What are direct costs in accounting. Production costs: direct and indirect

The classification of the company's expenses is a significant aspect in determining the cost of production. This information is also important when making decisions on the management of the organization and for the competent calculation of income tax. Although Russian legislation strictly defines the list of expenses, according to the Instructions for using the chart of accounts, it is possible to account for amounts directly related to the release of core products. This rule is enshrined in the article "Primary production" and offers an extended interpretation for the purposes of accounting and tax accounting.

In this article you will learn:

What is the difference between direct costs and indirect costs.
Which includes indirect costs.
In what period are indirect costs displayed.
What types of indirect costs exist.
How to determine indirect costs in production, trade, services.
How to attribute indirect costs to the price of products.
How to display indirect expenses in a tax return.
How to account for indirect costs if there is no revenue.

In this article, we will look at what indirect costs are and how indirect costs are reflected in tax accounting.

Direct vs. Indirect Costs: What's the Difference?

Direct costs are the costs associated with the production of a product that are allowed to be included in the cost of a product.

Tax Code of the Russian Federation in paragraph 1 of Art. 318 states that direct costs include:

material costs: purchase of equipment involved in production, as well as components and consumables for it; materials and raw materials from which products are directly manufactured. This also includes semi-finished products that require processing, but nevertheless participate in the production cycle;
staff costs: in addition to direct wages and bonuses, this includes social security contributions. Insurance against accidents and occupational diseases, if applicable at work, is also included in this item;
depreciation: this item takes into account both the depreciation of fixed assets necessary for the manufacture of goods or the provision of services, and the depreciation of leased equipment. Any costs of the organization that, according to the rules of accounting policy, cannot be attributed to direct costs, and at the same time they are also not included in the category of non-operating costs, are called indirect costs.

Thus, the indirect costs of the organization are those that are directly related to the production process, but do not relate to one specific area of work. On this basis, indirect costs are displayed and specified in accounting policy organizations. Classic examples of such costs are office rent, cellular communications, etc.

It is important to remember that although all costs - direct and indirect - will be accounted for, the timing of accounting for indirect costs differs. The fact is that indirect costs are written off in the reporting period and are fully taken into account in taxation. Direct costs are distributed between the goods sold and what is in stock, between the work delivered under the service agreement and those that are far from complete.

At the same time, the legislator fixed the recognition of expenses for the provision of services in the current period, even if such costs are classified as direct. This clarification is contained in the letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated June 15, 2011 No. 03-03-06 / 1/348 and is enshrined in paragraph 5 of Art. 38, Art. 313, par. 3 p. 2 art. 318 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. This decision is motivated by the fact that the service as such is consumed in the process of its provision and its result, with rare exceptions, cannot be expressed materially.

Each company independently determines for a separate production cycle the need to classify certain costs as direct or indirect.

Here is an incomplete list of costs that can be recorded in the accounting policy as indirect costs of the organization:

costs associated with the possible rental of premises or equipment;
maintenance and service of buildings, equipment and vehicles;
expenses for domestic transportation of materials, components and finished products;
costs for the preparation and organization of production;
the cost of recruiting and training qualified personnel;
costs of ensuring proper working conditions and labor protection;
payment for services provided by external organizations (communication services);
the content of the apparatus of management of production units;
administrative and management expenses;
Payment of utility services;
mandatory payments (taxes);
other costs that are associated with the proper functioning of the company.

Tax Code of the Russian Federation in Art. 252 does not limit the organization in deciding which costs are direct and which are indirect, but notes: the choice of accounting policy must be justified. If the resources indicated in the declaration are not an integral part of the production cycle, then they are rightfully attributed to indirect costs. At the same time, those associated with the production of goods and the provision of services (performance of work under the contract) cannot be recognized as indirect costs.

At the same time, the Tax Code of the Russian Federation in Articles 318 and 319 defines: only costs directly related to the production of goods (provision of services, performance of work) are related to the direct costs of the organization. Determination of the Supreme Arbitration Court of Russia dated June 22, 2012 No. VAC-7511/12 indicates: if it is impossible to attribute direct costs to a specific manufacturing process, the company's accounting policy determines the mechanisms for distributing such costs, taking into account economically justified coefficients.

Thus, it is allowed to recognize as indirect costs the costs associated with the production of goods or the provision of services only if it is objectively impossible to classify them as direct with appropriate economic reasoning.

Judicial practice in this matter is also unambiguous. Despite the fact that the taxpayer has the opportunity to independently determine the accounting policy, including suggesting methods for distributing indirect costs, this process is not one of those that depend solely on the will of the organization.

Special cases of classifying costs as indirect

The basis for the distribution of indirect costs in the accounting policy of the enterprise and their economic justification often raises questions. Failure to understand the requirements of the law is fraught not only with its non-fulfillment, but also with penalties applied to violating organizations. Consider specific examples of such accounting.

Salary

In 2011, the Ministry of Finance of Russia determined that the taxpayer has the right to attribute to indirect costs the costs of wages management personnel and the compulsory insurance contributions attributable to them (see letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated September 20, 2011 No. 03-03-06/1/578). To the management staff in the interpretation this document include not only the heads of the organization and departments, but also employees of the personnel and financial services, as well as accounting.

Since, in this case, the norm of Art. 318 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation states that the costs of remuneration of personnel not involved in production are taken into account in direct costs, the organization has the right to independently determine a more convenient option for its needs. And after that, make the appropriate item in the accounting policy of the company. Otherwise, these costs will be automatically calculated as direct and, therefore, cannot be taken into account at a time.

