Indirect costs are why they are called that. Direct material costs. Indirect costs - what are they?

In tax accounting, there is no concept of cost as such. Instead, the concept of “production costs” is used. True, this does not change the essence of the matter: in both accounting and tax accounting, costs for the production of products (works, services) should be determined in accordance with the requirements of accounting or tax legislation.

At the same time, it is necessary to understand that the cost of products (works, services) is the basis for forecasting and production management, and actual production costs are the basis for determining the selling price, the volume of inventories in order to ensure a continuous production process. It is on the basis of the cost components that the procedure for documenting costs is determined, that is, the document flow schedule, on the basis of which the data of primary documents is grouped and systematized.

Let us immediately note that the methods for calculating the cost of specific types of products (works, services) in accounting and tax accounting are different in most cases. Accordingly, the financial result, formed as the difference between income received and expenses, will vary. Thus, this must be taken into account when forming the accounting policy of the enterprise, and when generating accounting data, and when automating accounting processes for both accounting and tax accounting purposes.

Direct and indirect costs in practice

The division of costs into direct and indirect is traditionally used in accounting and management accounting. At the same time, the division of costs into direct and indirect should be made for any type of activity: production activities, performance of work, provision of services.

In a broad sense, direct costs are variable, meaning they increase or decrease with changes in output. Indirect costs are constant, that is, they do not directly depend on the volume of output.

Since 2002, these concepts have been used in tax legislation (Articles 318-320 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

So this is common to the two accounts. However, the interpretation of direct and indirect costs in accounting and tax accounting is different in structure.

Direct expenses in accounting - these are expenses related directly to the production of products, performance of work and provision of services, as well as expenses of auxiliary production. These include labor costs, the cost of materials consumed, third-party services related to the manufacture of certain products (works, services), etc.

Direct expenses in tax accounting - these are at least three types of expenses named in paragraph 1 of Article 318 of the Tax Code:

remuneration of production workers with contributions to extra-budgetary funds (except for the Social Insurance Fund - accidents),
materials that form the basis of products (works, services),
depreciation of those fixed assets that are involved in production.

The overall composition of expenses, as you can see, varies somewhat.

Example 1

In a construction organization, direct expenses for accounting purposes will include subcontracting work for construction or any specific installation work. In tax accounting, the cost of subcontracting work can be included in indirect costs.

However, despite the fact that for tax purposes the taxpayer has the right to independently determine the composition of direct costs associated with production, fixing their list in the accounting policy, it should be borne in mind that in some written instructions of the fiscal authorities there are recommendations that run counter to those established in 25- th chapter on the procedure for dividing costs into direct and indirect.

Thus, in the letter of the Ministry of Finance dated March 2, 2006 No. 03-03-04/1/176, the opinion is expressed that the provisions of Chapter 25 of the Tax Code are aimed at bringing tax accounting closer to accounting. Therefore, the procedure for allocating production and sales expenses for tax purposes should be established by analogy with the procedure used by the organization for accounting purposes. In other words, the Ministry of Finance recommends not saving on direct expenses, but making them in full analogy with the accounting composition.

In our opinion, this is not at all necessary, since, taking into account that the procedure for forming the initial cost of fixed assets, inventories, and the composition of labor costs are different in the two types of accounting, therefore, no matter how close they are, you will never get the same result will not work. And then, is the purpose of maintaining two types of accounting to bring each other closer?

Let's remember that purpose of accounting is to ensure uniform accounting of property, liabilities and business transactions carried out by organizations, as well as the compilation and presentation of comparable and reliable information about the property status of organizations and their income and expenses, necessary for users of financial statements (Article 3 of the Law “On Accounting” dated November 21, 1996 No. 129-FZ).

In its turn purpose of tax accounting - generate complete and reliable information on the accounting procedure for taxation purposes of business transactions carried out by the taxpayer during the reporting (tax) period, as well as provide information to internal and external users to control the correctness of calculation, completeness and timeliness of calculation and payment of taxes to the budget (Art. 313 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

As we see, there is no talk of any rapprochement in legislative acts. In general, it would be legitimate if in tax accounting, instead of the concept of “production costs,” the concept of “cost of products (work, services)” and “expenses associated with the sale of finished products (work performed, services provided)” were introduced.

Thus, the imaginary simplification of accounting due to the convergence of accounting and tax accounting data is impossible and only introduces confusion in the preparation of accounting and tax reporting.

Let's look at an illustrative example.

Example 2

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In 2008, the organization carrying out construction and installation work plans to conclude a construction contract with the customer. The contract period is from January to May 2008. Acceptance of the work results is carried out by the customer after their complete completion at the site.

To carry out the installation work specified in the estimate, the company hired subcontractors. The results were accepted in March. The cost of installation work performed by subcontractors is preliminary 5,000,000 rubles. excluding VAT and is expected to be delivered and accepted in March 2008, i.e. in the first quarter.

The organization is faced with the question of the composition of direct and indirect expenses for tax accounting purposes, which should be fixed in the accounting policy for tax purposes. The chief accountant calculates two options for recognizing the costs of paying for work performed by subcontractors:

Option 1 - costs are recognized as indirect costs;
2nd option - costs are recognized as direct costs.

The approximate amount of income under the contract expected to be received by the company in the first quarter is 8,000,000 rubles, in the first half of the year - 6,000,000 rubles.

First option:

the amount of income tax payable to the budget will be

for the first quarter 720,000 rubles. [(8,000,000 - 5,000,000) rub. × 24%];
for the first half of the year 1,440,000 rubles. (RUB 6,000,000 × 24%).

Second option:

Direct expenses in the form of costs for paying for work performed by subcontractors can only be recognized in the period when income from the sale of construction and installation work to the customer is recognized. Thus, the amount of income tax payable to the budget under this option will be:

for the first quarter RUB 1,920,000. (RUB 8,000,000 × 24%);
for the first half of the year 240,000 rubles. [(6,000,000 - 5,000,000) rub. × 24%].

The total amount payable to the budget in both options, of course, is the same amount - 2,160,000 rubles. However, it should be taken into account that the amount of advance tax payments that must be paid in the 2nd quarter is calculated based on the amount of tax accrued for the 1st quarter.

Thus, the first option seems more profitable for the company.

So why try to bring accounting closer together by including subcontractor services as direct costs when this is clearly an unattractive option? And the task of optimizing taxation (paying as little taxes as possible in earlier periods), which, as a rule, is set by the company’s management to the chief accountant, has not been canceled.

The actual cost in accounting must also include indirect costs associated with the management and maintenance of production.

Indirect expenses in accounting include expenses reflected in account 25 “General production expenses” and 26 “General expenses”.

Indirect costs in accounting - these are the expenses:

on the maintenance and operation of machinery and equipment; depreciation charges and costs for repairs of fixed assets and other property used in production; expenses for insurance of the specified property; costs for heating, lighting and maintenance of premises; rent for premises, machinery, equipment and others used in production; remuneration of workers engaged in production maintenance;
for management needs not directly related to the production process.

Indirect expenses in tax accounting - these are expenses, excluding direct and non-operating expenses.

Thus, the composition of indirect costs in accounting and tax accounting is also different.

There is one more feature: the cost of products (works, services) in accounting is calculated for each type of cost and type of product, work, service separately. In tax accounting, the boiler method of accounting for expenses is allowed.

Thus, the widespread opinion about increased labor costs for tax accounting is deeply erroneous!

