Tax obligations often cause trouble for the population. The bulk of citizens and companies are faced with personal income tax. Sometimes, based on the results of calculations, there is an overpayment of personal income tax. What to do in this case? Is it possible to return excess funds transferred? What overpayment transactions are available for implementation? What is the deadline for submitting a corresponding request to the tax office? The answers to all these questions will be presented below. If you carefully consider this topic, you will notice that overpayment of taxes is not as terrible as it seems.

Causes

Why do overpayments on personal income tax occur? The reasons for this phenomenon may be different. For example:

• due to errors in submitted declarations;
• due to a technical failure;
• with a large advance and small taxes;
• if an error occurred when calculating personal income tax.

Regardless of the reasons for overpayments, every citizen should know what he can do with excess funds. Is there any way to return them?

What to do with overpayment

Has an overpayment of personal income tax been detected? What to do in this case? Organizations, entrepreneurs and citizens can apply for a refund of funds from the budget. You can also offset the excess funds against future taxes.

What does it mean? If overpayments for personal income tax are detected, a citizen can:

• offset the money against future personal income taxes;
• offset against existing debts;
• return funds from the state budget.

What's the best way to proceed? Each taxpayer decides this independently. In practice, most often the second scenario occurs when large amounts are involved.

Deadline

If an overpayment of personal income tax is discovered, the citizen must be informed about it within 10 days. The tax agent notifies the taxpayer so that he can dispose of the excess funds.

As a rule, you can apply for a refund of the overpayment within 3 years. This is exactly the statute of limitations in Russia for filing requests to the tax office. The countdown begins from the moment the excess amount is transferred to the state budget. But this is in ordinary cases.

Features of calculating the statute of limitations

Sometimes circumstances may influence the procedure for calculating the statute of limitations for applications to tax services. Overpayment of personal income tax has the following features:

1. Did the overpayment occur when transferring advance payments? In this case, the three-year period is counted from the date of filing the annual return.
2. Was the tax paid in installments? Then the overpayment is calculated for each payment separately. And the statute of limitations too.

Is the period expiring in which a citizen can make a corresponding request on the appropriate date (day, month) of the last term of the year? If the day falls on a weekend, then the statute of limitations expires in the first working period after the expiration of 3 years from the date of the overpayment/submission of the declaration.

Refund deadlines

Has there been an overpayment of personal income tax? Excess transferred funds can, as already mentioned, either be returned or offset against future taxes. This is normal. How long will the money be returned or credited?

To date, overpayment of personal income tax:

• returned to the citizen - within 30 days (month);
• reread - no more than 10 days.

At the same time, a decision on what to do with the overpaid tax must be made within 10 days from the moment the relevant government agency receives a written application from the taxpayer. The applicant is required to notify the applicant of their further actions no later than 5 days after the final consideration of the case.

Features for individual entrepreneurs

However, sometimes the refund or re-crediting of overpaid taxes to the state treasury does not occur immediately. The established deadlines can be regulated by the Federal Tax Service if we are talking about the activities of individual entrepreneurs.

When an entrepreneur himself reveals that an overpayment of personal income tax has occurred, the following scenarios are possible:

• organization of payment verification - no more than 15 days;
• Desk inspection - 3 months.

After the relevant checks have been carried out, the countdown of 10 days will begin, allotted for the local Federal Tax Service to make a decision on what to do with overpaid taxes.

Features of the test

Is it possible to offset personal income tax against an overpayment? Yes. This is precisely the scenario that occurs most often in practice. Typically, overpaid money serves to reduce tax payments in a future tax period. This means that next year we will have to transfer less money to the state.

Please note that overpayment of personal income tax against future payments will be processed, but only within the limits of personal income tax. What does it mean?

Overpayment of taxes will be offset in the future, but only within the limits of taxes of one type. There are federal, local and regional payments. Thus, it will not be possible to offset the overpayment of transport tax, for example, as property taxes. And vice versa. The situation is similar with personal income tax. Therefore, we can say that the offset of the overpayment will be taken into account only in relation to taxes on personal income.

If an individual entrepreneur acts as a tax agent (transmits personal income tax for employees), then it is impossible to reduce the entrepreneur’s taxes due to overpaid personal income tax received from a particular employee.

Procedure

Is it possible to offset an overpayment of personal income tax against future payments? Yes, this has already been said. But if desired, a citizen can also return part of the funds to himself.

The procedure for crediting/refunding personal income tax will be as follows:

1. Collect a certain package of documents. It will be discussed below.
2. Write an application for a personal income tax refund or re-credit.
3. Submit a written request to the Federal Tax Service at the place of registration/registration. Attach all the papers prepared in advance to it.
4. Wait for a written response-decision from the tax service.

In reality, everything is much simpler than it seems. Overpayment of personal income tax, if properly prepared, will either be transferred to the citizen’s account, or it will be counted towards future taxes/current debts.

About documents

Not many documents are needed to implement the task. The thing is that usually the list of required papers is limited to an application and an updated tax return. Such a list is needed when the tax agent has enough money to refund the funds.

Otherwise, the taxpayer is required to:

• tax return;
• application for credit/refund of personal income tax;
• extract from the tax register for personal income tax;
• certificates, payment slips and other papers confirming overpaid tax.

All documents are provided in originals. Collecting them is not difficult.