Depreciation of movable fixed assets

One of the most common types of indirect costs. To determine its value, furniture, vehicles, computer and organizational equipment available at the enterprise are taken into account. Data material values are not used in the production process, but are necessary for the company for its full functioning. Therefore, depreciation on fixed assets clearly falls into the category of indirect costs and should be indicated in the accounting policy of the organization.

Real estate depreciation

In this case, the situation is much more complicated. The main issue that worries accountants, tax authorities, and regulatory authorities concerns the situation in which production facilities and premises that are not such are located in the same building. The dilemma is that the Tax Code expressly prohibits enterprises from dividing objects to account for depreciation.

In order to comply with the requirements of the law and defend the interests of the company, accountants must be guided by the method of economic analysis. It is necessary to compare how much in relative terms (percentage) of total area occupied by production facilities, and how much - auxiliary. In the case where half or less is the share of production space, the amount of depreciation for the entire building can be safely recognized as an indirect expense.

In a situation where a company must unambiguously and for a long period of time decide on this issue, it is necessary not only to record the fact that depreciation costs are assessed as indirect or direct, but also to support these calculations with documents. This will save the fiscal authorities from unnecessary questions, and the accountant from having to look for the necessary papers in case of a request or perform calculations in each tax period on a new one. You can fix such calculations in the accounting policy of the organization. At the same time, it is worth noting that the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation, in its ruling of August 16, 2012 No. VAC-9792/12, recognized that it was not contrary to law to introduce a building into the list of indirect depreciation costs, in which only 30% was occupied by production equipment.

Rental payments

The cornerstone for attributing lease payments to certain expenses is, of course, the subject of the lease and its intended purpose. Obviously, direct costs will be the rental of equipment directly used in production: various types of machine tools, machines, computers.

The rent of a telephone exchange, as well as transport not involved in the logistics of production, will have the status of indirect costs. As for renting an office, there are rules similar to those for the depreciation of premises. This position was fixed in his Decree Arbitration court Moscow District (see No. Ф05-10544/14 of 09/30/14). An annual audit of the accounting policy of the organization and its alignment with the current state of affairs will not only help to avoid problems with the Federal Tax Service, but also not overpay taxes.

Indirect costs and their types

Despite the abundance of indirect costs, they can all be divided into two main groups:

Production - expenses for organization, maintenance and management technological processes and product release. For accounting purposes, there is account 25 with the same name.
Non-production expenses - all other expenses not related to the main activity are taken into account on account 26.

An important feature of expenditures of the second type is their invariance in relation to the entire scale base. Managerial findings may affect them, but only sales volume can change the field of coverage.

For management accounting purposes, the period in which all costs behave in a certain way and have a stable trend is called the scale base. Consider an example: an organization has 15 industrial machines at its disposal, producing 3 million units annually. goods. Depreciation for the year is 700 thousand rubles. By introducing an additional 15 units of such equipment, the company's management decides to double the volume of manufactured products. Thus, the base on which depreciation costs have been calculated so far will change and will range from 3 to 6 million units. goods. Fixed costs in the form of depreciation expenses will reach a new level and will be fixed at a value of 1.4 million rubles.

Depending on the specifics of a company, both direct and indirect costs may predominate in its tax return. So, in the food industry, mechanical engineering, indirect costs leave a significant part of all costs. Enterprises operating in the oil and energy industries are able to take into account all costs as direct.

Indirect (overhead) costs
General production (production)		General business (non-production)
Expenses for the maintenance and operation of equipment	General management costs
Vehicle depreciation expenses Equipment depreciation and repair costs The cost of providing equipment with power supply Remuneration of employees involved in equipment maintenance, as well as social contributions Costs for the transportation of raw materials, semi-finished products and finished products within one organization Other expenses not specified in the list, necessary for the use of equipment	Costs directly related to production management Expenses for ensuring the activities of the apparatus for managing the production departments of the organization Pre-production costs Depreciation and repair of inventory and production facilities Costs associated with the training and advanced training of workers and the creation of adequate working conditions	Administrative and management expenses Costs associated with technical and production management Procurement costs Costs of organizing financial activities Costs associated with the search, selection, training of managers, as well as their retraining if necessary Expenses for maintaining production equipment, structures and buildings in proper condition Expenses for all obligatory payments, taxes and excises.

How to determine the list of indirect costs for firms of different lines of business

As noted above, the accounting for direct and indirect costs is often determined by the type of activity of each particular organization. Consider typical examples.

indirect costs trade organizations

For this type of enterprise, the Tax Code in Article 320 provides an exhaustive list of direct costs.

Purchase price of goods.

It is noteworthy that the organization directly constituting it has the right to determine independently, as always, not forgetting to reflect decisions made in accounting policies. The purchase price of goods, therefore, may include the costs of maintaining a warehouse, insurance costs, and all other amounts paid to another organization in order to purchase goods.

Costs associated with the delivery of the finished product to the warehouse of the organization.

All other costs of trade organizations are recognized as indirect.

An important point: regardless of whether the buyer pays for the delivery of goods or transports it on his own, the organization is obliged to include the cost of delivery to the consumer in the list of its direct costs. This also includes the costs of delivering purchased goods to the warehouse of the organization (if they are not included in the delivery price). These costs are included in the article for the sale of goods, and not for its acquisition, since in this case the goods are delivered to the buyer, bypassing the warehouse, that is, in transit.