Despite such a number of differences, accountants, as a rule, still compare the line for the cost of goods (work, services) sold in the reporting period of the Profit and Loss Statement (Form No. 2) and line 010 of Appendix No. 2 to Sheet 02 of the Tax Return to profit, which reflects direct costs related to goods, works, and services sold.

But even if direct expenses in accounting and tax accounting coincide, there are some types of expenses that require distribution between objects of calculation in accounting and types of activities in tax accounting.

Direct and indirect costs in theory

Each enterprise can be classified into one or another industry based on one or more basic activities that define it. And, naturally, these enterprises should have some general methodology for accounting for costs associated with production.

Since the procedure for forming the cost of products manufactured by an enterprise (work performed, services provided) when preparing accounting and tax reporting is of decisive importance, taxpayers and tax authorities, in order to eliminate disagreements, require, in fact, a unified approach for calculating cost in accounting and production costs in tax accounting

If you turn to reference information systems for help, you will see that individual guidelines have been developed for almost every industry. They are used for the purpose of compiling consolidated industry reporting, as well as for management and accounting purposes, for example:

Methodology for planning, accounting and calculating the cost of housing and communal services (approved by Resolution of the State Committee for Architectural, Construction and Housing Policy dated February 23, 1999 No. 9);
Industry instructions for planning, accounting and calculating production costs at oil refineries (approved by order of the Ministry of Fuel and Energy of the Russian Federation dated November 17, 1998 No. 371);
Methodological recommendations for planning, accounting and calculating the cost of a tourism product and the formation of financial results for organizations engaged in tourism activities (approved by order of the State Committee of the Russian Federation for Physical Culture and Tourism dated December 4, 1998 No. 402);
Standard methodological recommendations for planning, accounting and calculating the cost of scientific and technical products (approved by the Ministry of Science of the Russian Federation on June 15, 1994, No. OR-22-2-46);
recommendations, instructions, directions for other industries (forestry industry, publishing, etc.).

The above standard methodological recommendations, developed in accordance with Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated August 05, 1992 No. 552 (hereinafter referred to as Decree No. 552), were intended to ensure uniformity of the principles of planning, accounting and cost calculation for industry enterprises in accordance with the requirements of this resolution. They were mandatory for use by all enterprises operating in a particular industry, regardless of organizational and legal forms and departmental affiliation.

After the repeal of Resolution No. 552, starting in 2002, the Ministry of Finance began to receive numerous requests from enterprises regarding the organization of cost accounting for the production of products (works, services) and the procedure for calculating the cost of manufactured products, performed works (services).

It should be noted that implementation measures in 2001-2005. Accounting reform programs in accordance with international financial reporting standards, approved by the Government (letter No. KA-P13-06573 dated April 13, 2001), provided for the development and approval of industry instructions for accounting for income and expenses by type of activity for tax purposes.

Among the lucky ones are enterprises operating under the Ministry of Atomic Energy, the Ministry of Space and the Ministry of Press, Television and Radio Broadcasting and Mass Communications in the field of publishing. It was these ministries that fulfilled the request of the tax authorities.

In accordance with the letter of the Ministry of Finance dated April 29, 2002 No. 16-00-13/03 “On the application of regulatory documents governing the issues of accounting for production costs and calculating the cost of products (works, services)” until the completion of the development and approval by the ministries and departments of the relevant industry regulations on the organization of accounting for production costs, calculating the cost of products (works, services), as before, organizations should be guided by the current industry instructions (directives). This guidance concerns the requirements, principles and rules for recognizing indicators in accounting.

In other words, the legislator says that when calculating costs in accounting, enterprises can still use old industry instructions today.

How to form the cost price in tax accounting? Can industry recommendations be used within reasonable limits when calculating the tax base for income taxes? After all, the features of the technological cycle are taken into account and a division into direct and indirect costs is provided.

Let's try to figure it out using examples of some industry developments.

In accordance with the recommendations for production of scientific and technical products (works, services), cost accounting should be carried out using the order method and WIP should be assessed at the full actual cost, including all costing items, including costs for work performed by third parties. This is defined in the Standard Methodological Recommendations for planning, accounting and calculating the cost of scientific and technical products, approved by the Ministry of Science and Technical Policy of the Russian Federation.

IN tourism industry assessment of work in progress in accounting can be carried out at the full actual cost or at direct costs at the choice of the organization (order of the State Committee for Physical Culture and Tourism dated December 4, 1998 No. 402).

IN forestry industry To estimate work in progress, it is recommended to use the full planned cost. At the same time, different sub-sectors use their own features of this method (Industry-specific features of the composition of costs included in the cost of production at forestry enterprises, approved by the state forestry company Roslesprom in agreement with the Ministry of Economy of Russia and the Ministry of Finance of Russia):

in sawmill production, work in progress is assessed at the full planned cost, excluding the costs of preparation and development of production and sales costs;
during logging, work in progress is assessed according to standards as a percentage of the planned cost of the so-called impersonal cubic meter of wood. For example, if the forest has been cut down but not yet removed from the cutting area, it is assessed at 50 percent of the planned cost per cubic meter; if the timber is in an intermediate warehouse - in the amount of 80 percent, etc.

There are industries whose accounting does not reflect work in progress at all due to the short duration of the technological process (Instructions for planning, accounting and calculating production costs at oil refineries and petrochemical enterprises, approved by order of the Ministry of Fuel and Energy of Russia dated November 17, 1998 No. 371).

Practice shows that the methodology for calculating income tax is necessary for the normal operation of enterprises, and yet Chapter 25 of the Tax Code provides only general methodological approaches to the formation of income and expenses.

Let's consider the possibility of using industry methodological recommendations using the example of Standard Methodological Recommendations for Planning, Accounting and Calculation of Scientific and Technical Products (approved by the Ministry of Science of the Russian Federation on June 15, 1994, No. OR-22-2-46) (hereinafter - Methodological Recommendations).

At the same time, when considering the main items that are included in the cost price in accounting, we will make notes based on the requirements of tax legislation.

purchased from outside raw materials and supplies , necessary for the creation of scientific and technical products.

This is one of the types of expenses that are subject to inclusion in direct expenses in accordance with Article 318 of the Tax Code;

purchased materials used in the process of creating scientific and technical products, including for product packaging, for production and economic needs (testing, control, maintenance, repair and operation of equipment, buildings, structures, other fixed assets, etc.), as well as spare parts for equipment repair, wear and tear of tools, fixtures, inventory, instruments, laboratory equipment and other labor equipment not included to fixed assets, wear and tear of work clothes and other low-value and wearable items.

Let us remember that spare parts for the repair of equipment, buildings, structures, and other fixed assets for tax purposes are reflected as part of repair expenses (clause 1 of Article 324 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation) and are subject to inclusion in indirect expenses;

purchased components and semi-finished products subject to further installation or additional processing.

These are also expenses reflected under subparagraph 4 of paragraph 1 of Article 254 of the Tax Code and subject to inclusion in direct expenses (clause 1 of Article 318 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation);

raw materials and materials , purchased components and semi-finished products used as research objects (tests) and for operation, maintenance and repair of products - objects of testing (research).

In our opinion, due to the fact that without the objects of research there would be no research itself, such expenses should be included for tax purposes as part of direct expenses, although there is no similar article in paragraph 1 of Article 254 of the Tax Code. But the repair of test (research) objects can be included in indirect costs by analogy with point 2;

production works and services performed by third party companies and organizations.