Reflection

How to reflect an overpayment of personal income tax? It’s easy to indicate this feature on your income certificate (form 2-NDFL). All overpayments are noted here as “Tax amounts over-withheld by the tax agent.”

To indicate incorrectly paid tax, the taxpayer must submit an amended tax return to the appropriate authority. It makes all recalculations indicating the presence of overpayments.

Having debts

There is one more feature that needs to be remembered. Especially if the overpayment of personal income tax is issued as a refund to the taxpayer. The thing is that money is transferred in full only if there are no debts on taxes and fines.

If a person/company has a debt, then the overpaid taxes first cover it, and the remainder is transferred or credited to the citizen. There is no way to receive the full amount of overpaid funds if you have debts.

Results

Now it is clear what can be done if there is an overpayment of personal income tax. Repayment or refund of funds - it does not matter what kind of transaction we are talking about. The main thing is that the procedure in one case or another will be similar. The only difference is in writing the application.

If a re-offset is planned, this must be indicated in the application to the Federal Tax Service. When returning money from the budget, the application specifies the account to which the funds must be transferred.

In practice, Federal Tax Service employees most often willingly re-credit money and unenthusiastically satisfy requests for the return of funds from the state budget. However, if a citizen is refused, the decision must be justified. The Federal Tax Service writes the reason for the refusal in its decision, which will be sent to the taxpayer.

Is it possible to count an overpayment of personal income tax into future payments? Yes. Should I return it? Same. The decision made by the tax authorities can be appealed in court. Fortunately, in practice such circumstances are extremely rare. Therefore, we can hope that the funds will be sent in the direction chosen by the citizen.

If a company has overpaid taxes, it can be offset or returned (Article 78 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). But the situation with personal income tax is special. After all, in this case, the company is Therefore, there is a procedure in place here.

Overpayment of personal income tax during the year

If an overpayment of personal income tax occurred before the end of the year, then simply take it into account when you calculate the tax on the next payments to the employee. This conclusion follows from paragraph 3 of Article 226 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. After all, according to the opinion, we can talk about excessively withheld personal income tax only when the current year ends. Representatives emphasize this in letter dated July 23, 2012 No. 03-04-06/8-207.

For example, at the end of April an employee was overpaid for personal income tax. In May, when making your next payment, offset the excess. And withhold less tax from the employee.

Prepare an accounting statement. Indicate in it why the overpayment occurred, its amount, and also what reversal entries need to be made in accounting.

Please pay attention to one very important point. If a company withheld tax correctly, but mistakenly transferred more than required, inspectors do not consider the excess to be an overpayment of tax. This is because the law prohibits paying personal income tax at the expense of a tax agent (clause 9 of article 226 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Therefore, such an amount cannot be offset against future tax payments. It can only be returned as a payment that was mistakenly transferred to the budget. Look at this letter dated July 4, 2011 No. ED-4-3/10764.

Overpayment of personal income tax at the end of the year

If it was not possible to offset the entire overpayment of personal income tax in the current year, the excess will have to be returned to the employee. Act according to the rules of Article 231 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. First, notify the employee about the overpayment. There are 10 working days for this from the moment you discovered it (clause 6 of article 6.1 and paragraph 2 of clause 1 of article 231 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). There is no special notification form. So make it up as you please. Write down in the document why the overpayment occurred and its amount. Then be sure to receive a statement from the employee requesting a refund of the overpayment. Without it, you cannot return money to a person. Financiers emphasize this in a letter dated October 19, 2012 No. 03-04-05/10-1206.

The application can also be made in free form. Tell the employee to indicate the details of the account to which you will transfer the money. After all, it is prohibited to return overpayments in cash.

Let's say you discovered an overpayment of personal income tax for 2014 for one of the employees who resigned. In this case, he also needs to report the overpayment and return the money. The procedure is the same as for those working in the company. Look at the letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated December 24, 2012 No. 03-04-05/6-1430.
But if a person dies, the surplus cannot be returned to his relatives. Representatives of the Russian Ministry of Finance confirmed this in a letter dated March 7, 2013 No. 03-04-06/7028.

Once the application is received, the company has three months to return the money. If you violate this deadline, you will also have to pay interest. They must be calculated for each day of delay at the current refinancing rate.

Reduce your upcoming tax payments by the refund amount. Either at the expense of the personal income tax amount for the same employee, or at the expense of the tax withheld from other people (paragraph 3, paragraph 1, article 231 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

It happens that a company must return more money to an employee than the amount of personal income tax accrued for three months. Then you will have to contact the inspectorate for a refund of the overpayment. To do this, make a statement in any form. Attach to it an extract from the personal income tax register about the employee’s income for the period of overpayment. As well as documents that confirm that the company withheld and transferred excess amounts of tax (paragraph 8, paragraph 1, article 231 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). This may be for the year in which the personal income tax overpayment occurred, as well as copies of payment receipts.

All papers must be submitted to the tax authorities no later than 10 days after the employee gives you the application.

