type of taxation is established for a specific area of activity, property and income. If we turn to historical data, we can see that a similar way of filling the budget was the earliest form that was used to raise funds in the public interest.
Without this type of taxation, it is difficult to imagine the essence of the tax and tax system. The types of taxes in Russia that fall into this category are social contributions to extra-budgetary funds, any type of income tax (on profits or income of enterprises, as well as individuals), as well as property taxes.
Federal and regional taxes
Paying attention to the category of payments, which is defined as federal contributions, it is worth noting that these are payments that are mandatory throughout the Russian Federation. They are established by the Tax Code. All funds collected in this way go to the federal budget. As for the distribution of received resources between budgets of different levels, it can change under the influence of a special representative body of the state.
Regional means payments that are mandatory for deduction in the territory of specific constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Essence and tax items of this type are as follows: the regional tax includes benefits, the rate (within the limits established by the Tax Code), the timing and payment procedure. The main elements include the reporting form for a specific regional collection.
Other species
Having delved into the essence of the tax system, it is worth considering other types of payments. It’s worth starting with general taxes. Their main mission is to ensure capital and current government spending. Those funds that come from such fees do not initially have a specific direction of use. This may be personal income tax, income tax, etc.
The regressive look is characterized by the fact that the amount of withdrawal is inversely proportional to the value that the object of taxation has. But in the case of progressive taxes, the rate increases as the value of the object grows.
The group of proportional fees includes those types of taxation that are set in a fixed percentage in relation to the tax base (the payer's property or his income), regardless of what size it is.
There are also special taxes. They are characterized by their intended purpose, since they are tied to specific state expenditures or special extrabudgetary and budget funds. This group includes deductions that go to road and federal off-budget funds of a social nature, as well as payments for natural resources, land tax, etc.
Pay attention to local taxes. For their establishment and enactment, regulatory legal acts adopted by local authorities are used. Important is the fact that only in the territory of the respective municipalities the payment of such fees will be considered as mandatory.
Income tax
This type of payment should be given special attention since it is one of the key ways to raise funds in the federal budget. The essence of income tax is reduced to the fact that all organizations and enterprises that are legal entities are determined as objects of taxation.
Moreover, the forms of ownership and management do not matter in this situation, the main thing is that there is a fact of doing business.
Income tax payers
To understand the essence of corporate profit tax, it is necessary to determine which companies and enterprises in this case are payers. For this, it makes sense to distinguish two key groups:
- Foreign organizations that use permanent missions to carry out their activities in the Russian Federation. This includes companies that profit on the territory of Russia, but at the same time have a central office in another country.
- Russian companies.
There are organizations that are not defined as income tax payers. We are talking about UTII payers in terms of income received from activities and small businesses that have switched to a simplified taxation system. This type of fees is also irrelevant in relation to organizations whose activities relate to gambling and agricultural activities, where profits are generated in a special way.
Object of taxation
As such an object is determined by the gross profit of the company, which, in fact, is the sum of several values:
- losses or profits from fixed assets and other property of the enterprise;
- profit or loss from the sale of works, services and products;
- income received from non-operating transactions, which are reduced by the amount of expenses on the same operations.
Since the economic essence of income tax is reduced to the taxation of the income of the enterprise, it is worth deciding on what is meant by this term.
The following are recognized as profit:
- in the case of Russian organizations, the income that was received, taking into account their decrease by the amount of expenses incurred;
- for foreign organizations - income received from any sources in the Russian Federation;
- for foreign companies that use representative offices to carry out activities, these are incomes received using these representative offices, reduced by the amount of expenses.
Types of organization income
If we classify the profit of companies, then we can distinguish 2 key groups:
- non-operating income;
- profit received through the exercise of property rights, works or services.
It is important to understand that the profits can be attributed to those revenues that were received both through the sale of goods of own production and products purchased earlier. The determination of revenue for goods is based on the summation of all receipts related to settlements for goods or services sold.
Also, the economic nature of income tax involves the taxation of income that was received both in rubles and in foreign currency.
How does tax apply to individuals
In addition to organizations, income tax applies to resident individuals who receive income of foreign and domestic origin, as well as non-resident individuals who receive profit through operations within the Russian Federation.
The essence of the tax on personal income is reduced to the mandatory participation of citizens in state support as part of their income. In response, the state provides the population with access to certain indivisible goods. This balance must always be respected, otherwise citizens will not have sufficient motivation to pay tax on their income.
VAT
The essence of the value added tax, which is indirect, is reduced to the withdrawal to the state budget of a certain part of the added value generated at all stages of production of products, works or services. Payment is made as the product of the company is sold.
As for interest rates, they may differ depending on the object of taxation. The determination of taxable turnover is based on the value of the products that are sold.This includes any types of cash received by the company if they arrived after settlement for the goods delivered by the organization.
As payers, you can identify individual entrepreneurs, enterprises, as well as those persons who carry out the movement of goods across the customs border of the Russian Federation, it is they who make the transfers. But in fact, the buyer is the final VAT payer.
Consider worth and the nature of the transport tax. It is mandatory for payment on the territory of specific constituent entities of the Russian Federation. As for the objects of taxation, they recognize vehicles that have been registered in the territory of the Russian Federation.
In order to determine the amount shown for payment, you need to multiply the number of horsepower of the vehicle’s engine by the number of months of ownership per year and the tax rate, which may vary depending on the region.
The use of the tax system is a necessary measure for harmonious interaction between the state and citizens, as well as stable economic growth of the country.