Works and services of a production nature include: performing individual operations for the manufacture of products, processing of raw materials and supplies; carrying out tests to determine the quality of raw materials; control over compliance with established regulations of technological and production processes; repair of fixed production assets; verification and certification of measuring instruments and equipment, other works (services) in the field of metrology, etc. This also includes transport services of third-party organizations for the transportation of goods within the organization and delivery of finished products to storage warehouses.

Since there can be many options for work and services of a production nature, it is obviously easier to take them into account as part of indirect costs (clause 1 of Article 318 and subclause 6 of clause 1 of Article 254 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Especially if the research is long-term in nature, which means you will have to calculate the balances of work in progress, which are smaller, the lower the income tax. The above expenses are named in subparagraph 6 of paragraph 1 of Article 254 of the Tax Code;

works performed by third-party institutions, enterprises and organizations, including under counterparty (co-executor) agreements for the creation of scientific and technical products, the lead (general) contractor of which is this scientific organization.

The above expenses are named in subparagraph 6 of paragraph 1 of Article 254 of the Tax Code, which means they can be included in indirect expenses;

special equipment for scientific (experimental) work necessary to fulfill a specific contract (order) for the creation of scientific and technical products (including the costs of design, transportation, installation and commissioning performed by specialized enterprises).

For tax accounting purposes, it does not matter what equipment is used to manufacture products (perform work, provide services) - special or not. Therefore, the solution to the problem should be approached not from the position of uniqueness, but from the position of classifying the object as fixed assets or inventories in accordance with the requirements of Chapter 25. However, in any case, it is obvious that this equipment will be taken into account as part of direct costs under the relevant contracts;

purchased from outside fuels of all types , spent on technological purposes, the production of all types of energy (electric, thermal, compressed air, cold and other types), heating of buildings, transport work for servicing production, performed by the transport of a scientific organization.

This type of expense is named in subparagraph 5 of paragraph 1 of Article 254 of the Tax Code. These expenses can be taken into account as indirect expenses, especially since, as a rule, these expenses relate to both production and management activities. It will be necessary to justify the distribution base, monthly calculations and preparation of accounting certificates, which takes a lot of time;

purchased energies of all kinds , spent on technological, energy, propulsion and other production and economic needs of the scientific organization. Costs for the production of electrical and other types of energy generated by the scientific organization itself, as well as for the transformation and transfer of purchased energy to the places of its consumption are included in the corresponding cost elements. The position of the enterprise may be similar to paragraph 8;
losses from shortage received material resources within the limits of natural loss.

Losses from shortfalls in tax accounting are provided for in subparagraph 2 of paragraph 7 of Article 254 of the Tax Code. In addition, tax accounting of technological losses during production and (or) transportation should also be maintained. For some reason they were not provided for in the Methodological Recommendations.

By element "Labor costs"(clause 8.2 of the Methodological Recommendations) the accounting of a scientific and technical organization reflects the costs of remuneration of the main production personnel of the scientific organization, including bonuses, incentive and compensation payments, compensation, as well as the cost of remuneration of workers not on the staff of the scientific organization employed in main activity.

The list of payments included in the cost of scientific and technical products in accounting and in expenses associated with production in tax accounting generally coincides. However, you will have to add to tax accounting:

the amount of payments (contributions) of employers under compulsory insurance contracts, as well as the amount of payments (contributions) of employers under voluntary insurance contracts (non-state pension agreements) concluded in favor of employees with insurance organizations (non-state pension funds) (clause 16 of Article 255 of the Tax Code RF);
expenses for remuneration of donor employees for the days of examination, blood donation and rest provided after each day of blood donation (clause 20 of article 255 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation);
expenses in the form of contributions to the reserve for the upcoming payment of vacations to employees and (or) to the reserve for the payment of annual remuneration for long service, carried out in accordance with Article 324.1 of the Tax Code (clause 24 of Article 255 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

In addition, in tax accounting, all payments reflected as expenses associated with production and sales must be provided for by the laws of the Russian Federation, labor agreements (contracts) and (or) collective agreements.

In element "Depreciation of fixed assets"(clause 8.4 of the Methodological Recommendations) reflects the amount of depreciation charges for the complete restoration of fixed production assets.

Scientific organizations operating under long-term lease terms must reflect depreciation charges for full restoration for both their own and leased fixed assets in the “Depreciation of fixed assets” element.

This cost element also reflects depreciation deductions from the cost of fixed assets provided free of charge to public catering establishments serving labor collectives, as well as from the cost of premises and equipment provided by scientific organizations to medical institutions for the organization of medical posts directly on the territory of scientific organizations. It is for this item of expenses that the list and composition of depreciation deductions to be reflected in tax accounting as part of direct expenses will differ. Depreciation of canteens and medical stations in tax accounting must be taken into account in other expenses in accordance with subparagraphs 48 and 7 of paragraph 1 of Article 264 of the Tax Code.

To element "Other costs"(clause 8.5 of the Methodological Recommendations) the cost of scientific and technical products includes:

taxes, fees. This type of expense coincides with the tax list of other expenses, with the exception of tax, as well as amounts of payments for excess emissions of pollutants into the environment (clause 4 of Article 270 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation);
contributions to extra-budgetary funds. Deductions to extra-budgetary funds related to direct labor costs will be included in direct expenses on the basis of Article 318 of the Tax Code;
loan payments within the limits of rates established by the legislation of the Russian Federation. In tax accounting, payments in the form of interest on loans are calculated according to one of the options specified in Article 269 of the Tax Code;
payment for mandatory product certification. Tax accounting can also take into account expenses for voluntary certification (subclause 2, clause 1, article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation);
costs associated with conducting scientific and technical competitions and examinations. These expenses are not directly named in Chapter 25. In our opinion, they can be included in other expenses by analogy with the costs of conducting an examination related to the authenticity of the submitted documents, which are provided for professional participants in the securities market (clause 3 of Article 299 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation);
travel expenses according to the standards established by the legislation of the Russian Federation. This point coincides with tax requirements;
payment to third parties for fire and security guards. These expenses are provided for in subparagraph 6 of paragraph 1 of Article 264 of the Tax Code;
for training and retraining of personnel. Certain restrictions on such expenses are reflected in paragraph 3 of Article 264 of the Tax Code;
costs of organized recruitment of workers. In tax accounting, you can also include these expenses in the tax base in accordance with subparagraph 8 of paragraph 1 of Article 264 of the Tax Code;
for warranty repairs and maintenance. “Warranty” expenses can be taken into account in the tax base, taking into account the provisions of Article 267 of the Tax Code;
payment for communication services, computer centers, banks. These expenses are included in the tax base without restrictions if they are related to the receipt of income (subclause 25, clause 1, article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation);
rental fee for fixed production assets. Rental and leasing payments can also be taken into account in the tax base on the basis of subparagraph 10 of paragraph 1 of Article 264 of the Tax Code;
other costs included in the cost of scientific and technical products, but not related to the previously listed cost elements. Deciphering other costs will require a similar approach taken above. It should be remembered that the list of expenses associated with production and sales is open in tax accounting.

In the comments that were given when considering the elements of costs included in the cost of scientific and technical products, the division of costs into direct and indirect according to Chapter 25 of the Tax Code, of course, the practice of establishing a tax accounting system and the recommendations of tax authorities were taken into account.

Under straight refers to costs associated directly with the implementation of specific contracts (orders): costs of materials, special equipment; for remuneration of scientists, specialists and other workers; costs of work performed by third-party organizations and enterprises, incl. experienced (experimental) enterprises on their own balance sheet, and other costs associated with the implementation of specific contracts (orders).

