Speaker A
Starting September 1st, the tax authorities gained another data source to verify whether your business exists in reality just as it appears in your reports. We are talking about electronic transport waybills. At first glance, this was just a technical change. They simply replaced paper documents with electronic ones, but now a digital trail of the shipment appears in the state system. And most importantly, this data can be cross-referenced with VAT, headcount, contracts, and other company information. Therefore, electronic transport waybills are no longer just a matter of document workflow. It is a question of whether your real business life matches what you show the tax authorities. Today we will analyze what this form is and how it will affect your business. My name is Ekaterina Arsentieva. I am a tax consultant with over 28 years of experience. What changed on September 1st? Federal Law 140-FZ came into force, making shipping documents electronic, which is now a requirement. Transport waybills, applications, orders, forwarding documents, rail waybills, and air cargo waybills are all being converted to an electronic format. Firstly, all these documents are now transmitted through operators to the state system, GISPD. Here, I would like to dispel the misconception that this only concerns transport companies. The Federal Tax Service emphasized that the new rules apply to all participants in the shipping process. That is, regardless of what your business does. If you become a participant in a shipment, you must also understand this system and comply with the legislation. Many heard that there is a transition period until March 1, 2027, but in reality, it is not a transition period. On September 1st, the obligation to switch to electronic transport documents came into effect. However, until March 1st, they have allowed for no penalties against entrepreneurs who have not yet made the switch. And many interpreted this as, "Well, that means we won't do anything right now." "We'll think about it later," as the saying goes. But March 1st will actually arrive just as quickly as September 1st did. Our entrepreneurs usually just like to do everything at the last minute. And the tax authority has already stated it will track companies that have not switched to electronic waybills but are required to do so. This is a very interesting observation, since the changes took effect on September 1st, and already in September, the tax authority says it will control this. Let’s think about why. It is clear that it won't work perfectly right away, because when something new is introduced, it never works from day one. At a webinar on implementing electronic transport waybills, a tax service representative said that after September 1st, two company profiles would be formed. Those who have begun the transition, even if not fully yet, but it is noticeable that movement in this direction has started. The second group of companies, yes, are those that haven't done anything and are waiting for that very date, March 1, 2027. It's not for nothing that the tax authorities are stating they will track this whole situation, specifically who is required to transition and still hasn't done so or hasn't even taken any action. Most likely, there will be some informational newsletters, yes, to get people to start entering this system, because March 1 is when the penalty period begins, when they can start fining for this. Let's further discuss who actually needs to issue this electronic waybill, because I was asked this question: "Does the electronic waybill concern carriers?" "I'm selling goods, so this doesn't apply to me." Not quite. If a waybill is being issued and a carriage contract is concluded, then in any case, even if you are the seller of the goods, you become a participant in this very chain. And there are at least three parties involved in this process. They are the consignor, the carrier, and the consignee. So, in any case, you become a participant in this digital document workflow. Now, as for who doesn't need an electronic waybill, we do, of course, have exceptions. Meaning, not every movement of goods automatically becomes an obligation to switch to an electronic waybill. The key here is whether there is a carriage contract. That is, if there is no separate carrier and no separate contract, for example, if the buyer picked up the cargo themselves, then this obligation does not arise. Another example is when a company moves its own goods, for example, between its own warehouses using its own transport; here, too, there is no such obligation. There is an important nuance here: if, in these cases, a separate carrier is involved—that is, you are not doing it with your own resources—yes, even if it is some sole proprietor you constantly hire, meaning if you pay for transport even between your own warehouses, then a carriage contract arises here, and you must participate in this electronic chain. And now, let's look at the most interesting part. Why did the state need to move this whole system into the digital realm? I think it is very clear and obvious, because transportation is one of the key elements of the entire buying and selling process, yes, the delivery of goods. And it is precisely in this area that we have a lot of gray schemes and a lot of tax evasion. And now, in this system, which it seems should be fully operational with penalties by March 1, everything will be sufficiently transparent. So, they tell us about fast processing, paperless workflows, fewer errors, and faster settlements, but in reality, every link in this chain is now becoming extremely transparent. Let’s take a look at what happens with the information. Previously, the tax authority had to send several requests to verify the entire chain and the reality of the transactions. I mean, we have a seller, a buyer, a consignor, the transport itself, a driver, a specific vehicle, specific goods, a consignee, and a warehouse. All of these might belong to different legal entities, so for the tax authority to prove, for example, that a deal wasn't real, they had to send requests to various taxpayers, summon people to the tax office, or conduct interrogations, but now this instantly becomes a transparent story. So now it will be plain to see, and it will be quite easy for tax officials to prove schemes and tax evasion. In fact, the electronic transport waybill is a form of, let’s say, legalization, and a quite spectacular one at that. Because it will highlight all these small individual entrepreneurs who are hauling cargo in their own transit vans. Because for companies that use these services, it will become important for confirming their transactions that everything happens officially, knowing where things are going and how. But the most unprepared, as usual, will be the micro-businesses, the ones who own one truck and work for themselves, yet become part of this digital control. Let's take a look at one of the common situations that exist. For example, there is an individual entrepreneur who carries out transport, but the vehicle, for instance, belongs to his wife. For some reason, people really love doing it this way quite often. Actually, this doesn't just apply to transportation. So, it turns out the car belongs to the wife. The business might even be registered to the wife too, but the husband is the driver and the one doing the hauling. But previously, he didn't appear anywhere officially, right? And now the question arises: since the husband is actually driving, what is the nature of the relationship between this entrepreneur and this husband? This is where the question of legalizing employees comes in, because for the most part, we have a vehicle and we have a driver. And here the issue is not just about VAT and the reality of the transaction. It also becomes a question of what's going on with our staff, whether these drivers are officially employed, and whether we're paying taxes on these shipment.
