Accountant Elena Nesterova says: “If it weren’t for the critical situation, I would not have decided to forge a check. But life really can be unpredictable. The driver of our company refueled the car, received a receipt at the gas station, after which he came home and washed his things along with the receipt. Well, what can you do about it! You can’t go 300 kilometers from Moscow to a gas station in order to restore confirmation of expenses in the amount of 700 rubles... I had to contact a company that made a new check in three days.”
Many accountants come to the conclusion that it is easier to forge than to restore. Demand creates supply, and countless companies provide check printing services.
“The documents we produce are no different from the originals issued by existing organizations. The checks bear real details and seals of existing companies. For counterfeiting, real registered devices with details of existing cash registers are used. Therefore, identifying counterfeit documents is unlikely,” says one employee of an online store that sells checks. – For a set of fictitious documents worth less than 10,000 rubles, the company will pay 500 rubles; for an amount up to 50,000 - 700 rubles, and more than 100,000 - 2,700 rubles. Cash receipts are prepared in batches. I would like to mention one of the security criteria heard from the source: “Tax officials pay attention to the presence of supporting documents; they are only interested in the fact of authenticity when there are large expenses. Therefore, we prepare several checks for small amounts that do not arouse suspicion among inspectors, although even in the case of a detailed analysis, it is almost impossible to identify the fact of forgery.”
The “offices” that print checks are equipped with a large amount of equipment. Not long ago in Lipetsk, a group of people were caught who were engaged in forging documents. 4 were confiscated from them system units, 12 cash registers, 375 fake stamps and 32 folders with ready-made payment forms. With such preparation, it is really not that difficult to make a check that will be no different from the real thing.
"Bouquet" of crimes
Quite often, among the fake documents you can find an invoice. Moreover, the tax authorities themselves are to blame for the countless number of fakes. To accept VAT for deduction, you must have a properly executed invoice. The preparation of this document is the responsibility of the seller, and the buyer is interested in receiving it. Wherein a large number of invoices are written with errors that accountants are tired of correcting, but to do this they need to return the paper to the counterparty.
For a set of fictitious documents worth less than 10,000 rubles, the company will pay 500 rubles, up to an amount of 50,000 - 700 rubles; and more than 100,000 – 2,700 rubles. Cash receipts are prepared in batches.
Ordering a fake invoice or making one yourself is faster and easier, since the forms primary documents sold in every market. Many still prefer to use the services of intermediaries, since falsifying an invoice includes a whole “bouquet” of crimes.
Firstly, the details of a truly existing organization located in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities are used.
Secondly, to authenticate the paper, the organization’s seal and signature are forged general director.
Of course, cases are not excluded when invoices confirm transactions that do not exist at all. Then the ubiquitous “one-day projects” come into play. On the one hand, the quality of the document benefits from this, because you can put on it not a copied, but a real “wet” seal and signature of the general director, which is difficult to compare with an analogue. On the other hand, the tax office may have claims against the organization itself, and the company will be accused of receiving unjustified tax benefits.
Nothing extra
Another document that is often lost or requires “rework” for the company to receive additional benefits is the invoice. There is nothing complicated about filling it out, however, inspectors identify a number of mistakes that accountants constantly make when preparing this document “manually”. Firstly, taxpayers often present whole stacks of documents issued to the same company. It turns out that the company paid the organization for the goods, transportation and consultation. Tax authorities inevitably pay attention to such a “multi-profile” enterprise. Therefore, those who constantly use fictitious documents keep special notebooks in which they write that the Romashka company provides transport services, and the Hedgehog company provides consulting services.
Another common mistake that immediately results in a fake invoice is too many stamps. On genuine documents there is only one, but on fake ones they also have stamps: corner and “Paid.” Apparently, accountants think that the more imprints on paper, the more solid it looks. It is not possible to assess the extent of falsification of primary documentation. Some inspectors claim that 50 percent of the papers are fictitious, others claim 80 percent. In fact, tax authorities are not able to check every single document in a company. They pay attention only to obvious violations; the rest is left to the accountant’s conscience.