It is important to take into account the provisions of Art. 320 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated January 13, 2005 No. 03-03-01-04, which contains a clear indication of the inclusion of the costs of maintaining the company's own fleet of vehicles in indirect costs as not directly related to the purchase of goods. Such costs also affect the income from the sale of this group of goods, reducing them.

To account for the tax-indirect cost correlation more easily, follow three simple rules:

Unify the direct costs of tax accounting and the costs recorded in accounting as forming the purchase price of goods. This will avoid a gap in time and help put things in order between the two types of accounting.
By selling purchased goods, you proportionally write off direct costs.
When calculating indirect taxes, immediately take them into account in the calculation of income tax.

Indirect costs of production organizations

Tax legislation establishes an approximate list of direct costs for enterprises engaged in production. Article 318 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation classifies the following as such expenses:

Costs of a material nature are costs directly related to the production of products. This includes the costs of the company for the purchase of materials, components and raw materials, semi-finished products subject to additional processing.
Payroll expenses and other deductions for the labor of people directly involved in the production of products or the performance of work. This also includes payments imposed on the employer: social and medical insurance contributions.
The costs associated with depreciation. It takes into account only the depreciation of fixed assets, all other types of depreciation will be treated as indirect costs.

The legislator gave organizations the right to independently determine the list of direct and indirect costs, but this list should be fixed in the accounting policy of the organization. When forming it, adhere to the principle of economic feasibility, allocate costs, taking into account the specifics of the industry and the subtleties of the technological process.

To simplify the work and to avoid errors, use a list of expenses for tax accounting purposes similar to that used in accounting.
Remember that it is possible to recognize indirect costs only if they cannot be attributed to direct costs due to objective circumstances. The Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation reminds of this in its letter dated February 24, 2011 No. KE-4-3 / 2952.
Include direct costs in the tax base as these costs are incurred in the course of selling products.

Indirect costs of organizations providing services

Like manufacturing companies, service providers determine for themselves which costs are direct and which are indirect. As well as other types of enterprises, they must have an accounting policy with all prescribed direct costs.

The difference lies in the fact that a service is an activity that does not have a materialized expression. At the same time, it is consumed directly in the process of its provision, that is, the service cannot exist in isolation from the object for which it is implemented. This gives the service organizations the right not to take into account direct costs in the costs of the current reporting period and services not accepted by the customer at the end of such period.

Distribution of indirect costs

To determine the selling price, it is necessary to take into account all indirect costs in the production of products. At the same time, the basis for calculating the amount of the sale is often total cost goods or services. The difficulty lies in the fact that for the correct calculation of taxes in this case, it is necessary to calculate for each product its proportional part of the total costs.

In order to solve this issue as simply and efficiently as possible, the legislator introduced the concept of the absorption coefficient, which is calculated from the distribution base. The distribution of overhead costs in proportion to the cost of labor is one such way. The base of the direct costs of production in the total amount of the corresponding direct costs becomes the absorption coefficient. This option for calculating the base of distribution of indirect costs is the most common.

The main methods for determining the cost of individual goods and services are distinguished by the method of accounting for indirect costs.

Calculation of the cost based on the type of product according to the general factory base for the distribution of indirect costs.

The meaning of this method is that all indirect costs of the organization are taken into account on one account. Their distribution by product types takes place at the end of the reporting period. For this, a single distribution base is used. This method does not require additional efforts from the leading accounting and tax specialist. The downside is significant errors in the process of determining actual price goods to be accounted for.

At the conditional enterprise H, two types of goods are produced - G and X, while special machines are used to produce G, and painstaking manual labor is required to create X. If the accountant of company H uses the distribution base "direct labor costs", then the cost of product D will be underestimated, and X will be overpriced. If the accountant decides to use the “equipment operating hours” distribution base, then the situation will be the other way around. Reflection of the real state of affairs can not be achieved with this method.

Distribution of indirect costs at the department level (department-wide overhead application base).

This method gives a more objective picture of the cost of each type of product or service, but it requires significant labor costs. Its essence lies in accounting for indirect costs at the level of departments and opening for each of them its own sub-account. Accounting for indirect costs at the end of the reporting period is also kept separately for each sub-account. Each such sub-account has its own distribution base, which correlates with the characteristics of the production process.

For example, depreciation charges will be distributed across all types of manufactured products in proportion to the operating time of the equipment. The indirect costs of the manual assembly shop are accrued based on the results of direct labor costs.

Despite the higher accuracy of this method, it also has its drawbacks. These include the unclosed issue of accounting for indirect corporate costs, and the fact that different production lines can also affect the distribution of indirect costs, even within the production department.

On this moment there is no way to 100% overcome distortions in indirect cost accounting. To select a more efficient and cost-effective base, one should refer to the specifics of the industry or production features. At the same time, the compilation of all types of resources is the main criterion in choosing the distribution base.

There is a method of direct costs (direct costing), which allows you to calculate the cost without including indirect costs. In this case, the entire amount of indirect expenses is subject to deduction from income and is charged to the financial result.

Analysis of indirect costs

For effective accounting of taxes and their optimization, it is necessary to use the facts provided by accounting. When analyzing indirect costs, it is important to establish the reasons why the value of costs has changed, whether it is an absolute or relative deviation. As a rule, they compare not only real indicators with planned figures, but also look at the dynamics of indirect costs over three years.