TO indirect include costs associated with the implementation of several contracts (orders), management and organization of scientific and technical work (costs of maintaining the management apparatus, general technical and general economic services, etc.), as well as costs in experimental and pilot production that are not on an independent balance sheet, which are not directly attributable to a specific contract (order).

According to the general rules that apply to all organizations, the choice of a method or base for the distribution of this type of costs is made between the objects of calculation and arises not only when accounting for and calculating the full cost, but also when taking into account limited costs in terms of the distribution of indirect production costs taken into account on the account 25 “General production expenses”.

The choice made of the distribution base for calculation objects must be economically justified and recorded in the accounting policy for accounting purposes (see Table 1).

The need to distribute expenses in tax accounting arises according to those types of expenses that are simultaneously involved in the process of producing several types of goods, performing work, and providing services. These expenses include direct expenses, in particular:

depreciation of fixed assets, for example, a production facility in which several types of work or orders are carried out at once,
wages for production workers working simultaneously on different orders, etc.

Thus, the accounting policy for tax purposes should determine the types of such direct expenses. The main method of distribution is in proportion to the share of the corresponding income in the total volume of all income of the organization (clause 1 of Article 272 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

It should be remembered that:

the distribution base in tax accounting must be considered as a cumulative total from the beginning of the year, in accounting - monthly (then temporary differences arise),
the method of distribution of expenses is applied for tax purposes, regardless of the method of distribution of expenses adopted by the organization for accounting purposes.

As can be seen from the above definitions of direct and indirect expenses, the principle of dividing expenses into direct and indirect in accounting and tax accounting is completely different: in tax accounting, the direct nature is determined by the direct connection of the main expenses with the production process, and not by the possibility of being directly attributed to certain contracts or orders.

The actual cost depends on the enterprise's choice of cost determination method.

When determining the full cost, the amount of production costs includes all costs, including indirect ones. When selling products, profit in accounting is calculated as revenue minus the full cost, which includes direct and indirect costs allocated to a given type or batch of products. The full cost can be calculated based on actual and planned (standard) costs. The method of determining the total cost is called absorption costing.

The partial cost method means that the cost of production includes only direct and indirect costs, with the exception of general business costs, which are written off in the reporting period. This method is called direct costing. Let us recall that from January 1, 2002, tax legislation requires all organizations to use the direct cost method (direct costing) in tax accounting, but taking into account the specifics defined in Articles 318-320 of the Tax Code.

Summarizing the analysis carried out in relation to the formation of cost in accordance with industry Methodological Recommendations, we can say that the industry-specific features of assessing work in progress in accounting are varied.

Using them, it will be very easy to decide on a model for constructing a taxation system, incorporating all controversial or legally undefined costs into the accounting policy for tax purposes. If there are no industry recommendations, then you can develop them yourself, describing the production technology in detail.

Thus, it is possible either to pursue a policy of bringing the two accounts closer together (then the cost elements and their quantities will coincide, but the difference, obviously, will still remain (for example, in the depreciation of fixed assets used for research purposes, which since 2008 can be depreciated using accelerating factors)), or still optimize the tax accounting system. This will simplify the calculation of the tax base and thereby reduce the time for generating income tax reporting.

Tax accounting is a system for summarizing information on income and expenses to determine the tax base for profits based on data from primary documents.

Organizations choose a tax accounting system independently; the procedure for maintaining it is established by each organization in its accounting policy for tax purposes, approved by the relevant order (directive of the manager).

If the taxpayer determines income and expenses using the accrual method, then production and sales expenses incurred during the reporting or tax period are divided into direct and indirect in accordance with the requirements of Articles 318 and 320 of the Tax Code.

Direct costs in the generally accepted sense are the costs of raw materials from which specific products are directly manufactured, as well as those expenses of the organization that can be clearly attributed to any type of goods, work or services. Article 318 of the Tax Code includes direct costs as material costs, expenses for remuneration of personnel involved in the production of goods, performance of work or provision of services, the amount of the unified social tax and expenses for compulsory pension insurance, used to finance the insurance and funded part of the labor pension. , accrued on the specified amounts of labor costs, as well as the amount of accrued depreciation on fixed assets used in the production of goods, works or services.

However, most organizations also incur expenses that cannot be directly correlated with the production of one specific type of goods, the provision of one type of service, or the performance of a specific type of work. Therefore, such costs are distributed among all types of products. Such costs are called indirect.

Undoubtedly, it is beneficial for the organization to include as many expenses as possible into indirect expenses, since they reduce the income tax base in the period in which they were incurred (clause 2 of Article 318 of the Tax Code). Direct expenses related to work in progress, finished products in the warehouse, as well as shipped but not sold products are not written off in the current period (Article 319 of the Tax Code).

The list of expenses that Article 318 of the Tax Code classifies as direct expenses is advisory in nature. In a letter from the Ministry of Finance dated January 26, 2006 No. 03-03-04/1/60, financiers concluded that all organizations must have a list of direct costs, however, an organization can prescribe in its accounting policy a list different from the one proposed in the article 318 of the Tax Code.

The relevance of this issue lies in the fact that in accounting and tax accounting there was and still is a different understanding of direct and indirect costs, and disclosing this topic will help to avoid mistakes in maintaining both accounting and tax accounting.

Introduction from accounting: direct and indirect costs, their distribution by type of product

Costs can be grouped according to different criteria: by type of expense, by place of origin, by economic role in the production process, etc.

Let's consider the classification of costs according to the method of their inclusion in the cost of products (works, services). On this basis, costs are divided into direct and indirect.

Direct costs are costs associated with the production of a particular type of product (performing certain works, providing certain services), which can be directly included in the cost of these products (works, services). These include, in particular, costs:

for raw materials and basic materials;

purchased products and semi-finished products;

fuel and electricity;

remuneration of main production workers (with deductions);

depreciation of production equipment.

Indirect costs are costs that are associated with the production of several types of products (works, services). They cannot be directly attributed to a specific type of product. Therefore, they are distributed by type of product indirectly (conditionally) according to the indicators provided for in the organization’s accounting policies, using pre-calculated coefficients. Indirect expenses include general production and general business expenses.

Let us recall that the division of costs into direct and indirect depends on industry characteristics, production organization and the adopted cost accounting method (cost calculation).

At first glance, it may seem that it is not at all difficult to distribute direct costs by type of product. The main thing is to establish a correspondence between the products produced and the direct costs incurred. However, if several types of products are produced in one workshop using the same equipment using the same materials, it is not so easy to distribute direct costs. In this case, direct costs are distributed in proportion to the standards developed by employees of the technological and planning departments.

The process of allocating indirect costs in production can occur in two stages. At the first stage, indirect costs are distributed according to the place of their occurrence, in particular between workshops, divisions or departments. At the second stage, they are redistributed by type of product. An important point in this process is determining the distribution base (indicator). For example, to distribute administration salaries, the number of employees can be used as such a base, for heating and electricity - the area of the premises, for water supply - the area of the premises or the number of employees, for sales and marketing costs - direct costs. In any case, the distribution of indirect costs should not require much effort and calculations.

The method of distributing indirect costs between types of products, works and services must be enshrined in the accounting policies of the organization.

We will show how different methods of distributing indirect costs can affect the financial result and its reflection in the financial statements.

In September 2005, Uyut LLC produced 300 chairs of type A and 250 chairs of type B. Direct costs for the production of chairs A amounted to 225,000 rubles, and for the production of chairs B - 425,000 rubles. The amount of indirect costs is 120,000 rubles. In the same month, Uyut LLC sold 200 chairs A and 100 chairs B.