Irina Golova, expert at Calculation magazine
The proposal to leave the restaurant must come from the initiator of the meeting. If a table is reserved for two, the man offers to finish the meal. Only in exceptional cases can a woman, looking at her watch, say: “Unfortunately, I have to go.”
Etiquette rules do not allow the waiter to bring you the bill until you ask him to do so. But under no circumstances ask for the bill while your guests or your lady is still eating - this is rude to them.
The bill will be brought to you in a special folder or on a tray, with the check turned face down. Perhaps the worst mistake a waiter can make is to leave an “open” bill and name the total amount out loud. The waiter should also not stand over you waiting for your money.
If it is initially assumed that each of those present pays for themselves, inform the waiter about this before the start of the meal, when you place your order. Then a separate bill will be prepared for each dinner participant.
In any other case, one person pays the waiter. There is nothing wrong with checking the bill you brought. The manager can also make a mistake. But commenting on the contents of the bill out loud is unacceptable. It is also extremely impolite to discuss who exactly will pay the bill, or to arrange a “sharing match” in the presence of the waiter.
Money, a credit or bonus card (in restaurants where this form of payment is provided) must be placed in a folder or on a tray along with the bill and left on the edge of the table. Don't forget about tips. This is a rather delicate issue, so you should not discuss it with the waiter or your companions. A tip is not a handout, but a sign of gratitude for good service. Typically, the tip is 10% of the amount of the bill brought. Of course, if you are completely delighted with the service, the amount may be higher. But if you have reasons for dissatisfaction, tipping is out of the question. This will force the waiter to think about his professional skills and next time pay more attention to the customers. However, it is bad form not to pay a tip without a reason.
While the calculation is taking place, the other participants in the meal should not focus their attention on this, continuing the conversation.
You should leave the restaurant slowly and with dignity. Don't forget to thank the service staff. One should not assume that a generous tip can replace an ordinary human “thank you” and “it was very tasty.” Yours kind word important for the waiter, for the administration, and for the reputation of the restaurant.
We wish you a pleasant time.
Employees returning from a business trip provide advance reports to the organization’s accounting department with attached originals of checks and receipts confirming the expenses incurred. Drivers (receipts for fuel, parking), couriers (tolls), etc. must also provide similar reports.
Expenditure documents may include payment for travel (tickets, taxis, fuel), accommodation (hotel), food (cafe, buffet), telephone, Internet.
Therefore, when returning from a business trip or performing other official duties, an employee should remember the list of documents that must be submitted to the accounting department to compensate for expenses incurred.
There are often cases where an employee may provide counterfeit checks and receipts.
This can be a receipt issued in person for a taxi, or at a hotel they purchase checks for accommodation for a certain fee, but in fact the employee is staying with friends (relatives).
One of the innovations Federal Law No. 54-FZ introduced new requirements for cash register equipment, including the ability to print a two-dimensional bar code (QR code) on a cash receipt (strict reporting form) in a separate dedicated area of the cash receipt or strict reporting form.
You can check the authenticity of reporting documents by calling the company that provides this or that service, and check the cash receipt through mobile app Federal Tax Service ( just read the QR code through your phone camera) or on the department’s website kkt-online.nalog.ru.
Since May 2017, it is mandatory to print a check or a strict reporting form for each payment, and (if the cash register allows) at the buyer’s request, in the direction of the check to electronic form to the address Email buyer or his subscriber number.
Consequences of forging checks and receipts
In this case, the employer has the right to sue and recover damages caused and dismiss the employee. When an employee provides accounting documents to an accountant, he may not notice that the document is falsified. But when the organization receives an audit from the tax office, identifying the fake will not be difficult.
You have to pay for deception
What to do if an employee brings a fake check
If fraud is detected, the amount of a false check or an incorrectly filled out strict reporting form is recognized as the employee’s income, since these cash were reimbursed to him.