The result of such an analysis will be the assignment of each type of expenditure to conditionally fixed or conditionally variable.

When assessing the deviations of real indicators from the plan, it is necessary to take into account the whole range of reasons that can affect the fall in costs or their growth. Thus, a reduction in spending may be associated with a decrease in product quality, as well as failure to implement a plan to improve working conditions, save on safety or staff qualifications. Ultimately, such "savings" threaten to turn into significant damage for the company - material, physical, reputational. Eliminating the consequences of such a strike will cost much more than a one-time benefit.

Ideally, an analysis of the dynamics of indirect costs can give the company's management an understanding of how exactly it can be optimized. economic activity organizations, reduce overhead costs and, possibly, identify those employees who are not sufficiently attentive and diligent in their duties.

Regular - quarterly, annual - analysis of indirect costs in terms of the ratio of funds spent and comparing them with marketable products helps not only to understand the trend of costs (to decrease or increase), but also to predict their behavior in the future.

Also, this type of analytics is able to identify hidden reserves to reduce costs and give clear recommendations for the future.

Expert opinion

How to cut general expenses

Alexey Grebennikov,

Executive Director of GC "Rezon"

Once general business expenses are recorded, they can (and should) be optimized. For a number of costs, there is a whole set of techniques that can significantly reduce costs.

When renting buildings and individual premises, it is important to monitor the compliance of the fee with market prices, as well as to monitor the efficiency of the use of available space, and, if necessary, optimize them.

General running costs you can also reduce it by changing the office to a more profitable one under the terms of the lease, or even buy it out as a property. In this case, you can sublease part of the premises.
Public utilities in most cases, it is easy to reduce by switching to energy-saving production modes and introducing control of electricity consumption in all departments.
Household expenses can also be easily optimized if you find a wholesale supplier for all the necessary stationery and office equipment. The cost of searching for options and their analysis will pay off in the very first months, and cooperation with a counterparty interested in a large order saves not only money, but also nerves.
Rental housing for employees is a good move to retain valuable talent and motivate others to do better. But it is important to set compensation limits, above which employees pay extra for hiring themselves. This will allow employees to choose housing that suits them in terms of comfort, and the company will not go bankrupt when fulfilling these social guarantees.
Travel expenses it is worth optimizing by setting limits. The restriction may be subject to both travel costs and payment of bills in restaurants, and an analogue of the "daily allowance" for top managers of the company. It should also be remembered that today the market offers many accommodation options, and if the status of a business traveler does not require it, it is worth renting an apartment or apartment, not a hotel.
Costs for long-distance calls can also be reduced by modern technologies. A bunch of special programs allows you to make international calls for very small amounts thanks to Internet technologies. It is also necessary to notify all employees that charges for calls made on personal matters will be deducted from their earnings.
other expenses- all that is not official name. Building a team, developing or maintaining a corporate spirit, an anniversary of the company - all this most often does not bring direct benefits to the company. These costs should be singled out in a separate block and its relationship with the profit and return that the company receives after such events should be analyzed.

Write-off of indirect expenses in tax accounting

As noted above, for income tax purposes, indirect costs are accrued in the same period to which they relate. That is why the Tax Code of the Russian Federation establishes that indirect expenses related to more than one reporting period are not subject to a one-time write-off (clause 2, article 318, clause 1, article 271 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

In this case, there are options for how it is more expedient to do:

If the time period during which the organization receives income or incurs costs can be determined, then indirect costs are written off in equal parts for reporting periods. The duration of the income agreement or a document replacing it will determine the period for writing off such expenses (clause 1, article 272 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).
If the period for calculating costs cannot be specifically set, indirect costs are distributed independently, at the discretion of the organization. This can happen, for example, when concluding an open-ended contract (clause 1, article 272 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). In this case, the costs can be distributed both in proportion to the income received from the sale, and in equal parts during the period, which is appointed by order of the head of the organization. It would not be superfluous to recall that the chosen method of accounting is subject to mandatory fixation in the accounting policy of the organization.

The Tax Code of the Russian Federation also defines a special group of indirect expenses that reduce the tax base not at the time of occurrence, as happens with other indirect expenses, but according to a special algorithm. This procedure is defined by Chapter 25 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and refers to this group, including the costs of the organization for insurance, development research and scientific research.

Indirect income tax expense in 2017

Consider the accounting procedure for such an important part of the financial life of an organization as indirect costs in a profit declaration. Recall that these types of costs are written off in the same interval when they are accrued.

Final calculations for indirect expenses are taken into account in line 040 of Appendix No. 2 of the second sheet to the profit declaration.

The final line 40 "Indirect costs" includes a list of all costs in this category. These include:

capital investments provided for in paragraph 9 of Art. 258 of the Tax Code (line 042 - no more than 10%, line 043 - no more than 30%);
acquisition costs land plots(line 047);
payment of tax fees and insurance/pension contributions. This does not include payments under Art. 270 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation (line 041);
costs incurred by the organization during research and / or development work (line 052);
expenses for social protection of disabled employees of the organization (this possibility is provided for in paragraph 1 of article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation);
expenses related to the social protection of the disabled. This item is only relevant for public organizations disabled people (line 046).

It is important to remember that the lines listed cannot be greater than the total overhead invoice displayed on line 040.

