Ekaterina Ermakova,
Project Manager
financial outsourcing department
Intercomp
Existing restrictions
In accordance with Art. 575 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, donation is not allowed, with the exception of ordinary gifts, the cost of which does not exceed 3,000 rubles. However, legal entities rarely give gifts to each other in the traditional sense. As a rule, specific representatives of the partner receive congratulations and gifts on behalf of the company. From the point of view of tax legislation, gifts to individuals are regarded as their income, and the income of individuals is subject to personal income tax in the amount of 13 or 30% of the amount of income, depending on the status of the individual - resident or non-resident of the Russian Federation (Article 224 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). It is worth noting that for gifts there is a value limit on which personal income tax is not charged. Currently it is 4,000 rubles. for each basis per individual per tax period. The limit does not depend on the form of the gift, which can be an item, a gift certificate or even a sum of money. According to the clarifications of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation (Letter No. 03-04-06/16327 dated 05/08/13), if a company during the year paid an individual only income exempt from personal income tax (Article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation), then it is not recognized as a tax agent and is not must provide information in Form 2-NDFL. Thus, if during the year an organization gives gifts worth less than 4,000 rubles to one individual, the organization is not recognized as a tax agent and, accordingly, should not submit information to the tax authority in Form 2-NDFL (Letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated March 2, 2012 No. 03-04-06/9-54). Accordingly, a gift to a partner worth less than 4,000 rubles. is not reflected in form 6-NDFL. With gifts more than 4000 rubles. more difficult. In this case, before March 1 of the year following the expired tax period in which the relevant circumstances arose, the accountant is obliged to inform the taxpayer and the tax authority at the place of his registration in writing about the impossibility of withholding tax, the amounts of income from which tax was not withheld, and the amount of unwithheld tax. tax (clause 5 of article 226 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). In this case, the accountant must include the recipient of the gift in the register of information on income and submit data on forms 2-NDFL, 6-NDFL. Since this requires the personal data of the gift recipient, most companies prefer to meet the limit.Option 1 – free transfer
In accounting, gifts to counterparties upon their acquisition are classified as inventories or goods and must be accounted for in account 10 “Materials” or account 41 “Goods”. When transferring gifts, expenses are classified as other expenses (clause 11 of PBU 10/99 “Expenses of the organization”) and are reflected in the debit of account 91.2 “Other expenses” and the credit of accounts 10 or 41. In tax accounting, expenses are recognized as justified and documented expenses (p. 1 Article 252 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). When determining the tax base for corporate income tax, expenses in the form of gratuitously transferred property (work, services, property rights) and expenses associated with such transfer (clause 16 of Article 270 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation) are not taken into account. Giving gifts is nothing more than the transfer of property free of charge, therefore the costs of purchasing gifts to counterparties are not included in income tax expenses. In this regard, when a company applies PBU 18/02, it will have a permanent tax liability (clause 7 of PBU 18/02 “Accounting for corporate income tax calculations”). Also, the transfer of gifts is recognized as subject to VAT on the basis of clause 1 of Art. 39 and paragraph 1 of Art. 146 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. Thus, when transferring a gift to a counterparty, the accountant must charge VAT, calculated based on the market value of the gift, that is, the purchase price. In this case, input VAT can be deducted if there is an invoice (clause 2 of Article 171 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Let's look at the example of the entries that an accountant will need to make in accounting when purchasing and transferring gifts to business partners - specific employees of the counterparty company. 
Option 2 – entertainment expenses
Some organizations present gifts to their partners at an official reception and record the costs of purchasing such gifts as representative ones. Following the law, entertainment expenses can include the cost of food and drinks for an official reception and buffet service. The official position of the Russian Ministry of Finance is that expenses for the purchase of souvenirs to be given as part of an official reception are not taken into account when taxing profits, since they are not mentioned in clause 2 of Art. 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation (Letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated August 16, 2006 No. 03-03-04/4/136). At the same time, tax authorities allow taxpayers to take into account the costs of purchasing souvenirs with the symbols of the organization to transfer them to counterparties at an official reception. This opinion is supported by court decisions (Letter of the Federal Tax Service of Russia for Moscow dated April 30, 2008 No. 20-12/041966.2; Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Moscow District dated January 31, 2011 No. KA-A40/17593-10 in case No. A40-55061/10- 99-250). In this case, it is necessary to document the official reception, that is, draw up an order, an estimate, a report on the event. The Tax Code states that entertainment expenses during the reporting (tax) period are included in other expenses in an amount not exceeding 4% of the taxpayer’s expenses for wages for this reporting (tax) period (clause 2 of Article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Let's look at the entries when assigning expenses for the purchase of gifts to entertainment expenses. 