As a result, inspectors will charge personal income tax on this check or form, and the company will be obliged to pay it by deducting this amount from wages accountable. However, if the employee managed to quit his job before the inspection arrived at the organization, the employer must inform the inspectorate and the former employee that the organization cannot withhold personal income tax. In this case, the obligation to pay additional tax falls on the former employee. In case of non-payment, the fine will be 20% of the amount, as well as debt to the budget, which prevents the debtor from traveling abroad of the Russian Federation.
All these consequences are not pleasant, both for the employer, the accountant and the employee himself. Therefore, to avoid such situations, you need to conscientiously check accountable checks and receipts, paying attention to the required check details:
- Company name;
- TIN of the organization;
- Check number;
- Serial number of the cash register;
- Date and time of purchase;
- Purchase cost;
- Sign of the fiscal regime;
- EKLZ number.
Mandatory receipt details
- Document name, number and series;
- Company name (full name of the entrepreneur);
- Location and tax identification number of the company;
- Type and cost of service;
- Date and amount of payment;
- Position, full name responsible employee, his personal signature and seal of the organization (IP).
Fines for violations of handling online cash registers
- Issuing a fictitious cash receipt, that is, a document for which no sale or settlement was actually made, will be punishable by an administrative fine in the amount of 20,000 to 40,000 rubles.
- For the sale of goods without receipts in the amount of 1 million rubles or more, the fine will also be 1 million rubles.
- Lack of information about broken checks in fiscal accumulator and failure to transfer it to the Federal Tax Service will threaten violating organizations with a fine of up to 100,000 rubles, and individual entrepreneurs- up to 50,000 rubles.
Criminal liability
Article 327 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Forgery, production or sale of counterfeit documents, state awards, stamps, seals, forms
- Forgery of a certificate or other official document granting rights or exempting from obligations for the purpose of its use or sale of such a document, as well as production for the same purposes or sale of counterfeit state awards Russian Federation, RSFSR, USSR, stamps, seals, forms -
- shall be punishable by restriction of freedom for a term of up to two years, or forced labor for a term of up to two years, or arrest for a term of up to six months, or imprisonment for a term of up to two years.
- The same acts committed with the aim of concealing another crime or facilitating its commission -
- shall be punished by forced labor for a term of up to four years or imprisonment for the same term.
- Using a knowingly forged document -
- shall be punishable by a fine in the amount of up to eighty thousand rubles, or in the amount of the wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to six months, or by compulsory labor for a term of up to four hundred and eighty hours, or by corrective labor for a term of up to two years, or by arrest for a term of up to six months.
Criminal liability for accountants and managers
The Duma is considering a law on criminal liability for counterfeiting financial statements. Knowing our Ministry of Internal Affairs, the courts and the prosecutor’s office can charge Article 172.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for any violation in reporting.
What's in this law
Officials of organizations guilty of falsifying financial statements will be prosecuted. If the amendments are finally adopted, the punishment for such a crime will be:
- a fine of up to 5 million rubles.
True, responsibility will be differentiated depending on the type and severity of the crime committed. In particular, for falsification financial documents committed with the aim of concealing the grounds for revocation from credit organization license, guilty persons may receive a fine in the amount of 500 thousand - 1 million rubles or in the amount of the income of the convicted person for a period of 2 to 4 years. In addition, the court may sentence the perpetrators to such sanctions as:
- forced labor for up to 5 years;
- imprisonment for up to 4 years.
If such a crime is committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy (for example, the director and chief accountant of an organization), the punishment will be much more severe and will amount to:
- a fine in the amount of 3 to 5 million rubles or in the amount of the salary of the convicted person for a period of 3 to 5 years;
- imprisonment for up to 7 years;
- deprivation of the opportunity to hold certain positions for 3 years after release.
Taking into account the level of education of specialists in uniform, they will define an employee, an accountant and a director as a group, and with a group, the deadlines are longer and the places are far away.
79 percent of chief accountants do not check the documents of reporting employees. It is dangerous to trust employees, because due to forgery, inspectors will deduct expenses. Read how to identify fake accounting documents.