Let's distribute indirect costs in two ways. In the first case, we will take direct costs as the distribution base. In the second case, we distribute indirect costs evenly per unit of production.

First way.

Amount of indirect costs:

for chairs A - RUB 41,538. ;

for chairs B - RUB 78,462. .

chair A - 888 rub. [(RUB 225,000 + RUB 41,538): 300 pcs)] ;

chair B - 2014 rub. [(RUB 425,000 + RUB 78,462): 250 pcs)].

Cost of sales:

chairs A - RUB 177,600. (888 RUR x 200 pcs);

chairs B - 201,400 rub. (RUB 2014 x 100 pcs).

Total cost of sales - 379,000 rubles.

Second way

Amount of indirect costs:

for chairs A - RUB 65,455. ;

for chairs B - RUB 54,545. .

Cost per unit of production:

chair A - 968 rub. [(RUB 225,000 + RUB 65,455): 300 pcs.] ;

chair B - 1998 rub. [(RUB 445,000 + RUB 54,545): 250 pcs.].

Cost of sales:

chairs A - RUB 193,600. (968 RUR x 200 pcs);

chairs B - RUB 199,800. (RUB 1,998 x 100 pcs).

Total cost of sales - 393,400 rubles.

Thus, the cost of sales in the first and second cases differs by 14,400 rubles. (RUB 393,400 – RUB 379,000). Consequently, the financial result reflected in the financial statements will also be different. In this example, when indirect costs are distributed in proportion to direct costs, sales revenue (profit) will be greater than when indirect costs are distributed evenly per unit of production.

Tax accounting of direct and indirect expenses

The new procedure, according to which it is necessary to distribute expenses when forming the tax base for income tax, applies to legal relations that arose from January 1, 2005. This follows from subparagraph 5 of Article 8 of the Federal Law of 06.06. 2005 No. 58-FZ (hereinafter referred to as Law No. 58-FZ).

The requirement to distribute expenses into direct and indirect applies to taxpayers who determine income and expenses using the accrual method. When using this method, the organization's expenses are recognized in the reporting (tax) period to which they relate. The time of actual payment of funds and (or) other form of payment of expenses does not matter (paragraph 1, paragraph 1, article 272 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). As follows from paragraph 1 of Article 318 of the Code, costs associated with production and sales are divided into direct and indirect. This requirement does not apply to non-operating expenses.

Under the cash method, expenses are recognized in tax accounting after their actual payment (Article 273 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Therefore, for this case, the distribution of expenses into direct and indirect is not provided for by the Code.

Indirect costs. Accounting and distribution when calculating income tax

Indirect costs, what they include: accounting and distribution of indirect costs in organizations engaged in various types of activities. A detailed list of expenses that the company can safely classify as indirect. >>>

In tax accounting, an organization’s costs for production and sales are divided into two groups:

direct costs;
indirect costs.

Organizations that are not classified as trading must allocate costs between direct and indirect expenses only if they calculate income tax on an accrual basis. Organizations using the cash method are not required to distribute expenses among these groups.

Depending on which group of expenses certain expenses belong to, the moment of their recognition in the tax base differs. Write off indirect expenses in full in the period to which they relate. Direct costs must be allocated. That part of them that relates to the balance of work in progress or unsold goods will not increase the organization’s current expenses.

Trade organizations distribute costs into direct and indirect expenses, regardless of the method of calculating income tax (accrual method or cash method). Direct costs include:

the cost of purchasing goods sold during the reporting (tax period);
costs for delivery of goods to the buyer's warehouse (if these costs are not included in the price of goods).

Direct expenses are taken into account when calculating income tax as goods are sold. All other expenses (except non-operating expenses) are classified as indirect. Indirect expenses reduce revenue from sales of the current month.

The procedure for dividing costs into direct and indirect costs largely depends on what activities the organization is engaged in:

production of products, performance of work;
provision of services;
trade.

Let's talk about each of these types of activities in more detail.

Indirect costs of production organizations

Indirect costs, what refers to them in manufacturing organizations? For production organizations, an approximate list of direct costs is established by paragraph 1 of Article 318 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. These include:

material costs. These are the costs of purchasing: raw materials and supplies used to produce products (perform work); components to be installed; semi-finished products requiring additional processing;
expenses for remuneration of employees involved in the production of products (performance of work), as well as contributions accrued on these payments for compulsory pension (social, medical) insurance and insurance against accidents and occupational diseases;
depreciation charges for fixed assets used in the production of products (performance of work).

The remaining costs (except for non-operating costs) are indirect costs.

The organization must independently establish an exact list of direct costs associated with production and sales. Develop such a list and consolidate it in your accounting policies for tax purposes. The formation of a list of direct costs must be economically justified. Costs must be distributed taking into account the characteristics of the technological process and industry specifics. At the same time, only those expenses that cannot be classified as direct for objective reasons can be recognized as indirect. For example, the costs of raw materials and materials that are included in the unit cost of production are always direct and cannot be classified as indirect costs. Similar clarifications are contained in the letter of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated February 24, 2011 No. KE-4-3/2952. The validity of this conclusion is confirmed by arbitration practice (see, for example, the ruling of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated May 13, 2010 No. VAS-5306/10).

When determining the list of direct expenses for tax accounting, an organization can use a similar list that it uses in accounting.

Costs that relate to direct expenses are included in the tax base as products are sold (work is performed), in the cost of which they are taken into account. Indirect costs are included in the costs of the period in which they are accrued.

Indirect costs of organizations providing services

Organizations that provide services can distribute costs into direct and indirect in the same order as production ones. They should also create a list of direct expenses and consolidate it in their accounting policies. The remaining costs are indirect costs. However, there is a significant difference between the rules for recognizing expenses for manufacturing organizations and for organizations that specialize in providing services.

A service is an activity whose results do not have material expression and are sold and consumed in the process of its implementation. In this regard, organizations providing services (for example, consulting companies) are not required to distribute direct costs between the costs of the current tax (reporting) period and the cost of services not accepted by customers at the end of this period (letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated June 15, 2011 No. 03-03-06/1/348). They have the right to recognize all costs incurred (both direct and indirect costs) in the current tax (reporting) period. In this case, such a procedure for accounting for direct costs must be established in the accounting policy.

Indirect costs of trade organizations

Indirect costs, what applies to them in trade organizations? For trade organizations, the list of direct expenses is fixed. It is given in Article 320 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. Direct costs include:

purchase price of goods. The organization has the right to determine the procedure for its formation independently. Thus, the purchase price of goods can include expenses associated with the acquisition of goods. These are, for example, warehouse, insurance and other costs paid by another organization. Fix the selected option in your accounting policy for tax purposes;
costs associated with the delivery of goods to the organization’s warehouse (if they are not included in the purchase price).

All other costs of trading organizations, except non-operating ones, are indirect costs.

Write off direct expenses as you sell the purchased goods to which they relate. Indirect expenses should be taken into account when calculating income tax at the time of their accrual.

Advice
Equate direct expenses in tax accounting to expenses that form the purchase price of goods in accounting. In this case, temporary differences will not arise and the procedure for maintaining accounting and tax accounting will be closer.