Option 3 – advertising costs
Advertising is information disseminated in any way, in any form and using any means, addressed to an indefinite circle of persons and aimed at attracting attention to the object of advertising, generating or maintaining interest in it and promoting it on the market (Article 3 of the Federal Law of March 13. 06 No. 38-FZ “On Advertising”). Thus, in order for expenses on gifts to be classified as advertising, a number of conditions must be met:Advertising expenses are classified as other expenses for production and sales (subclause 28, clause 1, article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation) and are recognized for tax purposes in an amount not exceeding 1% of sales revenue (clause 4, article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). In this case, the accounting entries will be the same as for entertainment expenses. There are certain features for accounting for expenses on souvenirs costing less than 100 rubles, taking into account taxes. This category includes gifts such as pens, notepads, and postcards. The transfer of goods (work, services) for advertising purposes, the cost of purchasing (creating) a unit of which does not exceed 100 rubles, is not subject to VAT (subclause 25, clause 3, article 149 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Again, in this case, the above conditions must be met. To confirm advertising expenses, the accountant should also present a contract for the manufacture of products with the company logo or for the application of the company logo on purchased souvenirs or gifts.
DO NOT MISS
Yu.V. Kapanina,
accounting and tax expert
Gifts to Clients - Tax Implications
"Profitable" accounting
Officials do not prohibit giving gifts to partners and clients. The main thing is that this should be without damage to the state budget A Letters of the Ministry of Finance dated September 18, 2017 No. 03-03-06/1/59819, dated October 8, 2012 No. 03-03-06/1/523. That is, “gift” costs cannot be taken into account when calculating income tax b clause 16 art. 270 Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
And all because giving gifts is a gratuitous transfer of property. Moreover, the arguments are that these actions are aimed at strengthening business ties or retaining clients and the cost of the gift complies with the norms of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (not exceeding 3 thousand). rub.) subp. 4 paragraphs 1 art. 575 Civil Code of the Russian Federation, they don't work here.
Therefore, it is safer to finance the cost of gifts from net profit.
Although sometimes you can write off “gift” costs as entertainment or advertising expenses.
Situation 1. Alcohol gifts - as entertainment expenses
If you decide to give alcohol or candy to your counterparties, then their cost can be taken into account for “profitable” purposes as entertainment expenses s subp. 22 clause 1 art. 264 Tax Code of the Russian Federation. After all, the list of entertainment expenses in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation is not specified. In addition, the Ministry of Finance allows the costs of purchasing alcohol to be taken into account in their composition. I Letters of the Ministry of Finance dated March 25, 2010 No. 03-03-06/1/176, dated August 16, 2006 No. 03-03-04/4/136.
Advice
Since the circulation of alcohol is controlled by the state, so that you do not have problems due to the lack of a license to purchase it at clause 16 art. 2, paragraph 2 art. 18 of the Law of November 22, 1995 No. 171-FZ; Part 3 Art. 14.17 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, It is better to purchase alcoholic gifts at retail for cash.
You just need to remember that, firstly, entertainment expenses are subject to rationing for tax purposes: they are included in the base in the amount of no more than 4% of labor costs for this reporting (tax) period d clause 2 art. 264 Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
Secondly, you need to prepare the documents correctly. The following should be visible from them:
the funds were spent on holding an official reception for business clients, and not on organizing entertainment and recreation A clause 2 art. 264 Tax Code of the Russian Federation;
purchased sweets and alcohol were treated to guests at negotiations, and were not given as gifts.
First, the manager needs to issue an order on the conduct of the event, its goals and objectives. It should also reflect the list of company persons participating in the official meeting, and the procedure for issuing money on account for entertainment expenses. Here is a sample order.
Limited Liability Company "Soft-Trade"
Order No. 158
Moscow
In order to maintain business cooperation and increase product sales
I ORDER:
1. Conduct negotiations on December 20, 2017 with representatives of Mos-torg LLC on the issue of increasing the sales volume of Soft-Trade LLC products in the first half of 2018 under agreement dated June 5, 2017 No. 42.
Venue for negotiations - Moscow, st. Udaltsova, 118.
2. Include the following events in the official meeting plan: presentation of the new software product “ERP 2.0”, negotiations.
3. Organize buffet service for negotiation participants.
4. Involve the following employees of Soft-Trade LLC to participate in the negotiations:
- General Director S.I. Lipina;
- commercial director A.Yu. Panina;
- Head of Sales Department N.T. Suslova.