Well, the inspectorate will return the money according to the rules of Article 78 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. If the decision is positive, the inspection must return the surplus within a month after the tax agent submitted the application for return (Clause 6, Article 78 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). If the inspection violates the deadline, your company will receive interest from the budget. They are due for each calendar day of delay and are calculated based on the current refinancing rate (Clause 10, Article 78 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

By the way, until the tax authorities return the overpayment, you can transfer money to a person at the expense of the company’s own funds. This is directly stated in paragraph 9 of paragraph 1 of Article 231 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

R. Tsvetkova,
Deputy Head of the Department for Accounting and Tax Accounting, Auditing and Consulting Group "Ural Union"

For a refund of over-withheld personal income tax, a person can contact the organization that withheld the tax as a tax agent. To do this, he needs to write a statement in any form addressed to the head of the organization. This is stated in paragraph 1 of Article 231 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Tax refunds to anyone other than the taxpayer himself (including his heirs) are not made. This is not provided for by tax legislation. Such clarifications are contained in the letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated March 7, 2013 No. 03-04-06/7028.

Tax refunds in cash are not allowed, therefore, in an application for a tax refund, a person must indicate the bank details of the account to which the tax agent should transfer the excess withheld amount (paragraph 4, clause 1, article 231 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated February 17, 2011 No. 03-04-06/9-31).

A person can submit an application for a tax refund within three years from the date of withholding (Clause 7, Article 78 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). At the same time, the right to apply for a tax refund does not depend on the existence of labor (civil) relations between a person and an organization on the date of filing the application. For example, a person has the right to submit an application for the return of an excessively withheld amount to an organization after dismissal from it, but before the expiration of the period provided for a tax refund. In this case, the tax agent is obliged to return the excessively withheld personal income tax to the dismissed employee. However, confirmation that the tax was not returned by the tax office is not required. Similar clarifications are contained in letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated December 27, 2012 No. 03-04-06/4-370 and dated December 24, 2012 No. 03-04-05/6-1430.

Sources for returning the overpayment may be upcoming payments for personal income tax, withheld and subject to transfer to the budget:

• from the income of the same person who had an overpayment (for example, if an employee from whom the excess amount of personal income tax was withheld continues to work in the organization);

• from the income of other taxpayers in relation to whom the organization is a tax agent.

This follows from the provisions of paragraph 3 of paragraph 1 of Article 231 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

The tax rates at which personal income tax was withheld, sent by the organization to return the overpayment, do not matter. For example, a tax calculated at a rate of 13 percent can be returned from personal income tax amounts calculated at rates of 9, 13, 30 or 35 percent. At the same time, tax agents are required to keep separate records of income (personal income tax amounts), for which different tax rates are applied (clause 3 of Article 226 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Situation: can an employer offset an overpayment of personal income tax incurred by an employee in connection with the acquisition of resident status?

Yes, it can. This is explained as follows.

If a person has been in Russia for less than 183 days over the past 12 months, then he is a non-resident of the Russian Federation. The income he receives from a Russian employer will be subject to personal income tax at a rate of 30 percent. If the employee’s status changes and he is recognized as a resident of Russia in accordance with Article 207 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, then personal income tax on his income will be withheld at a rate of 13 percent.

If during the tax period a citizen worked in one organization for more than 183 days, then he became a resident. In this case, personal income tax accrued from the beginning of the year can be recalculated by the employer himself. Starting from the month in which a person received resident status, personal income tax withheld by the organization at a rate of 30 percent will be counted when determining the tax base for personal income tax. At the same time, the tax base also includes those incomes on which tax was withheld at a rate of 30 percent.

Such clarifications are contained in letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated August 12, 2011 No. 03-04-08/4-146 and the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated June 9, 2011 No. ED-4-3/9150.

The employer can count the overpayment that occurs when changing status until the end of the tax period. To do this, a corresponding application is required from the employee. And only in order to return the overpayment of personal income tax, which remained in the budget at the end of the tax period, you will have to contact the Federal Tax Service at your place of residence (location).

In order to return an overpayment of personal income tax at the end of the year that arose in connection with a change of status, a person needs to contact the tax office of his place of residence (location) and submit:

• application for personal income tax refund;

• personal income tax declaration;

• documents confirming his resident status in a given tax period.

This procedure is provided for in paragraph 1.1 of Article 231 and paragraph 7 of Article 78 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Return period

The organization must transfer the overpayment of personal income tax to the person’s bank account within three months from the date of receipt of the application from him. There is no need to report the return to the tax office (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated October 18, 2013 No. 03-04-06/43608). If within three months the organization does not return the overpayment to the taxpayer (in whole or in part), then it will have to charge interest on the amount of unrefunded tax for each day of delay. Interest is calculated according to refinancing rates , valid on the days of violation of the return deadline. This procedure is provided for in paragraphs 3-5 of paragraph 1 of Article 231 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. In this case, the amount of accrued interest is not exempt from taxation. Such income is not mentioned in Article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, therefore, when paying interest, personal income tax must be withheld from it. The validity of this conclusion is confirmed by the letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated August 22, 2013 No. 03-04-05/34450.

The organization itself discovered the overpayment

If an organization-tax agent discovers an overpayment of personal income tax on its own, it is obliged to inform the taxpayer about this within 10 working days (paragraph 2, paragraph 1, article 231, paragraph 6, article 6.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). The Tax Code of the Russian Federation does not provide for the form and method of reporting the presence of an overpayment of personal income tax. Therefore, the tax agent has the right to send a message to the taxpayer in any form. Such clarifications are contained in the letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated May 16, 2011 No. 03-04-06/6-112.

