Frequently Asked Questions about Gifts to Clients

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From a tax perspective, it is not at all profitable, although safe, to indicate gifts to clients under this concept. Some expenses on gifts can be called entertainment expenses. This is relevant if we are talking about alcoholic beverages. Some expenses, for example, on products with company symbols (pens, notebooks, calendars, T-shirts), can be called advertising.

Gifts to counterparties are considered gratuitous transfer of property and do not reduce income tax (clause 16, Article 270 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, clause 1, Article 572 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). Therefore, such expenses are generally not taken into account.

Sometimes expenses on gifts lithuania email list to clients are taken into account, but for this they must necessarily comply with the requirements of Article 252 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and can be attributed:

to marketing expenses;

encouraging the buyer to comply with the terms of the contract.

Gifts are included in advertising expenses provided that they are presented as part of an advertising campaign. It is worth remembering that the advertising budget is not unlimited and the costs of brand promotion should not exceed 1% of sales revenue (clause 28, clause 1, clause 4, article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

However, it is possible to take into account advertising costs if the coverage of the campaign is not limited to a certain circle of people.

If a company gives gifts for the purpose of promoting a product, and one souvenir costs no more than 100 rubles, then value added tax is not charged, and the "input" tax is not deducted (subparagraph 25 of paragraph 3 of Article 149, subparagraph 1 of paragraph 2 of Article 170 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). In other cases, gifts to counterparties are also subject to value added tax, which is charged on the day of delivery (subparagraph 1 of paragraph 1 of Article 146, subparagraph 1 of paragraph 1 of Article 167 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

If the cost of gifts is taken into account without the “input” value-added tax – this happens quite often – then the calculation for the transfer of souvenirs is as follows (clause 2 of Article 154, clauses 2, 3 of Article 164 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation): the market price of the gift (excluding value-added tax) x 20% (or 10%).

Often, the market price is considered to be the purchase price of the gift, and as for homemade small items, their standard price or cost price, if they are not sold (clause 1 of Article 105.3 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

The “input” value added tax on the purchase of gifts is deductible (letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated 18.08.2017 No. 03-07-11/53088).

If gifts were accepted for accounting at cost together with the “input” value-added tax, the tax during the transfer process will be calculated as follows (clause 3 of Article 154, subclauses 2-4 of Article 164 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation): the cost of the gift (including value-added tax) - purchase price) x 20/120 (or 10/110).

How to reflect gifts to clients in accounting

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The market price of a souvenir coincides with its purchase price. In this case, the tax is simply zeroed out.

To formalize the process of gift giving, you need to draw up an invoice, get a calculation certificate or another similar document with summary data from the accountant. It is registered in a special sales book.

If you decide to issue an invoice, you need to make it in a single copy. There is no need to copy the document for each counterparty.

Value added tax, which is accrued in the process of transferring gifts to partners or clients, is not included in the expenses for income tax (clause 16, article 270 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

If the company has accounted for the expenses on gifts as entertainment expenses, the presents will not be transferred. Accordingly, there will be no need to charge value added tax.