5. Appoint commercial director A.Yu. as responsible for organizing and holding the event. Panin and instruct him to prepare and submit for approval to the General Director:
- cost estimate for holding an official meeting and negotiations - until December 15, 2017;
- report on the event and negotiations - no later than December 26, 2017.
6. Chief accountant T.I. Timokhina to ensure the issuance of funds to A.Yu. Panin according to the approved cost estimate for holding the official meeting and negotiations.
The following have been familiarized with the order:
Then you will need to compose b Letters of the Ministry of Finance dated April 10, 2014 No. 03-03-RZ/16288, dated November 1, 2010 No. 03-03-06/1/675:
cost estimate for the event, approved by the manager, where the planned cost should be determined;
report on the event, approved by the manager. It indicates the time and place of the event, the actual composition of the participants in the negotiations, the issues discussed during the meeting, the results achieved and the amount of actual expenses incurred for organizing the event.
In addition, you must have the usual primary documents (invoices, cash receipts) for all entertainment expenses.
Situation 2. Souvenirs - for entertainment or advertising expenses
When distributing gifts bearing the symbols of the organization (for example, pens, notepads, calendars, flash drives, T-shirts, etc.), it is important for tax accounting whether the circle of recipients is known in advance.
After all, if souvenirs with a company logo are intended for an indefinite number of people, then their cost can be recognized as part of advertising expenses in an amount not exceeding 1% of sales revenue And subp. 28 clause 1, clause 4 art. 264 Tax Code of the Russian Federation; ; Resolution of the AS MO dated October 11, 2016 No. F05-14103/2015.
If souvenirs are given to representatives of counterparty companies during negotiations, then in this case the cost of the gifts, due to the certainty of the persons receiving them, cannot be taken into account as advertising expenses V Letter from the Federal Tax Service for Moscow dated October 18, 2010 No. 16-15/108647@. At the same time, the tax authorities allowed it to be recognized as part of entertainment expenses V Letter of the Federal Tax Service for Moscow dated April 30, 2008 No. 20-12/041966.2. However, the Ministry of Finance has a different opinion. It is impossible to include such expenses in entertainment expenses, since they are not mentioned in paragraph 2 of Art. 264 Tax Code of the Russian Federation Letter of the Ministry of Finance dated August 16, 2006 No. 03-03-04/4/136.
VAT consequences
The gratuitous transfer of any property is recognized as a sale, which means that when giving gifts you will have to charge VAT subp. 1 clause 1 art. 146 Tax Code of the Russian Federation; Letter of the Ministry of Finance dated 06/04/2013 No. 03-03-06/2/20320. In this case, the tax base will be the market value of the transferred gifts (which can be taken as their purchase price) without taking into account VAT clause 2 art. 154 Tax Code of the Russian Federation; Letter of the Ministry of Finance dated October 4, 2012 No. 03-07-11/402.
In addition, you need to draw up a single copy of the invoice and register it in the sales book and clause 3 art. 168 Tax Code of the Russian Federation; clause 3 of the Rules for maintaining the sales book, approved. Government Decree No. 1137 dated December 26, 2011.
By the way, input VAT on the cost of gifts can be deducted in the general manner e subp. 1 item 2 art. 171, paragraph 1, art. 172 Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
If you took into account “gift” costs as entertainment or advertising expenses, then things with VAT are different.
Situation 1. “Gift” expenses are included as entertainment expenses. In this case, you do not have the actual transfer of gifts. This means there is no need to charge VAT. It should be remembered that entertainment expenses are regulated. That is, the amounts of input VAT on such expenses are subject to deduction in proportion to the “profitable” standard at clause 7 art. 171 Tax Code of the Russian Federation. If at the end of the year you have unaccounted entertainment expenses that exceed 4% of your payroll, VAT on them is not deductible and is not taken into account in tax expenses.
Situation 2. Costs for souvenirs are included as advertising expenses. Then the procedure for calculating VAT depends on the cost of advertising products And subp. 25 clause 3 art. 149 Tax Code of the Russian Federation; clause 12 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Arbitration Court of May 30, 2014 No. 33:
if the price of a souvenir unit including VAT was 100 rubles. or less, then there is no need to charge VAT when transferring such a souvenir. Input VAT on this promotional product is included in its price. Since you have a transaction that is not subject to VAT, in general you will have to keep separate records of input VAT;
If the price of a unit of production, including VAT, is more than 100 rubles, then VAT must be charged on its cost. In this case, input VAT on the cost of such souvenirs is deductible.