Accounting for indirect expenses in the absence of income

If there is no income in the reporting period, the organization can only recognize indirect expenses. Direct expenses that relate to the balance of unsold products cannot be taken into account when calculating income tax. It turns out that if the organization has not sold anything, then it does not have any direct expenses. As for indirect expenses, they are in no way tied to the revenue received and can be taken into account in the current period. This follows from paragraph 2 of Article 318 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Moreover, if a specific expense does not bring direct income to the organization, this does not mean that it is unreasonable. It is enough that it is necessary for the activity that will result in income. Thus, indirect expenses of an organization can be taken into account in reducing the tax base even in the case when income has not yet been received in the reporting period.

To correctly formulate the cost, the accountant distributes expenses into direct and indirect expenses. We will look at what these include in detail. This will help you record all transactions without errors and correctly calculate income tax.

The current accounting legislation does not establish an exact list of expenses related to direct expenses. According to the Instructions for the application of the Chart of Accounts for accounting the financial and economic activities of organizations (Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated October 31, 2000 No. 94n), the cost of inventories and expenses directly related to the production of products are written off directly to account 20 “Main production”.

Thus, the organization, in its accounting policies for accounting purposes, independently determines which expenses are considered direct. Look,

Direct and indirect costs

Costs can be grouped according to different criteria: by type of expense, by place of origin, by economic role in the production process, etc.

Let's consider the classification of costs according to the method of their inclusion in the cost of products (works, services). On this basis, expenses are divided into direct and indirect costs.

Direct expenses

These include, in particular, costs:

for raw materials and basic materials;
purchased products and semi-finished products;
fuel and electricity;
remuneration of main production workers (with deductions);
depreciation of production equipment.

Indirect costs of the company: what they include

Indirect costs are costs that are associated with the production of several types of products (works, services). They cannot be directly attributed to a specific type of product. Therefore, they are distributed by type of product indirectly (conditionally) according to the indicators provided for in the organization’s accounting policies, using pre-calculated coefficients. This is where the name comes from indirect costs. What they include: general production and general business expenses.

Direct and indirect costs: distribution by product type

Recall that cost sharing direct and indirect costs depends on industry characteristics, production organization and the adopted cost accounting method (cost calculation).

The process of allocating indirect costs in production can occur in two stages. At the first stage indirect costs distributed according to the place of their origin, in particular between workshops, divisions or departments. At the second stage, they are redistributed by type of product. An important point in this process is determining the distribution base (indicator). For example, to distribute administration salaries, the number of employees can be used as such a base, for heating and electricity - the area of the premises, for water supply - the area of the premises or the number of employees, for sales and marketing costs - direct costs. In any case, the distribution of indirect costs should not require much effort and calculations.

Distribution method indirect costs between types of products, works and services should be enshrined in the accounting policies of the organization.

We will show how different methods of distributing indirect costs can affect the financial result and its reflection in the financial statements.

Example 1

In September 2014, Uyut LLC produced 300 chairs of type A and 250 chairs of type B. Direct costs for the production of chairs A amounted to 225,000 rubles, and for the production of chairs B - 425,000 rubles. The amount of indirect costs is 120,000 rubles. In the same month, Uyut LLC sold 200 chairs A and 100 chairs B.

Let's distribute indirect costs in two ways. In the first case, we will take direct costs as the distribution base. In the second case, we distribute indirect costs evenly per unit of production.

First way

Amount of indirect costs:

for chairs A - RUB 41,538. ;
for chairs B - RUB 78,462. .

chair A - 888 rub. [(RUB 225,000 + RUB 41,538) : 300 pcs.)];
chair B - 2014 rub. [(RUB 425,000 + RUB 78,462) : 250 pcs.)].

Cost of sales:

chairs A - RUB 177,600. (888 rub. x 200 pcs.);
chairs B - 201,400 rub. (2014 rub. x 100 pcs.).

Total cost of sales - 379,000 rubles.

Second way

Amount of indirect costs:

for chairs A - RUB 65,455. ;
for chairs B - RUB 54,545. .

Cost per unit of production:

chair A - 968 rub. [(225,000 rub. + 65,455 rub.) : 300 pcs.];
chair B - 1998 rub. [(RUB 445,000 + RUB 54,545) : 250 pcs.].

Cost of sales:

chairs A - RUB 193,600. (968 rub. x 200 pcs.);
chairs B - RUB 199,800. (RUB 1,998 x 100 pcs.).

Total cost of sales - 393,400 rubles.

Cost accounting and costing methods

The main methods of cost accounting and cost calculation are order-based, incremental (process-based) and standard. The choice of cost calculation method depends on the type of production, its organization, the technology used and the characteristics of the product (work, services).

The custom method is used if a unit of product (work, service) has characteristic properties, and the product is produced in separate batches, the number of which can be determined. The object of cost accounting (calculation) with this method is individual orders for one product or series of products.

For each order, a registration card is opened, which reflects the direct and indirect costs incurred during the execution of the order (contract). The cost per unit of production is calculated by dividing the amount of costs accumulated for a separate order by the number of products (works, services) in physical terms.

Some organizations are large technological industries (for example, mining and ferrous metallurgy enterprises), consisting of a number of structural divisions. The latter produce products (semi-finished products) completed by this technology, but are interconnected by a single production process. Moreover, each of these divisions represents a separate cycle (redistribution, process). The cost accounting method, built on the basis of calculating these individual stages (processes), is called cross-distribution (process-by-process). First, the cost per unit of production of each stage is determined. Then, by summing up the cost of production units for each processing stage, you can calculate the cost of the final finished product.

With the normative method, the organization creates and approves a system of standards and norms, according to which calculations of the normative (standard) cost of products (works, services) are made, and also the costs associated with deviations from existing standards and norms are identified and taken into account. The actual cost of production is determined by adjusting the standard cost for deviations from the norms for each cost item.

Direct expenses: accounting entries

In accounting, direct expenses of production organizations are reflected in the debit of accounts 20 “Main production” and 23 “Auxiliary production”:

DEBIT 20 (23) CREDIT 02, 04, 05, 10, 60, 68, 69, 70

Direct production costs are written off.

Direct expenses also include losses from marriage. The write-off of the defective amount to production costs is reflected as follows:

DEBIT 20 CREDIT 28

Losses from defects were written off for main production.

Indirect costs: accounting entries

To reflect indirect expenses in organizations, accounts 25 “General production expenses”, 26 “General business expenses” and 44 “Sales expenses” are used.

General production expenses. The debit of account 25 accumulates such indirect expenses as:

expenses for the maintenance and operation of machinery and equipment;
depreciation charges and costs for repairs of fixed assets and other property used in production;
costs for heating, lighting and maintenance of premises;
rent for premises, as well as for machinery and equipment used in production;
remuneration of workers engaged in production maintenance.

This is reflected in accounting as follows:

DEBIT 25 CREDIT 02, 04, 05, 10, 60, 69, 70

Expenses for servicing main and auxiliary production facilities have been accrued.

At the end of the month, upon distribution, overhead costs are written off:

in the debit of account 20 - in terms of costs included in the cost of production of the main production;
in the debit of account 23 - in terms of costs related to the cost of production of auxiliary production.

Let us recall that the basis for the distribution of such expenses (enshrined in the accounting policy) can be: the salary of production workers producing a specific type of product; the cost of raw materials supplied for the production of products of this type; the amount of direct costs related to products of this type.

General running costs. Account 26 collects the following indirect expenses:

administrative and management expenses;
expenses for maintaining general business personnel;
depreciation charges and expenses for repairs of fixed assets for management and general economic purposes;
rent for general business premises;
expenses for payment of information, auditing, consulting services.

This is reflected as follows:

DEBIT 26 CREDIT 02, 04, 05, 10, 60, 68, 69, 70, 76

General business expenses have been accrued.