Situation: can an organization independently return to an employee the amount of personal income tax withheld at a rate of 30 percent? During the year, the employee became a tax resident.

No, it can't.

In the situation under consideration, the return of excessively withheld personal income tax is made by the tax inspectorate at the end of the tax period (clause 1.1 of Article 231 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated March 31, 2011 No. 03-04-05/6-204 and dated March 21, 2011 No. 03-04-06/6-48). However, an organization can offset (in whole or in part) the amount of personal income tax withheld at a rate of 30 percent against personal income tax, which must be withheld at a rate of 13 percent.

If an employee continuously worked in an organization for more than 183 days a year (for example, from January 1 to July 3), then he acquires the status of a tax resident (clause 2 of Article 207 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Starting from the month in which the employee’s documented period of stay in Russia exceeded 183 days, the organization’s accountant must withhold personal income tax from his income at a rate of 13 percent (clause 1 of Article 224 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Personal income tax is calculated monthly on an accrual basis from the beginning of the year with the offset of previously withheld tax amounts (clause 3 of Article 226 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Consequently, personal income tax amounts withheld at a rate of 30 percent before an employee acquires tax resident status are subject to offset when withholding personal income tax after the employee has become a resident.

The validity of this conclusion is confirmed by letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated September 22, 2011 No. 03-04-06/6-233, dated September 21, 2011 No. 03-04-06/6-226, dated September 19, 2011 No. 03- 04-06/6-224, dated August 12, 2011 No. 03-04-08/4-146 and Federal Tax Service of Russia dated September 21, 2011 No. ED-4-3/15413, dated June 9, 2011 No. ED -4-3/9150.

If at the end of the year the amount of personal income tax, excessively withheld at a rate of 30 percent, is greater than the amount of tax withheld at a rate of 13 percent, the employee will be able to return the difference through the tax office (clause 1.1 of Article 231 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). To do this, at the end of the tax period, he must submit an application and income declaration in form 3-NDFL to the tax office at his place of registration. At the employee’s request, the organization must provide him with the documents necessary to confirm income, as well as personal income tax amounts accrued and paid to the budget. For example, form 2-NDFL and a certificate from the place of work, compiled on the basis of time sheets. The employee can confirm the duration of his stay in Russia with a copy of his passport with border crossing marks from the border service. It is not necessary to submit to the tax office a certificate confirming the employee’s status (they are issued by the Interregional Inspectorate of the Federal Tax Service of Russia for centralized data processing) to return the excessively withheld amount of personal income tax. A citizen has the right to apply to the tax office for a refund of this amount within three years from the date of the overpayment. Such clarifications are contained in the letter of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated May 25, 2011 No. AS-3-3/1855.

An example of crediting over-withheld personal income tax to an employee who acquired tax resident status during the year. The tax agent organization independently performs the recalculation of personal income tax for the past months of the tax period and crediting the excess withheld amount to the employee.

Citizen of Moldova A.S. Kondratyev has been working under an employment contract at Alpha LLC since May 6, 2015. He arrived in Russia on December 29, 2014. Until this moment, Kondratiev had not been to Russia.

The organization pays Kondratiev a monthly salary in the amount of 25,000 rubles.

For May-June 2015, his income amounted to 50,000 rubles. (RUB 25,000 × 2 months). At the time of receipt of income for May and June, Kondratiev was in Russia for less than 183 days. Therefore, during this period, personal income tax was withheld from him and transferred to the budget at a rate of 30 percent in the amount of 15,000 rubles. (RUB 50,000 × 30%).

By the time the salary for July was calculated, Kondratiev’s stay in Russia for 12 consecutive months exceeded 183 days (from December 29, 2014 to July 1, 2015). Kondratiev became a resident. From this moment on, Alpha’s accountant calculates personal income tax on his income at a rate of 13 percent, taking into account the provisions of paragraph 3 of Article 226 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. That is, he applies a tax rate of 13 percent to all income received by Kondratiev since the beginning of the year, with the offset of previously withheld amounts. Kondratiev is not entitled to standard deductions.

Transactions related to the withholding of personal income tax from Kondratiev’s income are reflected in the accounting records with the following entries:

In May:

Debit 26 Credit 70

- 7500 rub. (RUB 25,000 × 30%) - personal income tax is withheld at a rate of 30 percent;

Debit 70 Credit 50

In June:

Debit 26 Credit 70
- 25,000 rub. - Kondratiev’s salary was accrued;

Debit 70 Credit 68 subaccount “Personal Income Tax Payments”
- 7500 rub. (RUB 25,000 × 2 months × 30% - RUB 7,500) - personal income tax withheld at a rate of 30 percent;

Debit 70 Credit 50
- 17,500 rub. (25,000 rubles - 7,500 rubles) - Kondratiev’s salary was issued;

Debit 68 subaccount “Personal Income Tax Payments” Credit 51
- 7500 rub. - transferred to the personal income tax budget at a rate of 30 percent.

When calculating salaries for July, the cumulative personal income tax amount from the beginning of the year is:
25,000 rub. × 3 months × 13% = 9750 rub.

The amount of tax withheld and transferred by this time is 15,000 rubles. Therefore, Alpha does not withhold tax from Kondratiev’s income for July. There is no obligation to transfer personal income tax to the budget when calculating wages for August:
25,000 rub. × 4 months × 13%< 15 000 руб.