The formation of indirect costs (line 040) looks, schematically, as follows:

Costs incurred during the reporting period
Cost elements incurred	Amount, rub.
car depreciation premium
Depreciation premium for building repairs
Payment of property tax
Transport tax
Administration department salary
Insurance premiums for the salary of the administrative department

Payment of utility services
Payment for communication services
Purchase of stationery
Total:
Line-by-line entry of data on indirect expenses in the income tax return
Line 040
Line 041 (transport tax and property tax)
Line 042 (car depreciation premium)
Line 043 (depreciation bonus for the repair of a structure)

In the event that the organization did not make a profit in the reporting period, indirect costs can significantly reduce the tax base and, thus, help the company save.

Direct and indirect costs in problem situations

Often, legal regulations can raise questions at the stage of application by accountants and financial directors. Behind the simple wording created by the legislator, sometimes complex points are hidden, ignoring which will lead the company to erroneous declarations, loss of profits or even fines.

There is no revenue.

According to the letter of the Ministry of Finance dated April 9, 2010 No. 03-03-06 / 1/246, an organization is not entitled to write off direct expenses in the absence of sales. Realization, which is logical, is an essential condition for obtaining revenue.

This rule does not apply to indirect and non-operating expenses, since the Tax Code of the Russian Federation provides for the possibility of their write-off in the same period when they were made (see clause 2, article 318 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). And although the Ministry of Finance of Russia in its letter dated March 6, 2008 No. 03-03-06 / 1/153 directly stated that in the absence of revenue, indirect costs are shown as losses in the declaration, organizations often face a misunderstanding of this norm by officials.

They mistakenly equate lack of realization with ignorance commercial activities and deprive the organization of the right to write off indirect costs.

Judicial practice follows the tax legislation and the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Moscow District in its Decree of March 31, 2010 No. KA-A40 / 2740-10 in case No. A40-93652 / 09-127-559 directly indicated that the basis for refusing to recognize indirect costs is not may be the lack of income in the reporting period.

Easy to organize.

Tax Code of the Russian Federation in paragraph 2 of Art. 265 also expressly indicated that non-operating expenses should take into account the costs of the taxpayer incurred by him during the forced downtime. At the same time, the income tax declaration takes into account indirect expenses as part of the relevant groups, since these expenses continue even during forced downtime.

Changes at the beginning of the year.

Sometimes it becomes necessary to make changes to the list of direct expenses of the organization and fix it in the new accounting policy. But this decision inevitably entails adjustments in accounting for indirect costs.

The position of the Ministry of Finance on this issue is simple: expenses incurred on unsold products and unfinished production cannot be taken into account and are subject to write-off as the goods are sold. This decision is dictated by the fact that such expenses have already formed the cost of unsold products and they cannot be written off at a time only on the basis of a change in accounting policy. More details about this decision of officials can be found in the letter of the Ministry of Finance dated September 15, 2010 No. 03-03-06 / 1/588, dated May 20, 2010 No. 03-03-06 / 1/336.

How to set up indirect costs in 1C

If you do not correctly configure the 1C 8.3 program and do not set the necessary parameters, the correct calculation for most of the functionality will not occur. Indirect costs in "1C 8.3" are taken into account according to the following regulations.

Section "Functionality", tab "Production": put a tick on "Accounting for production processes and output".
Section "Accounting parameters", tab "Production": check the box "Keep records of costs by departments".
In the path "Accounting policy" - "Costs" - "Indirect costs" - "Methods of distribution of indirect costs" we set up methods of distribution.
Bookmark "Income Tax": we define the list of direct costs in NU. To do this, click on "Specify a list of direct costs" and wait for the proposal to make a list automatically if there are no current entries in the information register. Despite the fact that we are talking about indirect costs, it is necessary to first set up direct costs. This is done because all costs that are not listed as direct, the program classifies as indirect.
Here you need to determine the method of writing off indirect costs. This may be the inclusion of indirect costs in the cost of production, in which case it is also necessary to set the distribution base. Another available method is direct costing, in which all indirect costs are charged to account 90.08.

The first two items are necessary to be able to specify the company division in the overhead cost receipt documents.

Documents reflecting indirect production costs:

"Receipt of goods, services",
"Write-off of goods",
"Payroll",
"Write-off of materials from operation",
"Demand-invoice".

The scheduled transactions "Depreciation and depreciation of fixed assets" and "Write-off of deferred expenses" are also taken into account for these purposes. The regulatory document that closes the accounting accounts (26, 25, 23, 20) actually separates the costs in tax reporting.

If we consider the logic of such a document, for a better understanding of how direct and indirect costs are accounted for, we single out the following stages:

In the "Journal of Postings" register, the document accumulates all records of a certain type for the current date, conditionally, March 2017.
Those items that are found in this list and whose date is later than or coincides with the date of the register template “Methods for determining indirect and direct costs in NU (tax accounting)” are selected for analysis.
If the "Subdivision" attribute is missing, then the document considers records from all subdivisions.
If you do not enter data in the “Cost item”, the program will select only those items that have the “Other costs” value in the “Type of expense” line.

The amount will be charged to direct costs if the entry in the financial statements meets these parameters. If an expense record is found without an appropriate template in the register, the system recognizes it as indirect for tax accounting purposes and debits subaccount 08 account. 90.

The organization's production costs are not split until the close of the month. They are reflected at the time of fixing the business transaction in accounting and tax accounting. You should also take into account which settings allow you to make various postings in accounting and tax accounting. The “direct costing method” checkbox affects only accounting entries at the end of the month and does not apply to tax accounting items.

