Abstract: The article analyzes the existing federal and regional legislation in the sphere of application of such special tax regimes as a single imputed income tax and the patent system of taxation; identifies positive and negative aspects of their practical application; studies the dynamics in tax revenues from the payment of the single tax under UTII and cost of patents when applying the Patent Taxation System (PTS) and the previous patent-based Simplified Tax System; examines statistics reports on the number of taxpayers applying the special tax regimes. Analysis of the legislation revealed contradictions in the existing legal acts regulating the use of PTS, and examination of the statistical data showed the economic inefficiency of the applied special tax regime. It is concluded that the existing patent taxation system should be reformed. The author suggests an optimal solution to problems identified during the analysis of the legislation; substantiates the proposed changes and predicts projected revenues of the consolidated budget of the Russian Federation if of suggested improvements are implementation.

Keywords: tax incentives, small and medium business, special tax regimes, patent taxation system, restrictions on the use, annual revenue, number of employees, double taxation, budget revenues, development prospects.

Abstract: Since the beginning of the year 2014, a number of important changes — the order of payment and collection of taxes and fees, off-site tax audits, tax prosecution– were introduced in the tax legislation. Some changes are connected with calculation and payment of specific taxes: VAT, personal income tax, excise tax, transport tax, property tax, and special tax regimes. The changes that took effect from mid-2014 include: new procedure for informing about the opening and closing of accounts with credit institutions; payment of property tax by entities applying the special tax regime of the single tax on the imputed income; new procedure for registration of organizations. The methodological basis of the study encompasses federal laws and legal acts of public authorities, elucidatory letters on tax changes in 2014 of the Ministry of Finance and FTS of Russia. The study uses methods of comparison, compilation, analysis and synthesis, as well as other methods. The conducted analysis makes it possible to outline forms and areas of reform in the tax control and administration in Russia. Also, the study describes the calculation and payment of basic Russian taxes in the current and short-term period. The obtained results can be used by accountants, auditors and other professionals dealing with taxation issues in their everyday business practice.

Keywords: VAT, personal income tax, property tax deduction, transport tax, excise tax, property tax, special tax regimes, tax audit, tax declaration tax liability

Abstract: The article focuses on excise taxes and the existing mechanism of their application. Excise taxes are an important factor in the country’s economy and its social sphere. Therefore, the improvements in excise taxation are highly relevant. The author considers such issues as the impact of excise duty on certain processes in the economic and social spheres of the society as well as ways to improve it. Special attention is paid to the study of state tax policy in the field of excise taxation. The state tax policy pursues primarily the fiscal objective, i. e. to provide stable revenues to the state budget. However, the experience shows that the excise tax accounting for a significant part of the price influences processes of production and consumption of excisable goods, thereby it becomes a certain regulator of economic and social processes. In this context, the study of the excise taxes is highly relevant. To examine the practice of levying excise taxes, the work uses the methods of analysis and synthesis, positive and normative analysis, and logical method. The author’s contribution in the field of excise taxes consists in revising the registry of excisable products, establishing a different allocation of liability for the payment of excise duty between all participants of the production process. Also, the study points out that ultrahigh excise rates results in the consumption of low-quality alcohol, and consequently, negatively affects the health of citizens of the Russian Federation. In conclusion, the author proposes to amend the regulations pertaining to calculating and levying excise taxes.

Keywords: excise taxes, excisable goods, excise tax levying mechanism, practice of excise taxation, excise tax payers, tax policy, alcohol market, legalization of business tax proceedings, mechanism of excise tax payment.

Abstract: To date, the VAT is a major part of tax revenues in 136 countries and it accounts for approximately 25% of global tax revenues. In Russia, the VAT amounts to about a quarter of the Russia’s federal budget (or 5.3% of GDP). However, the VAT is not only a budget revenue generating tax but also the shadiest one. To date, the largest share of the shadow economy is connected to the VAT. The countries belonging to the OECD annually assess the budgetary losses resulting from low VAT revenues. The amount of budgetary losses due to low VAT revenues is calculated by comparing the amount of theoretical tax receipts estimated on the basis of macroeconomic indicators to the total national expenditure subject to VAT. The calculation of the tax gap on the basis of macroeconomic indicators allows to determine most accurately the budget shortfall caused by VAT revenues. This technique has several important advantages against other techniques. First, it is easy to calculate it from the available data, and second, it provides a clearly normative reference point, i. e. the uniform VAT imposed on all final consumption.

Keywords: VAT, budget, tax gap, economy, income, administration, indirect taxes, coefficient, shortfall, efficiency.

Abstract: The research addresses financial relations arising in interaction between the tax authorities and taxpayers. In the conditions of transition of developed countries to open management of public resources including tax area via the use of IT, Russia should establish a modern ICT infrastructure offering a high level of service and open interaction in the tax relations area. The article examines the objectives of implementing openness in the activities of the Federal Tax Service of Russia and the main ways to achieve them. It outlines the steps for system transition to an open management of all federal executive bodies. The methodological basis of the study involves regulations and statistics in the field of taxation. The research applies the methods of analysis and synthesis, deduction and induction. Statistical data analysis shows that in the framework of openness of the federal executive bodies it is necessary to introduce in the tax law the concept of “Taxpayer’s personal account” and assign to it the status of an official “soundlink” between the taxpayer and the tax authority. This will greatly reduce the time and labor costs of taxpayers to interact with the tax authorities; cut costs of processing and analysis of documents and information received from taxpayers; ensure a high quality of the tax services.