Operations for calculating and issuing wages in July and August are reflected in accounting with the following entries:

Debit 26 Credit 70
- 25,000 rub. - Kondratiev’s salary was accrued;

Debit 70 Credit 50
- 25,000 rub. - Kondratiev’s salary was issued.

When calculating personal income tax on an employee’s income for September, the resulting overpayment is taken into account in full. The amount of tax that must be withheld and transferred to the budget from salaries for September is:

25,000 rub. × 5 months × 13% - 7500 rub. × 2 months = 1250 rub.

Debit 26 Credit 70
- 25,000 rub. - Kondratiev’s salary for September was accrued;

Debit 70 Credit 68 subaccount “Personal Income Tax Payments”
- 1250 rub. - personal income tax is withheld at a rate of 13 percent (with offset of previously withheld amounts);

Debit 70 Credit 50
- 23,750 rub. (25,000 rubles - 1,250 rubles) - Kondratiev’s salary was issued;

Debit 68 subaccount “Personal Income Tax Payments” Credit 51
- 1250 rub. - transferred to the personal income tax budget at a rate of 13 percent.

In October, operations to withhold personal income tax from Kondratiev’s salary were reflected in Alpha’s accounting records with the following entries:

Debit 26 Credit 70
- 25,000 rub. - Kondratiev’s salary for October was accrued;

Debit 70 Credit 68 subaccount “Personal Income Tax Payments”
- 3250 rub. (25,000 rubles × 6 months × 13% - 7500 rubles × 2 months - 1250 rubles) - personal income tax is withheld at a rate of 13 percent (with offset of previously withheld amounts);

Debit 70 Credit 50
- 21,750 rub. (25,000 rubles - 3,250 rubles) - Kondratiev’s salary was issued.

Alpha's accountant made similar entries in the accounts in November and December.

Refund of overpayment through inspection

Upcoming personal income tax payments may not be enough to return the overly withheld tax amount within the three-month period established by paragraph 3 of paragraph 1 of Article 231 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. In this case, the tax agent should apply for a refund of the missing amount to the tax office at the place of his registration.

An application for the return of an excessively transferred amount of personal income tax must be submitted to the inspectorate within 10 working days from the date of receipt of the application from the taxpayer (paragraph 6, paragraph 1, article 231, paragraph 6, article 6.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Therefore, the tax agent must make a decision on the method of returning the overpayment (at the expense of upcoming payments or at the expense of funds returned by the inspection) immediately after receiving the taxpayer’s application (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated May 16, 2011 No. 03-04-06/6-112).

The tax inspectorate will return the overpayment of personal income tax to the tax agent organization in the manner established by Article 78 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation (paragraph 7, clause 1, article 231 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Before the overpayment is credited to the organization's current account, the tax agent has the right to return the excessively withheld amount of personal income tax to the person at his own expense (paragraph 9, clause 1, article 231 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

It should be noted that the transferred amount cannot be offset against upcoming tax payments if the organization:

• erroneously transferred personal income tax to the budget in a larger amount than was withheld;

• transferred personal income tax ahead of schedule (before payment of income).

These amounts are not overpaid tax, since they were not withheld from the income of employees, but went to the budget at the expense of the tax agent organization. Tax agents do not have the right to pay personal income tax from their own funds (clause 9 of article 226 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Therefore, in such a situation, the only possible way out is to return the erroneously paid amounts to the tax agent’s bank account. Similar clarifications are contained in letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated November 12, 2014 No. 03-04-06/57158, Federal Tax Service of Russia dated July 4, 2011 No. ED-4-3/10764.

If it is decided to return the overpayment using funds returned from the budget, a package of documents must be submitted to the tax office. The composition of this package does not depend on the type of income in respect of which an overpayment of personal income tax arose, and on the rate at which the tax was withheld (letter of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated September 20, 2013 No. BS-4-11/17025).

The tax refund application must be accompanied by:

An extract from the tax register for personal income tax on the employee’s income;

A copy of the employee’s application (indicating the reason for the overpayment, the date of its occurrence and the amount);

A copy of the certificate in form 2-NDFL as of the date of application for a refund;

Data on settlements with the budget for personal income tax starting from the year for which the tax was recalculated. As a document confirming the data on settlements with the budget for personal income tax, you can submit an extract from account 68 subaccount “Settlements with the budget for personal income tax.” The amount of accruals on the credit of this account must be reversed by the amount of the tax overpayment (so that the amount of the overpayment is visible).

If it is decided to return the overpayment at the expense of the organization (with subsequent reimbursement from the budget), in addition to the application and primary documents (certificates, statements, etc.) for the employee in respect of whom the error was made, a new one must be prepared and submitted to the inspection certificate The new certificate in section 5 should reflect the recalculated personal income tax amounts.

When submitting updated information:

In the fields “No. __” and “from __”, indicate the number of the original certificate and the new date of preparation;

In the “Adjustment number” field - the value is one more than in the previous certificate, for example, with the initial adjustment - 01;

In the lines “Tax amount calculated”, “Tax amount withheld” and “Tax amount transferred” of Section 5, indicate data on the employee’s tax obligations after recalculating personal income tax;

In the line “Amount of tax excessively withheld by the tax agent,” enter zero.