For its purposes, management costs or cost costs are taken into account solely in correlation with their nature. So, direct costs are transferred to the debit account. 90.02.1 at the end of the month. Indirect costs are debited to the account. 90.08.1.

Information about experts

Alexey Grebennikov, executive director of the Rezon group of companies. The group of companies "Rezon" works in the market of automation of accounting and management of enterprises various forms property based on software products of the company "1C" since 1997. The company's specialists have professional certificates of the 1C company, certificates of the ISP of Russia, international certificates and regularly undergo retraining.

Indirect costs- part of the costs of production of products (provision of services) that cannot be directly (without additional calculations) included in the cost of a certain type of product or service. Or is it not economically feasible.

This group of costs is allocated for purposes, the other group -.

Indirect costs are made up of three types of costs:

General production costs- expenses for servicing the main and auxiliary production of the organization.
General business expenses- expenses related to the needs of the organization's management and not directly related to the production process.
Selling costs- expenses associated with the sale of goods, the performance of work or the provision of services. These are the costs of conducting marketing research, promoting products on the market, advertising costs, packaging costs, transportation costs, salespeople's salaries, etc.

Indirect costs, unlike direct costs, are not related to a specific type of product, but to a period.

Items of indirect costs:

Administrative and management expenses.
The content of the apparatus of management of production units.
The costs associated with the preparation and organization of production.
Expenses for domestic transportation of materials, components, semi-finished products and finished products.
Maintenance and repair of buildings, structures, equipment and vehicles.
Depreciation of buildings, structures, equipment and vehicles.
The cost of ensuring normal working conditions and labor protection.
The cost of recruiting, selecting, training and retraining personnel.
Payment for services provided by external organizations, such as communication services.
Rent.
Communal payments.
Mandatory fees, taxes, payments and deductions in accordance with the procedure established by law.
Other expenses related to the functioning of the organization.

The main part of indirect costs at is , i.e. does not depend on the volume of production. For example: Administrative and management expenses, Maintenance of the production unit management apparatus, Costs associated with the preparation and organization of production.

Costs can not always be unambiguously classified as direct or indirect.

Costs that are direct for one organization may be indirect for another. Even similar species costs can behave as direct or indirect costs depending on the situation. For example: advertising costs for a particular product would be direct costs for that product, while advertising costs for a company would be indirect costs for that company's products.

Accounting for indirect costs

If the accounting of direct costs does not cause difficulties, then the distribution of indirect costs is associated with some difficulties. Since the full cost of products, works or services often serves as the basis for setting the selling price, it is necessary to allocate all indirect costs between the manufactured products.

To do this, you need to determine what part of the total overhead costs absorbs a particular product. For these purposes, the concept of the absorption coefficient is introduced, which is calculated on the basis of a certain distribution base. One method of allocation is to divide overhead costs in proportion to direct labor costs or all direct costs. In the latter case, the distribution base will be the corresponding direct costs, and the absorption coefficient will be the share of such direct costs for the production of a certain type of product in the total amount of the corresponding direct costs. This indirect cost distribution base is the most common.

There is a method for calculating the cost (direct costing method, Direct Costs) in which indirect costs are not included in the cost, but are attributed to the financial result, i.e. deduct the entire amount of indirect costs from the profit.

Production costs are divided into direct and indirect. All of them, if justified and confirmed, eventually reduce the tax base for profits, but at different times.

Let's see how to properly classify your production costs and what to be guided by. After all, the correct division of such expenses will help make accounting as safe as possible in the event of a tax audit.

Why is it necessary to divide costs into direct and indirect

The division of the expenses of the current period into direct and indirect is required to correctly establish the moment of recognition of expenses as expenses that reduce the income of the current period:

direct costs are written off to reduce the tax base only after the sale of products, in the production costs of which they are taken into account. The generated amount of direct expenses of the current month is subject to monthly distribution between WIP (work in progress) and products manufactured during the month (work performed, services rendered). Then the amount of direct costs attributable to finished, shipped and sold products in the current month is calculated. articles 318, 319 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

There is no clear methodology for the distribution of direct costs for the balance of WIP and manufactured products in the Tax Code. Specific rules for such distribution are developed by the organization, taking into account the specifics of production;

indirect costs are written off to reduce the tax base immediately - in the month in which they arose (without reference to the sale of products).

Please note that if certain costs are associated with the receipt of income over several reporting periods, then it is necessary to distribute such expenses between different periods based on the principle of uniform recognition of income and expenses, and only then take them into account when forming a “profitable” base, focusing on whether they are they are direct or indirect and paragraph 1 of Art. 272 Tax Code of the Russian Federation. The Ministry of Finance recommends evenly recognizing, for example, lease payments (if they relate to several periods m) Letter of the Ministry of Finance dated February 9, 2016 No. 03-03-06/1/6519, costs for product certification and Letter of the Ministry of Finance dated March 18, 2013 No. 03-03-06/1/8186, the cost of acquiring rights to software products, when the period of granting non-exclusive rights is specified in the contract Letter of the Ministry of Finance of August 31, 2012 No. 03-03-06/2/95. It is also necessary to gradually recognize as a cost of the current period a one-time payment under an insurance contract paragraph 6 of Art. 272 Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Thus, the smaller the list of direct expenses, the larger the list of indirect ones, which means that your costs will be taken into account faster when calculating taxable profit.