The organization also establishes the procedure for writing off general business expenses independently and enshrines it in its accounting policies. There are two ways to write off such expenses.

In the first case, they are written off to the main production. That is, they are distributed by type of product (work, service) and are included in their cost as well as general production expenses. As a result, the debit of account 20 reflects the full production cost of products (works, services).

In the second case, the organization can attribute the entire amount of general business expenses incurred during the reporting period to products sold (to account 90). This is stated in paragraph 9 of PBU 10/99. Then account 20 reflects the reduced cost of production.

Full production cost consists of partial production cost and general business expenses.

The method of writing off general business expenses affects the financial result of the organization. If general business expenses are distributed between sold and unsold products, then not all general business expenses incurred are written off, but only those that are included in the cost of goods sold. When using the second method, general business expenses are written off entirely to products sold.

Example 2

Start LLC produces two types of products: tables and chairs. In September 2014, the total amount of general business expenses of the organization amounted to 600,000 rubles. Start LLC forms the full cost of production. According to the company's accounting policy, the basis for the distribution of such expenses is the salary of workers engaged in the production of each type of product. In September 2014, the salaries of workers involved in the production of tables and chairs amounted to 400,000 and 160,000 rubles, respectively.

At the end of the month, the accountant of Start LLC distributed general business expenses as follows.

The production of tables accounts for the amount of general business expenses, which is equal to 428,571 rubles. .

The production of chairs accounts for general business expenses in the amount of 171,429 rubles. .

In accounting, these transactions are reflected as follows:

DEBIT 20-1 CREDIT 26

RUB 428,571 - general business expenses related to the production of tables are written off;

DEBIT 20-2 CREDIT 26

RUB 171,429 - general business expenses related to the production of chairs were written off.

If Start LLC calculates reduced costs, then the accountant on September 30, 2005 must write off the entire amount of general business expenses to account 90:

DEBIT 90-2 CREDIT 26

600,000 rub. - general business expenses are written off as cost of sales.

Selling expenses. Industrial enterprises use account 44 to reflect on it indirect costs associated with the sale of products, works, and services:

DEBIT 44 CREDIT 10, 68, 69, 70, 76

Accrued business expenses.

At the end of the month, these expenses are written off in the part attributable to products sold, to the debit of account 90 (cost of sales). Certain types of selling expenses (for example, packaging and transportation costs) are allocated to individual products shipped based on their weight, volume, production cost or other relevant indicators.

Finished product accounting

The amount of actual costs (direct and indirect) associated with the production of products (performance of work, provision of services) incurred by the organization in the current month, reduced by the amount of costs attributed to work in progress, constitutes the production cost of products (work, services).

The full or partial production cost generated on account 20 is written off to the debit of accounts 43 “Finished products”, 40 “Release of products, works, services” and 90 “Sales”.

Finished products are reflected in accounting at actual or standard (planned) production costs. The chosen option for accounting for finished products is fixed in the accounting policy of the organization for accounting purposes.

If an organization reflects finished products at actual cost, then the costs of their production are reflected in account 43:

DEBIT 43 CREDIT 20

The actual production cost of finished products is reflected.

When accounting for finished products at standard cost, the actual costs collected on account 20 related to finished products are written off to the debit of account 40:

DEBIT 40 CREDIT 20

The actual production cost of products released from production, work delivered and services provided is reflected.

The cost of finished products at standard cost is reflected on the credit of account 40 in correspondence with account 43. By comparing debit and credit turnover on account 40 on the last day of the month, the deviation of the actual production cost from the standard is determined. The amount of excess of the actual cost over the standard cost is written off from account 40 to the debit of account 90. Savings - the excess of the standard cost over the actual cost - is reflected by a reversing entry in the debit of account 90 and the credit of account 40.

Every month, to determine the financial result, the cost of products sold (work, services), as well as commercial expenses, are written off to the debit of account 90.

When generating the Financial Results Report (Profit and Loss Statement), approved by , the line “Cost of sales” reflects all costs included in the cost of products sold (work, services).

If, according to the accounting policy of the organization, general business expenses from the credit of account 26 are completely written off to the debit of account 90, that is, for products sold, then they are reflected in the line “Administrative expenses”.

Expenses written off from the credit of account 44 to the debit of account 90 are reflected in the line “Business expenses”.

Direct expenses from the trade organization

Goods purchased by a trading organization are accounted for at the cost of acquisition on account 41 “Goods”. These costs are direct.

In accordance with paragraph 13, trading organizations may include transportation costs as part of sales expenses and reflect them on account 44 “Sales expenses.” In this case, transportation costs accumulated on account 44 are distributed monthly between the goods sold and the balance of goods in the warehouse. The amount of direct expenses related to the balance of goods in the warehouse is established based on the average percentage for the current month, taking into account the carryover balance at the beginning of the month.

The procedure for calculating the specified amount is as follows.

The amount of direct expenses attributable to the balance of goods in the warehouse at the beginning of the month and incurred in the current month is determined.

The cost of goods sold in the current month and the cost of the balance of goods in the warehouse at the end of the month are established.

The average percentage is calculated as the ratio of the amount of direct costs (data from point 1) to the cost of goods (data from point 2).

The amount of direct expenses related to the balance of goods in the warehouse is determined. It is equal to the product of the average interest and the cost of the balance of goods at the end of the month.

The amount of direct transportation costs attributable to the goods sold is written off from account 44 to the debit of account 90.

The procedure for reflecting transportation costs for the delivery of goods to the warehouse of a trading organization must be approved in the accounting policy.

Let's look at an example of how to distribute transportation costs in accordance with the algorithm described above.

Indirect costs for a trading organization

In addition to direct transportation costs, trading organizations reflect indirect costs in the debit of account 44 “Sales expenses”:

for wages;
rent;
maintenance of buildings and structures, premises and equipment;
advertising;
delivery of goods to the buyer;
related to the storage and processing of goods;
entertainment expenses, etc.

Expenses accumulated on account 44 are written off to the debit of account 90.

Let us recall that in the Statement of Financial Results the purchase price of goods sold is reflected in the line “Cost of sales”. The line “Commercial expenses” reflects commercial expenses written off from the credit of account 44 to the debit of account 90, including direct transportation costs allocated to products sold.

An organization's expenses represent a decrease in economic benefits due to the disposal of assets. The latter may be cash or other property. Expenses of an organization are also the occurrence of obligations, which leads to a decrease in the capital of the enterprise (except for the reduction of deposits by decision of the founders).

Classification

Depending on sales (production) volumes, variable and fixed costs are distinguished. The first ones change in proportion to the number of products manufactured, services provided, and work performed. Fixed costs exist regardless of production volume. This category includes some taxes, security payments, depreciation, rental payments, management salaries, and so on. Costs may be overhead or indirect. This classification is carried out according to the relationship of costs with the technological process. Depending on the level of aggregation, costs can be single-element or complex. There are also direct and indirect production costs.

Tax Code of the Russian Federation

In Art. 271-273 Ch. 25 for entities paying income tax, two options are provided for determining income and costs:

Accrual method. It is considered universal and can be used in all cases.
This option is convenient in some cases, but has its limitations.

According to clause 1 of the Tax Code, payers using the accrual method are required to divide costs into indirect and direct. This is due to different conditions for their recognition in tax reporting. Let's take a closer look at what indirect costs are and what applies to them.

general characteristics

Refers to the tax (reporting) period as goods/work/services are sold. They are included in the cost of products under Art. 319 NK. Indirect costs are determined in a different way. What does this mean? They represent a set of costs related to the technological process that are not economically feasible or cannot be attributed directly to certain types of products. The distribution of indirect expenses is carried out in full in the same tax period in which they arose. This means that even if there was no sale, these costs reduce taxable profit for a given time period.