If the cost is greater, then the amount exceeding this limit is subject to personal income tax. But since you do not have the opportunity to withhold tax from the client, you need to report this to the Federal Tax Service. To do this, you should fill out a 2-NDFL certificate for it (in the “Sign” field, enter the number “2”) and submit it to your Federal Tax Service no later than March 1 of the following of the year clause 5 art. 226 Tax Code of the Russian Federation; Order of the Federal Tax Service dated October 30, 2015 No. ММВ-7-11/485@.I’ve been preparing this article for a long time and now it’s out!
And we’ll start it with a question to you, dear reader: remember the last time any online store gave you a gift? What kind of gift was this? Useful or refrigerator magnet? Was the gift memorable? Why do you think?
A number of these questions should lead you to think that gifts to customers in an online store have their own secret and hidden meaning. This is not just some thing that you put into the order, it is something more.
In the article we will also select gifts for many niches:
- Cosmetics
- Women's clothing
- Pet supplies
- Automotive theme
- Childen's goods
- Household products
- And many others...
First, let's decide what key feature this gift should have...
A good gift - what is it?
I have come up with several parameters for myself that will help you decide what gift to choose for your customers.
No. 1. Useful
This is perhaps the main characteristic of the gift. It is important that it does not just show off on the refrigerator or stand on a shelf. The gift must bring some benefit.
Let's look at examples.
In a cosmetics store Finding a useful gift is easy. In addition to the usual samples, your supplier can always find various types of disposable wipes or something that will help remove makeup before applying new ones. I’m not in the know, but I often see inexpensive sets or individual tools for various tasks in cosmetic stores. First of all, think about what your clients most often use when working with cosmetics and build on that.
Applicable for women's clothing, the first thing that comes to mind is something that will prolong the life of these clothes. This could be a roller for cleaning clothes, various kinds of covers for transportation and/or storage. If it's underwear or socks, in China you can find a lot of organizers for mere pennies, which the buyer obviously won't forget.
In pet supplies the gift largely depends on the type of animal. What works for dogs may not work for cats. Therefore, I would think of one gift each for dogs, cats, etc. These could be factory-packaged (!) snacks for animals, various kinds of toys and, as far as I remember, there is a wide range there.
Now imagine that you were given not what I wrote about just above, but a refrigerator magnet or a calendar with the store’s logo. In my understanding, useful gifts without logos are remembered much better than useless ones with a logo.
No. 2. Does not require special storage conditions
It would be extremely unpleasant to receive such a gift:
Therefore, try not to use as gifts:
- Food. In particular, chocolates, cookies, drinks and the list goes on. You can send a completely edible product, but who knows what may arrive.
- Something that freezes at zero degrees. After all, no one warms up mail cars in Russia, as far as I know, so we draw our own conclusions.
- And, of course, it’s also hard to imagine freezing as a gift. Only if you don't sell it yourself.
No. 3. Non-allergenic
An extremely important point that emerged after one incident in an online bed linen store. There, the owners included a sachet (dry flavoring in a cloth bag) in the order, which caused a severe allergy attack in the buyer.
No, I am not against such gifts, but they must be tightly packed. And if you may like the smell of lavender, there is probably someone who gets sick just from the name.
Therefore, it is better not to enclose gifts containing allergens or to pack them hermetically.
Where to buy gifts?
I always try to ensure that the cost of gifts does not exceed 50 rubles. It’s clear that this largely depends on the niche and the average bill, but in most cases 50 rubles is enough.
So, where to buy gifts for customers:
AliExpress
Perhaps the best place for a small store.
There’s just a ton of useful stuff there with a price of about $1, which just about fits into our framework. If you need to purchase 200 gifts, it is better to make 5 orders of 40 gifts each than one with all of them at once.
Simaland
Another good hypermarket with cheap goods.
Turn on the “up to 50 rubles” filter:
And we choose, although at least 5,000 rubles, this is the minimum order for Simaland.
These two sites will be enough for you, you will definitely find a gift for your customers there :)
Examples of gifts for different niches
I’ll give you a few examples of gifts in different niches to make it easier for you to find something to please your customers :)
Cars
Any motorist will thank you for:
- Trash can;
- Neutral odor flavoring agent;
- Organizer or bag in the trunk.
Childen's goods
Any parent will thank you for:
- Children's socks organizer;
- Jacket tag (with parents' address and phone number);
- An inexpensive book by Komarovsky.
Men's clothing/accessories
It would look great here:
- Tie cases;
- A cover for clothes (even a simple one)
- Roller for cleaning lint and hair;
- Machine against pellets.
Food
Here, for example, you can give:
- An inexpensive book with recipes;
- Various types of bulk product samples;
- Something practical for the kitchen.
Jewelry and costume jewelry
Girls will appreciate:
- A small jewelry box;
- Something to clean their jewelry or prolong its life;
- A beautiful gift box.