Similar explanations are contained in letters of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated August 9, 2012 No. 03-04-06/6-229 and the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated August 13, 2014 No. PA-4-11/15988, dated February 24, 2011 No. KE- 4-3/2975.

An example of returning excessively withheld personal income tax to an employee at a rate of 13 percent. The overpayment is returned at the expense of upcoming personal income tax payments, subject to withholding and transfer to the budget from employee income

In August 2015, an employee of LLC Trading Company Hermes A.S. Kondratiev was on a business trip. Upon his return, he submitted an advance report in which he reflected the costs of travel to the place of business trip and back in the amount of 10,000 rubles. He did not have tickets confirming travel expenses.

Despite this, travel expenses were compensated to Kondratiev based on his application and the order of the manager. The accountant included the reimbursable expenses in the personal income tax base in August. The amount of personal income tax on compensation for travel expenses was 1,300 rubles.

Kondratyev’s monthly income is 8,000 rubles. Kondratiev has no children. For the period January-August, standard deductions were not provided to the employee. Data on accrued income and withheld tax are given in the table.

Period	Amount of taxable income	Amount of personal income tax to be withheld
January

Sometimes it happens that in the hassle of tax reporting and payment of fees, citizens can make a mistake on their own when making entries in the declaration, or the tax agent makes a technical error, resulting in an overpayment of personal income tax, which can actually be used, you just need to understand all the nuances of such an operation.

These are funds excessively withheld by the tax agent from the taxpayer’s income or paid by him independently.

Important: taxes on personal income are required to be paid at the appropriate time and in the proper amount.

They cannot be less or more; if a larger amount is deposited, the money can be returned or offset against future payments; if the amount is smaller or evasion of payment occurs, administrative or criminal liability arises.

Personal income tax is withdrawn from all income of individuals who are citizens of the Russian Federation, who receive income from its tax residents, as well as from the income of persons who do not have Russian citizenship, but receive income on its territory.

Payment under the simplified system occurs in the following stages:

• Submitting a declaration to the local authorities of the Federal Tax Service. You can read how to correctly fill out the 3-NDFL declaration;
• Payment of self-deducted fee.

• Lawyers;
• Notaries;
• Other persons engaged in private practice;
• Non-residents of Russia.

Important: the tax office independently makes calculations and sends receipts by mail.

You can see whether the tax agent can offset the overpayment of personal income tax against the following payments here:

Why does overpayment occur?

Excessive deposits occur in the following cases:

• The presence of erroneous data in the declaration;
• Due to technical errors;
• When making a large advance and having a small tax;
• An error was made when calculating personal income tax.

What to do with it and when?

If an excess amount is discovered, each taxpayer should understand that it can be used at their own discretion:

• Set them off against debts;
• For future payments;
• Funds can also be returned from the state budget.

The period for such a return, according to Russian legislation, is 3 years from the date of notification of the discovery of an amount in excess of the required payment. Important: the taxpayer must receive notification of the excess amount within 10 days from the moment this circumstance is clarified.

Before determining an excess amount as an overpayment, a tax officer must compare many facts:

• Determine the excess amount as tax;
• Identify the reason for this fact;
• Determine the exact amount.

Statute of limitations for overpayment - how to determine

To subtract the statute of limitations for an overpayment, it is necessary to accurately determine the period when it was made.

In this case, there may be several options:

• If there was a larger deposit of money when making an advance payment (as reflected in), then the statute of limitations is calculated from the date of the annual report;
• Overpayment when paying tax in installments - it is necessary to deduct the amount of the excess amount for each payment, accordingly, the statute of limitations is deducted based on the date of each payment.

What is the general statute of limitations for taxes for individuals - find out

Deadlines for returning funds to an employee

The money must be returned to the employee within 3 months from the moment of his request to return the excessive deduction or from the moment of independent discovery of the fact of the overpayment.

In this case, the applicant must notify the employer or the Federal Tax Service of his decision regarding the money within 5 days from the date of the final consideration of the case.

The authority has the right to make a decision regarding the further use of money within 10 days from the date of notification to the agent.

Sample application for refund of overpayment.

Deadlines for individual entrepreneurs

If a return must be made by an individual entrepreneur, the Federal Tax Service has the right to regulate the timing of the return depending on the circumstances. How to fill it out and how the overpayment should be reflected in it - read the link.

Important: if the service receives a statement from a taxpayer about an independently identified fact of overpayment, it has the right to all refund operations for up to 4 months - 15 days for consideration of the case and 3 months for a desk audit.

Offset against future payments

This option is more acceptable and profitable, both for the tax authorities and for the taxpayer himself, since he will not have to worry about making payments in the future tax period, and the process itself is much faster.

However, it is necessary to take into account the specifics of this tax - this tax is mostly deducted by the employer from the employees' salaries, its deduction occurs before the salary is transferred, but the transfer is on the same day when the money is credited to the employees' account or issued in cash from the cash register.

Therefore, the personal income tax paid in advance by clerks is often taken into account as an “erroneous” payment and is not counted as tax at all.

Important: overpayments for this tax can be counted against other payments, the early payment of which is permissible.