As an experiment, we bought receipts on the Internet and showed them to the tax authorities. The inspectors told us where the defects were in the documents and how to spot a fake. Now you can check receipts using the tax authorities’ method.
- Important article:
How to identify fake accounting documents that are sold on the Internet
On the Internet, employees can buy any documents about business travel expenses: invoices, checks, receipts. There are invoices, certificates of completion of work and contracts for sale. The price of documents varies from 500 to 8000 rubles.
We bought and checked three receipts: for hotel accommodation, gas and food. Three documents cost 2800 rubles. The sites where you can buy papers have self-explanatory names: buy-chek.rf, checknds.rf, check-moscow.ru.
To order a check, you need to leave a phone number on the website or fill out a form. For a check from a restaurant, we wrote the date, time of opening and closing the account, the name of the dishes, the number of guests and the amount. We ordered checks for accommodation and fuel by phone.
The operator names the time and place where the courier will deliver the documents. Checks are handed over in a public place, such as on the subway, at a bus stop, or in a park. We paid for the checks in cash to the couriers.
Why are documents from the Internet dangerous?
Sellers promise that the documents will pass accounting and tax audits and will not arouse suspicion in anyone.
We showed the documents to the inspectors and found out that the checks would not pass inspection. For signs of fakes, look at the pictures and notes.
The invoice and check for accommodation were allegedly issued by the Moscow Renaissance Hotel (see Fig. 1). The hotel can be found on egrul.nalog.ru using the TIN, but it exists only on paper.
Sample 1. Check and invoice for hotel accommodation
It turned out to be impossible to book a hotel room. We called the phone number listed in the residence documents.
The administrator answered the call, but refused to make a reservation over the phone. She asked me to fill out an application on the website renaissanc.ru. We tried to book a room for a week, but the service gave an error.
At first glance, the fuel check is perfect. It was issued by the Tatneft-AZS-Zapad gas station AZS-47. The company is listed in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, the gas station operates at the address on the receipt. The document contains company details, date and time of purchase. The receipt shows the price per liter of gasoline, which was in effect on the day the employee allegedly refueled the car. There is only one drawback - there is no fiscal indicator (see Fig. 2).
Sample 2. Gasoline receipt
The check for food was issued by the Palermo restaurant, st. Krasnaya Presnya, building 36/1. There is no restaurant at this address, the company cannot be found in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, and the check does not have enough details (see Fig. 3).
Sample 3. Receipt for food at Palermo restaurant
If you present a fake check to the tax authorities, they will deduct the expenses. Few disputes over additional charges for false documents reach the court. The court can support the tax authorities (resolution of the Arbitration Court of the Moscow District dated February 24, 2015 No. F05-413/2015). But companies manage to justify expenses even using checks from an organization that is not in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.
Confirm that the employees were on a business trip with orders, reports, etc. Refer to the fact that the employees could not check the company, and the tax authorities did not prove that it did not provide services. In this case, the court recognizes the costs (decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated December 23, 2015 No. 309-KG15-16360, resolution of the Federal Arbitration Court of the Volga District dated May 30, 2014 No. A55-14253/2013).
How to identify false reporting documents and protect yourself from deceivers
If the travel receipts contain incorrect details, this does not mean that the documents are fake. Perhaps the service was real. Send a request to the organization that issued the document. If she confirms that she provided the service, ask her to redo the documents. How to check documents, read here.
If you believe that an employee has brought false documents, conduct an internal investigation. Take written explanations from the employee who identified the forgery, and from the accountant himself. Remind him of criminal liability (see memo). If the employee admits that he brought a false document, do not reimburse the expenses.
The employee may insist that the documents are real. Then it is necessary to reimburse him for expenses (Article 167 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). The employer has the right not to pay travel allowances only by a court decision (appeal ruling of the Voronezh Regional Court dated August 23, 2012 No. 33-4504). If the court determines that the checks are counterfeit, then damages can be recovered from the employee (decision of the Moscow City Court dated 06/08/12 No. 4g/8-4871/2012).
To prevent employees from being tempted to buy documents, create a reminder about the possible consequences for forgery.