Indirect costs: what are they?

These costs are divided into two main categories:

General economic. They are not directly related to the technological cycle of the enterprise. Accounting for indirect expenses in this case is carried out according to the account. 26. Such costs relate to the management of the technological process.
General production. These include general workshop costs for maintenance, organization and management of the technological process. Accounting entries are made to the account. 25.

Costs of operation and maintenance of equipment

They represent indirect costs. What does this mean? This category includes costs for:

General shop costs

These indirect costs relate to process control. These include costs associated with:

Preparation and organization of production operations.
Contents of the management staff of technological departments.
Depreciation of structures, buildings, production equipment.
Ensuring normal working conditions.
Maintenance and repair of structures, equipment, buildings.
Training and career guidance of personnel.

General expenses

Labor costs. We are talking, in particular, about recruitment, selection, training of managers, training, and retraining for advanced training.
Technological management costs.
Payment for services received from external organizations.
Production management expenses.
Maintenance of buildings, equipment, structures.
Costs for managing supply, procurement, financial and sales activities.
Mandatory taxes, fees, deductions and payments according to the procedure prescribed by law.

A specific feature of general business costs is that they are unchanged within the scale base. They can be corrected by governing decisions. The degree of their coverage can be changed by the volume of sales.

Scale base

In management analysis, it should be understood as a specific interval of sales/production volume, within which costs have a clearly defined behavior. For example, an enterprise has a machine park of 10 units at its disposal. 1 million products are produced annually. Depreciation on fixed assets is 500 thousand rubles. Management decided to double production volume. For this purpose, an additional 10 machines were put into operation. The scale base up to this point was 0-1 million products. After increasing the machine park, it became 1-2 million.

Overhead and basic costs

This classification is carried out according to the purpose of costs. Overheads are expenses related to the management of an enterprise. The main costs are resources of all types. These are, in particular:

Objects of labor in the form of basic materials, raw materials, purchased semi-finished products.
Depreciation of fixed assets.
Salaries of workers involved in the technological (main) process.

These costs arise from the production of products. These expenses form a significant part of the costs in any enterprise. Overhead costs arise during the implementation of management functions. In their purpose, role and nature, they differ significantly from production tasks. Such costs usually relate to the organization of the enterprise's activities. They are included in accounting entries using the cost transfer method.

Cost sharing procedure

Determining which costs are indirect and which are direct depends on the specifics of the enterprise's activities. In particular, the company can:

For trading enterprises, the distribution of indirect costs and direct costs is carried out regardless of the method of determining income tax. As mentioned above, this can be an accrual method or a cash calculation option. Direct costs include:

Costs for delivering products to the consumer’s warehouse, if they are not included in the price of the product.
The cost of purchasing products sold during the tax period.

Direct costs are included in the calculation as products are sold. All other expenses, with the exception of non-operating expenses, are classified as indirect. These costs reduce sales income for the current month. Direct costs are written off as purchased items are sold, in the cost of which they are included. Indirect expenses are taken into account when calculating income tax.

Enterprises engaged in the production of goods

For manufacturing companies, the list of direct costs is established in Art. 318, paragraph 1 of the Tax Code. This category includes costs for:

Purchase of materials and raw materials used in the production of products or performance of work, components used during installation, semi-finished products subject to additional processing.
Salaries of employees involved in the technological process, calculation of contributions for compulsory (medical and social) insurance and against occupational diseases and accidents.
Depreciation of fixed assets involved in the production of goods.

All other expenses, except non-operating expenses, are classified as indirect.

Enterprises providing services

For such companies, the division into direct and indirect costs can be carried out in the same way as for production. However, there is a significant difference in the rules for recognizing costs by one or the other. A service should be understood as an activity whose result does not have material expression. It is realized and consumed in the course of implementation. In this regard, companies providing services are not required to distribute direct costs between the expenses of the current period and the price of services that were not accepted by customers at the end of the period. This was stated in the Letter of the Ministry of Finance dated June 15, 2011. Such enterprises can recognize all expenses (both indirect and direct) in the current period. This procedure must be enshrined in the company’s financial policy.

No profit

If no income was received during the reporting period, then the company can recognize only indirect expenses. Direct costs included in the balance of unsold products cannot be used in profit calculations. If the company has not sold anything, then, accordingly, it has no direct costs. As for indirect expenses, they are not tied to the revenue received and cannot be taken into account in the current period. At the same time, if a specific cost does not generate direct income, this does not mean that it is unreasonable. It is enough that it is necessary for the implementation of activities, the result of which will be the profit received. Indirect costs, therefore, can be taken into account in reducing the tax base even when the revenue has not yet been received. This refers to income in the current period.

1C: indirect costs

Methods for determining costs in tax documentation are described in the appropriate register. The user must independently indicate the list of direct costs. Everything that is not indicated in this register is interpreted by the program as indirect costs. The company approves direct costs in its financial policy. Thus, it is advisable to register the list through the appropriate tab. To do this, go to "Income Tax". Then you need to click on “Specify the list (list) of direct costs.” If the information register does not contain entries, the program will prompt you to make them automatically. Each item in it is presented as a condition for recognizing direct costs. The actual division of costs in tax reporting is carried out at the end of the month by a regulatory document that closes the accounting accounts (26, 25, 23, 20).

Stages of cost recognition in the program

Let's consider how the document closing the accounting accounts will be “reasoned” in order to divide expenses into indirect or direct. Simplified, the following stages can be distinguished:

For the current period (for example, March 2012) for an enterprise in the "Posting Journal" register, the document searches for all records of a certain type.
Among the found items, those whose date is no earlier than in the register template “Methods for determining indirect and direct costs in tax accounting” are selected for subsequent analysis.
If the “Division” attribute is not specified in the template, then records specified in any division are considered.
Failure to complete a “Cost Item” does not mean that any such items will be considered. Only those that have the value “Other costs” in the “Type of expense” line are taken into account.

If the entry in the financial statements satisfies the above conditions, the amount will be classified as direct costs. If an expense is discovered in accounting for which there is no suitable template in the register, then in the accounting system it will be recognized as indirect. His program will debit the corresponding subaccount. sch. 90.08.

Important point

It should be understood that before the closing date of the month, the enterprise’s costs for production are not divided. According to the settings of the chart of accounts, they are reflected as costs at the time of recording a business transaction in accounting and tax accounting. Besides this, there is another important point. You should understand under what specific settings certain postings appear in the control unit and control unit. The state of the “direct costing method” checkbox will affect the preparation of entries exclusively in accounting when closing the month. This position does not concern NU in any way. In tax accounting, costs are either cost or written off depending on their nature. Direct costs are transferred at the end of the month to the debit of the account. 90.02.1, which records revenue from activities with the main taxation system. Indirect expenses are directly charged to the debit of the account. 90.08.1.

Conclusion

The exact list of direct costs related to sales and production is determined by the enterprise independently. This list should be included in the company's financial policy. The distribution of costs is carried out taking into account the specifics of the industry and the technological process. The formation of a list of costs must have an economic justification. Indirect costs can only be recognized as those that cannot be classified as direct costs for objective reasons. For example, the costs of materials and raw materials are included in the cost of products. Such costs are always direct and cannot be indirect.

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Classification

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Important point

Conclusion