1. In order to offset personal income tax against future payments, you must initially prepare the required package of documents.
2. Write a statement indicating which payment the excess amount should be applied to.
3. Submit all documents to the Federal Tax Service.
4. Get an answer.

To offset documents against future payments, you must prepare:

• An extract from the tax register for the period when the personal income tax overpayment was made;
• Application for offset of overpaid funds;
• Certificate of income for the given period in form 2NDFL;
• Checks or payment documents confirming this fact.

Important: all documents must be originals. You should contact the Federal Tax Service department with this package and application, which is obliged to offset the funds within the prescribed time frame.

If the employee is a non-resident of the country and his status has changed during the year, then the tax office will offset the excessively deducted finances, that is, you should contact the Federal Tax Service.

Important: if the deadlines are violated by the enterprise, then interest is calculated for each overdue day.

Sample application for offset of overpaid tax.

Return documents

To make a refund for an overpayment, you must contact the inspectorate with the following package:

• Application for refund of the amount from the employer and attach the basis - application from the employee;
• A certificate for this employee in form 2NDFL for a given period, if the amount was overpaid in previous years, they must submit the primary and corrected version, which shows all the facts of the overpayment;
• Register of information on the income of individuals;
• Payment document confirming the fact of overpayment;
• Documents confirming the unjustification of excessively withheld money, for example, if some of the employee’s income is not subject to taxation.

Reflection of overpayment on personal income tax

If there is an unfair deduction from an employee’s salary based on the fact of tax paid, then he can return funds from the enterprise’s turnover, and then within 3 months reduce personal income tax payments for all employees.

In the case when everything can be done before filing 2NDFL, and this is necessary to calculate in advance the fact of overpayment, there is no need to indicate in the certificate.

If there is not enough finance to cover the overpayment, you must indicate the correct amount of personal income tax in the certificate in the line “Amount of tax calculation”.

In the lines “Amount of withholding tax” and “Amount of transfer tax” it is necessary to indicate the amount with overpayment, and only the amount of the overpayment should be indicated in “Amount of tax excessively withheld by the tax agent”.

Important: after returning the money to the employee, an updated 2NDFL is submitted to the tax office. In accounting entries, overpaid funds are displayed as follows:

• Dt 70 Kt 68 subaccount “Calculations for personal income tax” - reversing the amount of personal income tax excessively deducted from the employee’s income;
• Dt 70 Kt 51 – return to the employee of excessively withheld personal income tax.

With existing debts

When an excess amount is detected in the account of an individual entrepreneur or enterprise, the inspection will initially check the entity for the absence of debts, and if there are any, the funds will be used to repay them.

Important: this moment is mandatory and even if you write an application and submit all the necessary documents, you will not be able to get the funds back.

If an enterprise applies for the return of an excessively withheld amount from an employee’s salary if there are debts, it is possible to count only on a certain amount that will remain after paying the debt to the authorities.

Conclusion

From everything it is clear that there is no liability for the overpayment and it can be used profitably when paying debts or future payments for other taxes of this type or received for a refund. It should be remembered that offset is a more accessible and simpler operation than the return of funds, which the Federal Tax Service has difficulty accepting.

In this case, it is necessary to use almost the same documentation; you just need to clarify in the application which outcome of the question is interesting.

It is also necessary to remember that the use of overpaid money is the right of every taxpayer, and in the event of a refusal, the Federal Tax Service is obliged to provide the applicant with substantiated written arguments that can be appealed in court.

You can find out what to do with debt and overpayments and taxes in this video:

If you can't offset it, what can you do to get the overpayment back?

How to return an overpayment of personal income tax? How to offset or return an overpayment of personal income tax?

How can an overpayment be offset against future payments for other taxes?

Question: Our organization has a large overpayment of personal income tax for 2015-2016. (250,000). The tax office does not return this amount, citing the excuse that a desk audit was not carried out. We wrote a written request and received an official response. This amount cannot be offset against future payments. We want to try to count it. And then pay a 20% fine for not transferring on time. (in general, it’s better to pay a fine than to be left without a refund at all.). Those. Ultimately, we will not have any tax arrears. What can an organization face other than a 20% fine? If you can't offset it, what can you do to get the overpayment back?

Answer: The inspection unlawfully refuses to return your overpayment. Previously, tax inspectorates returned overpaid personal income tax amounts only after an on-site audit. Now there is no such rule. Inspectors receive information about all charges when the company submits 6-NDFL. However, you can apply for a refund of the overpayment in the middle of the quarter. There is no need to wait until the deadline for filing a report in Form 6-NDFL arrives. Therefore, you can appeal the unlawful actions of the inspectorate and ask the court to charge interest for the unlawful failure to return the overpayment.

The inspection may not count the overpayment against future payments, but will charge fines and penalties.

The amount that the tax agent transferred in advance to the CBC for personal income tax is not considered by tax inspectors to be either an advance or a tax. They view it as an erroneous payment. Therefore, on the day when the official tax payment deadline arrives, they will wait for a new payment. And if the organization does not list it, employees of the Federal Tax Service will record the arrears and calculate a fine of 20 percent (). From the same day they will begin to charge penalties ().

You can also offset the overpayment of personal income tax against the arrears for this tax, as well as against the arrears and future payments for other federal taxes.