Household products
On the same AliExpress:
- A ton of little things for $1 for the kitchen;
- Lots of useful things for the bath and toilet;
- Yes, even bags for vacuum cleaners.
Here you just need to open the appropriate category in AliExpress and see everything with your own eyes.
Sports goods
It all depends on the sport itself:
- Wristbands;
- Phone holders for hand;
- And themed phone cases will also be very useful (they are really cheap!)
As you can see, there is a lot of room for creativity. Start buying gifts first from Simaland or AliExpress, and then you can buy on TaoBao or 1688.
Intrigue or tell it right away?
Now let's think about what to do with the information about the gift on the site itself.
Option two:
- Hang up banners with a photo of the gift and write that this gift comes with every order;
- Or, on the contrary, write that every order includes a gift, but we won’t say which one :)
I don’t know what to do in your case, since it all depends on the gift itself.
If the gift is really valuable and buyers will appreciate it, then I, of course, would not create intrigue. Let them immediately see why they should buy from you.
If the gift is “so-so” or it can be called useful at a stretch, then it is better to intrigue buyers and let them rejoice when receiving an order.
Sometimes we also write on the website what the gift will be, but in addition to the main gift, we include an additional one in the order. Yes, the cost of this pleasure may exceed 100 rubles, but believe me, this will “stick” the buyer to you for a long time. After all, you did more than you promised.
Pay attention to the article about banners, where I spoke in detail for an online store, and even for free.
How to further enhance the effect of the gift?
Here are a few more ideas that you can already develop in the direction you need.
Idea #1
Buyers sometimes share on social networks not what they bought, but what they were given. If you motivate them to take photos of what they bought and what they were given, over time you can get dozens and hundreds of photos with your product.
And use these photos as reviews and confirmation of the quality of your products.
Idea No. 2
Gifts can be composite. For example, with the first order you give a pen refill, with the second order you include a cap, and so on.
This further encourages the buyer to make repeat purchases. It’s just one thing to collect pizza refrigerator magnets, and another to collect some kind of thing, albeit a small one.
The real difficulty here is that you need to track what kind of order a person makes in your store.
Idea No. 3
Gifts can be different every time.
With the first order you give a pencil, with the second a micro sketchbook, with the third an eraser. Green:)
I'm sure you get the idea.
Action plan
Step #1
First, decide what gift might be useful for your audience. Just think about what they can do regularly and what will help them do it better/faster/more efficiently.
Step #2
If the first step did not give results, open Aliexpress, go to the category of goods that you sell, and set the filter “up to XX rubles”. We are looking for suitable gifts among this.
Step #3
Once the gift has been selected, we order it to our warehouse or to the warehouse of an outsourcer who will pack it for you.
Step #4 (the most important!)
People should know about your gift!
After all, it is possible that no one in your niche gives gifts anymore, and for buyers this is sometimes a very strong argument (!) to make a choice in your favor. In your favor. Among a dozen other online stores.
Therefore, information about your gifts should be visible on any page of the site:
- Banners on the main page and an end-to-end banner (I told you how to do them);
- During the ordering process, motivating to place the order to the end;
- In the online consultant, reminding that a gift awaits all buyers;
- On the page where you lay out the differences of your online store.
In other words, shout about it everywhere! Otherwise there will be zero sense.
I hope that now you can easily figure out what gift to start giving to your customers. They will appreciate it, believe me!
1. Small toys
Small toys will not break your pocket, but will delight your clients, especially clients with small children. The type of toys of your choice: these can be small soft animals, for example, horses (after all, the Year of the Horse is coming), you can also give plastic toys or Christmas tree decorations .
2. Store certificates
This gift is suitable for shops, restaurants, as well as various spa centers, fitness clubs or any other enterprises that sell goods or services. The idea is the following - make certificates for various amounts or services, place them in an opaque box and let's draw out 1 certificate to each client after service. For example, a certificate for two free visits to the pool.
3. Pocket calendars
Small pocket calendars are a pretty good gift option for clients; they are convenient; such calendars usually have small footnotes for taking notes, and therefore they are also a small diary.
4. An item with your company logo
This is not a gift for every client - only for regular and significant people. You need to give something that will always be in sight, which means it will remind you of your company, for example: a cup or mug with your company logo, but we prefer the option with a flash drive or computer mouse, such a thing is used more often, which means it ends up more often on the eyes.
5. Postcards
Most likely you have a database of your regular or frequent customers - send electronic or, better yet, regular, paper cards to them before the New Year. You can also give postcards to customers when leaving the establishment, so that they only have positive emotions.