Keywords: openness, objectives, principles, taxpayers, tax authorities, taxpayer’s personal account, public resources, organization issues, tax law, tax interaction.

Abstract: The study investigates into economic relations arising in the process of taxation of agricultural producers. The object of study is the tax regulation of agricultural enterprises. The development of agro-industrial complex — the backbone of the economy — is one of the state policy priorities to ensure food security and promote rural development. These factors show that to develop agricultural sectors there is a need to enhance indirect methods of the state influence including tax tools. However, the existing tax regulation in agribusiness fails to adequately implement all the functions assigned to it and does not take into consideration the peculiarities of agricultural industry. Methodologically, the research is based on fundamental concepts described in the works of Russian and foreign scholars, legislative and regulatory acts of public authorities, federal laws, decrees of the President and the RF Government Regulations, materials of scientific conferences addressing issues of agricultural producers’ taxation. The research applies abstract logic, monographic, statistical and economic methods as well as other methods of economic research. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that it gives the author’s own definition of “tax regulation”. In the author’s view “tax regulation” implies that the state should create an enabling environment for sustainable business development in the agricultural sector, reduce the overall level of taxation, and establish various special tax benefits thereby increasing investment and economic attractiveness of the industry. Also, the study identifies and substantiates the basic principles of tax regulation in the agricultural sector.

Keywords: taxation, agribusiness, tax regulation, agricultural producer, tax benefits, taxation principles, agricultural tax, the tax burden, tax policy, tax functions.

Abstract: The study focuses on economic relations arising in the process of control over the execution of tax obligations by agricultural producers in Russia. The control over execution of tax obligations by agricultural producers in Russia is a complex system of interconnected and interdependent elements between the taxpayer — agricultural producer — and the state and it is based on the convergence of tax functions and elasticity of the tax system. In authors’ opinion the most effective methods of monitoring the fulfillment of tax obligations by agricultural producers should include cross-audit and mutual control method where several documents reflecting the same or interconnected operations are examined. Thus, there are many different methods of tax control but it is necessary to keep improving theoretical and methodological support for the priority areas of control over the fulfillment of tax obligations by agricultural producers taking into consideration specific features of the industry, namely the seasonality of production, dependence on weather, specialization and specific features of the means of production. The methodological basis of the study includes fundamental concepts disclosed in the works of domestic and foreign scholars, legislative and regulatory acts of state authorities, federal laws, decrees of the President and RF Government Regulations, materials of scientific and practical conferences on the issues of taxation of agricultural producers. The work uses an abstract logic, monographic, statistical, economic and other methods as research tools. It is expedient to identify four factors that potentially impact on the amount of the tax debt in agriculture, namely the rate of economic growth; number of unprofitable enterprises in the economy; nominal fiscal burden on enterprises; the share of exports. As mentioned above, the most important feature of agricultural production which should be taken into account by the tax system but it is still not reflected in the unified agricultural tax is seasonality of production and mismatching of the peak expenses time and time of revenues receipts. One of the principles formulated by A. Smith is the “principle of convenience and proper time of tax collection for the taxpayer.” According to this principle, each tax should be levied at a time or in a manner that is most likely to be convenient for the taxpayer. It is a distinguishing feature of the agricultural sector but the inadequacy of the tax system leads to a steady accumulation of farmers’ debts resulting from penalties and interest, in spite of frequent write-offs and restructuring. All over the world taxes on agriculture are paid in individual income tax regime for a year and the payment is made by installments every 3 months.

Keywords: tax obligation, agricultural producers, tax control, preliminary control, current control, subsequent control, off-site tax inspection, cross-audit, tax debts, unified agricultural tax (UAT) .

Abstract: The consolidated group of taxpayers (hereinafter — CGT) is a voluntary association of income tax payers organizations created on the basis of the agreement on the establishment of CGT in the manner and under the conditions stipulated by the Tax Code, for the purpose of calculation and payment of corporate income tax based on the total financial result of economic activities of these taxpayers. For Russia, the introduction of CGT is a completely new method of payment of the tax, and for the time being consolidation is applied only to corporate profit tax. The introduction of VAT consolidation regime is of great importance since the VAT is one of the main sources of the federal budget revenues in the Russian Federation. But despite all the attempts in this area the VAT consolidation regime is still not applied. The purpose of this paper is to develop a system for application of the VAT consolidation regime in Russia. The research project uses the methods of empirical investigation and general logic methods. The work makes extensive use of the analysis of subject literature and legal documentation. Also, the research analyzes data on foreign experience regarding the VAT consolidation regime as well as VAT performance and collection indicators in the Russian Federation. The research provides comparative description of legal systems and federal forms of state system of Russia and Germany and on this basis the authors demonstrate the possibility of use of the foreign experience to introduce the VAT consolidation regime in Russia for the consolidated group of taxpayers. The paper describes the technique of interaction within the group which pays the aggregate VAT. The interaction should provide the aggregation within VAT of all elements of taxation, and the group will be treated as a single taxpayer. For illustration purposes, the paper shows the schemes of VAT calculation for CGT, distribution of the input and output VAT, the VAT aggregate formation for the group of consolidated taxpayers. The paper gives comparative examples of VAT calculations for CGT and independent organizations. Among the advantages of the VAT consolidated regime are simplification of the tax calculation and reduced volume of paperwork. It is concluded that for Russia the VAT consolidated regime can be very efficient in tax administration and collection.

Keywords: Consolidated group of taxpayers, VAT, taxation, liable partner, consolidation, financial result, economic activity, profit taxes, federal budget, tax deductions