How to offset or return an overpayment for personal income tax

If personal income tax was transferred ahead of schedule, it can be returned and offset against arrears for this tax, as well as against arrears and future payments for other federal taxes. But offsetting the overpayment against future personal income tax payments is still dangerous.* This article contains advice, explanations and sample documents for each case.

Why can’t an overpayment be included in future personal income tax payments?

Personal income tax is a tax that an employer pays not for himself, but for his employees - as a tax agent. Therefore, before transferring this tax to the budget, it must be withheld from income. This can only be done on the day when the organization issued money from the cash register or transferred it to employees’ bank accounts. Tax agents do not have the right to pay tax at their own expense. Doing this is directly prohibited by paragraph 9 of Article 226 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. So it turns out that before the organization has paid the income, it is impossible to transfer personal income tax to the budget.

The amount that the tax agent transferred in advance to the CBC for personal income tax is not considered by tax inspectors to be either an advance or a tax. They view it as an erroneous payment. Therefore, on the day when the official tax payment deadline arrives, they will wait for a new payment. And if the organization does not list it, employees of the Federal Tax Service will record the arrears and calculate a fine of 20 percent (). From this very day they will begin to charge penalties ().*

The Federal Tax Service of Russia confirmed this in a letter dated February 6, 2017 No. GD-4-8/2085. There were similar clarifications before - in letters from the Federal Tax Service of Russia and dated July 25, 2014 No. BS-4-11/14507, as well as in letters from the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated February 1, 2016 No. 03-04-06/4321, dated July 10, 2014 No. 03- 04-06/33737 and dated November 12, 2014 No. 03-04-06/57158.

Note that with a camera camera, inspectors may not notice such a violation. The program will automatically credit the overpaid personal income tax against current tax payments. But during the on-site inspection, the inspectors will probably find fault. Arbitration practice on this topic is contradictory. Some judges cancel the fine, taking into account that the money went to the budget (resolutions of the Arbitration Court of the Moscow District dated July 28, 2016 in case No. A40-128534/14, the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated July 23, 2013 No. 784/13). Others agree with the inspectors (resolution of the Arbitration Court of the North-Western District dated June 19, 2015 in case No. A56-41307/2014).*

How to offset an overpayment in future payments for other taxes

An erroneous personal income tax payment can be offset against future payments for other federal taxes. For example, for VAT or income tax. After all, the organization pays these taxes from its own funds. And she has the right to do it ahead of schedule. This follows from paragraphs and article 45, paragraphs and article 78 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and letter of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated February 6, 2017 No. GD-4-8/2085.

To offset the overpayment against other taxes, submit an application to the tax office. Its form has been approved. Please attach a payment order and an extract from the personal income tax register to your application. You can make such a credit even in the middle of the quarter. There is no need to wait until the deadline for submitting 6-NDFL arrives.

An example of how to offset an overpayment for personal income tax against future payments for other taxes

On June 13, the accountant withheld and paid personal income tax from employees’ salaries for May. The amount of tax withheld was 20,000 rubles, the amount of payment was 32,000 rubles. The organization decided to offset the overpayment in the amount of 12,000 rubles. against upcoming VAT payments for the second quarter of 2017. To do this, the accountant submitted an application for offset to the tax office.

How to offset an overpayment against arrears of personal income tax or other taxes

Incorrectly paid personal income tax can be offset against arrears for the same tax. To do this, submit an application for credit to the tax office. Compile it according to the standard form, which was approved by order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated February 14, 2017 No. ММВ-7-8/182.

In this situation, the general rules for offsetting overpayments of taxes apply. An organization has the right to offset overpaid federal tax against arrears for any tax of the same type (clause 5 of Article 78 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). However, if the organization does not submit an application for offset, tax inspectors may have questions during the on-site audit. Therefore, it is safer to submit an application for offset.

An example of how to offset an overpayment of personal income tax against the arrears of this tax

For May 2017, the accountant calculated personal income tax in the amount of 60,000 rubles. But he transferred only 38,000 rubles to the budget. On June 30, the accountant withheld and paid personal income tax from employees’ salaries for June. The withheld personal income tax amount was 60,000 rubles, the payment amount was 72,000 rubles. 12,000 rub. - this is an erroneous payment that the company transferred to personal income tax details.

The company decided to credit 12,000 rubles. against personal income tax arrears for May. To do this, the accountant completed and submitted an application for tax offset to the tax office.

How to return an erroneous personal income tax to an organization’s account

Money overpaid to the budget can be returned to the organization’s bank account. To do this, submit an application to the tax office. The standard return application form will not work in this case. Since you will not be returning the tax, but the erroneous payment.

Complete a free form return application. Attach payment slips and an extract from the personal income tax register to it. These documents will confirm that you paid excess amounts to the budget.

Previously, tax inspectorates returned overpaid personal income tax amounts only after an on-site audit. Now there is no such rule. Inspectors receive information about all charges when the company submits 6-NDFL. However, you can apply for a refund of the overpayment in the middle of the quarter. There is no need to wait until the deadline for filing a report in Form 6-NDFL arrives.

An example of how to return an erroneous personal income tax

On March 17, the accountant transferred 12,000 rubles. against personal income tax for March. I haven’t yet calculated the employees’ income for the month and haven’t withheld tax. The company decided to return this erroneous amount from the budget. To do this, the accountant completed and submitted a refund application to the tax office.