The list of direct costs must be justified

In ch. 25 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, lists of both direct and indirect costs are open. The organization itself chooses which group of expenses to attribute certain costs to, and fixes this in the accounting policy for tax purposes. Letters of the Ministry of Finance dated February 10, 2016 No. 03-03-06 / 3/6878, dated May 25, 2010 No. 03-03-06 / 2/101 (p. 3). Approved lists can be changed, but not more than once every 2 years articles 318, 319 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

However, there are direct costs that are directly mentioned in paragraph 1 of Art. 318 of the Tax Code. This:

costs for raw materials or materials used in the production of goods, components, semi-finished products - those costs that are named in subpara. 1, 4 p. 1 art. 254 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation;
labor costs of personnel involved in the production process, as well as the corresponding contributions to compulsory social insurance;
the amount of depreciation of fixed assets used in production.

Typically, organizations expand this list of direct costs through costs:

for the services of third-party organizations directly related to the production of products (expenses for the processing of raw materials on a give-and-take basis, for subcontracting, etc.);
for rent and utility payments for industrial premises;
for insurance of production equipment and premises.

There are expenses that, based on their nature, may seem direct, but in tax accounting they can easily be attributed to indirect ones. A striking example of this is the depreciation premium. It (unlike ordinary depreciation) can be accounted for as an indirect expense, regardless of how and where the equipment is used, including when the depreciation premium is charged during reconstruction, completion or modernization, and paragraph 3 of Art. 272 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation; Letters of the Ministry of Finance dated 08/20/2014 No. 03-03-06/1/41628, dated 05/28/2013 No. 03-03-06/1/19228, dated 12/14/2011 No. 03-03-06/2/198.

In most cases, in order to remove some expense from the list of direct lines (which are mentioned in Chapter 318 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation as indicative), good reasons are needed. Otherwise, the claims of the tax authorities are guaranteed. The inspectors believe that the mechanism for distributing production costs should contain economically justified indicators due to the technological process. Letters of the Ministry of Finance of August 30, 2013 No. 03-03-06 / 1 / 35755; Federal Tax Service of February 24, 2011 No. KE-4-3 / [email protected] .

If an unreasonably narrow list of direct costs is approved in the accounting policy, the inspectors will not like it. Thus, one organization engaged in the production of automobiles, took into account as direct costs only materials (basic, returnable waste, purchased components and semi-finished products). own production) and transport and procurement costs. Everything else was accounted for as indirect costs. The inspectors considered that without equipment and workers, it was impossible to manufacture cars. This means that the list of direct costs should include depreciation of fixed assets used in production, labor costs for personnel involved in the production process, as well as insurance premiums. And the court upheld the inspection Decree of the FAS SZO of October 15, 2013 No. A56-63786 / 2012.

In addition, the tax authorities believe that if any expense cannot be attributed to a specific production process for the manufacture of any type of product (performance of work, provision of services), this does not mean that such an expense should be considered as indirect. An entity shall, in its accounting policies, determine a reasonable mechanism for allocating such costs to Letter of the Ministry of Finance of December 7, 2012 No. 03-03-06/1/636. In other cases, the general rule: only when there is no real opportunity to include individual costs in direct costs, while applying economically justified indicators, the organization can attribute such costs to indirect costs m Letter of the Federal Tax Service dated February 24, 2011 No. KE-4-3 / [email protected] .

According to the tax authorities, it is also necessary to develop a distribution methodology if you have several types of activities. You will not be allowed to write off all costs as indirect without disputes. But sometimes the courts take the side of the taxpayers. Once, such a case was considered: a fishing enterprise took into account the costs of acquiring fuel and profit as indirect. The inspection insisted that they should be counted as direct, since without them it is impossible to catch fish, process it and deliver it. However, the enterprise was also engaged in the production of fish products from purchased raw materials, as well as the leasing of ships with a crew. The court agreed that the organization was not able to attribute the disputed costs to direct expenses m Decree of the FAS DVO dated December 09, 2013 No. F03-5521 / 2013.

Disputes also arise when by-products appear by themselves in the course of the main activity. Thus, one organization produced the main products (mineral copper-pyrite ore) and by-products (poor sulfur-pyrite ore). At the same time, the production of the latter was forced. In accounting and tax accounting, the cost of by-products was determined only in the amount of costs for its crushing and transportation. The Inspectorate considered that all direct costs of ore extraction should be allocated to the extraction of both the main and by-products. Note that with this approach, the cost of low-grade ore would be comparable to (or even exceed) the cost of valuable ore, which is economically incorrect. The court of inspectors did not support. He pointed out that the Tax Code does not contain a rule on determining the various compositions of direct costs in the production of main and by-products. Therefore, all direct costs of ore extraction are associated with the extraction of the main product and Decree of AS UO dated 01.12.2014 No. F09-7773 / 14.

Sometimes, in order to determine the importance and degree of participation of one or another type of cost in the production of products, an expert is needed. So, once the tax authorities, having studied the technological regulations, revealed that natural gas is used as a coolant in the production process. From this they concluded: the cost of acquiring gas must be taken into account as direct. But the organization involved in the production of cement included them in indirect costs. The court upheld the organization, pointing out that the tax authority made its conclusion without having special knowledge in the field of chemical technology and without involving an expert. Natural gas is not the basis and necessary component of cement, so it can be considered as an indirect consumption and Decree of AS ZSO dated December 18, 2014 No. F04-13294 / 2014.

Comparison with accounting

As a basis for the tax list of direct costs, you can take the accounting list of costs included in the cost. After all, it is from accounting that you can see how much this or that expense is associated with the production of products. For example, insurance premiums from the wages of production workers are taken into account in direct expenses in tax accounting if they are included in the cost of production in accounting. Letters of the Ministry of Finance dated May 30, 2012 No. 03-03-06 / 1/283, dated May 14, 2012 No. 03-03-06 / 1/247.

In accounting, the goal is to calculate the real costs of producing one product. The list of costs included in the cost of production may include only direct costs (in accounting, these are costs that are directly needed for the production of products: raw materials, materials, wages of production workers, depreciation of production equipment, etc.). Or the cost of production may include other types of expenses - general production and general business - in a certain proportion.

In accounting, there are several ways to calculate the cost (for example, it can be full or truncated). The method chosen by the organization should be specified in the accounting policy.

If in accounting the list of costs included in the cost is too short, then there may also be problems when transferring it to the tax accounting policy. Thus, in one litigation, an enterprise producing pasta determined a truncated cost price in accounting, the formation of which was based on the distribution of costs into variable (direct) and fixed (indirect). Indirect costs included those associated with the production of several types of products, including the costs of maintaining and operating equipment, general production and general business expenses. The Inspector considered this to be a mistake. However, the court agreed with the arguments of the enterprise Decree of the FAS Central Organ of August 4, 2014 No. A36-4628 / 2013, because accounting for depreciation as an indirect expense corresponds to industry accounting Methodical recommendation m Guidelines, approved. Ministry of Agriculture and Food 12.01.2000.

For other controversial situations that arise when attributing costs to indirect costs, read the article:

But, as a rule, the list of accounting direct expenses is wider than the list of tax direct expenses in paragraph 1 of Art. 318 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. Therefore, if you use the accounting list in tax accounting, there should be no claims against you from the inspectors. Letter of the Ministry of Finance of March 2, 2006 No. 03-03-04/1/176.

For example, if an organization produces only one type of product, then it is better to consider all production costs as direct tax expenses. Only general expenses (for example, the salary of the directorate, accounting department and office rent) can be considered indirect tax expenses.

However, with the tax classification of general business expenses as direct or indirect, construction organizations face difficulties:

one construction company classified as direct all types of costs arising at the initial stage of construction of a property, including the amount of land tax and rent for office space. All these expenses were taken into account after the delivery of the constructed residential building. The tax authorities did not like this, but they could not prove that the disputed expenses should have been written off as indirect in the period of their occurrence, and Decree of the FAS PO dated 06/26/2014 No. А72-5730/2013;
in another case, the tax authorities, on the contrary, did not like the fact that the construction organization took into account general business expenses (including the salary of management personnel) as indirect. They demanded the distribution of these costs among the facilities under construction. Disputable general business expenses were related to holding exhibition and presentation events aimed at attracting investors' attention to the project, that is, they were related not only to construction activities. Therefore, the tax court did not support Decree of the FAS SKO dated 05.08.2013 No. А32-39866/2011.

If you change your accounting policy from the next year and some direct costs become indirect, you will not be able, as of January 1 of the year (in which the change in accounting policy takes effect), to write off all accumulated direct costs related to work in progress as a reduction tax base Letters of the Ministry of Finance dated September 15, 2010 No. 03-03-06 / 1/588, dated May 20, 2010 No. 03-03-06 / 1/336. Such accumulated costs still need to be written off as products are sold and Art. 313, paragraph 2 of Art. 318 Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Indirect costs (expenses)- these are expenses that cannot be directly included in the cost of the manufactured product (goods or services). They are distributed evenly among other expenses and are included in a certain base.

According to the tax code, each company independently determines which costs in its budget are indirect and which are direct.

Direct and indirect costs

Direct costs according to the Code include costs for the production of products, performance of work and provision of services.

Indirect costs include: overhead and general business expenses.

Direct costs:

All production costs.
Payroll and all costs to employees.
Compensation costs, premiums, allowances.

Indirect costs include:

Salary pay.
Cost of materials spent.
Volume of completed works.
Electricity and lighting.
Security enterprises.
Space rental that are subleased.
Advertising.
Staff costs(salary, supplements and bonuses).
Depreciation of fixed funds.
Office expenses.
Depreciation of intangible assets.
Mobile connection.
Interne t and Email.
Postal service.
Travel allowances.

The main difference between distributable money- this is that all indirect expenses are related to the current tax period, but all direct expenses are related to expenses in the current period. The exception is organizations that provide services to the population.

The taxpayer has the full right to attribute the entire volume of expenses of the reporting (tax) period to a decrease in income and to unfinished technological production.

Organizations that, in addition to providing servants, perform any work or are engaged in production activities, may attribute part of their indirect costs to the reporting (tax) period.

Who shares the costs?

The division of expenses is regulated by the Code of the Russian Federation, namely Article 318.

The procedure for distributing and sorting the funds received and spent is a very important task, since the amount of money paid in tax money will depend on this, and if the law is neglected, criminal liability may arise for tax evasion or non-payment.

Not everyone is engaged in the division of income into categories. For organizations that keep records of earnings through a cash register, the need for accounting disappears.

The same category of taxpayers includes organizations that provide services to the population, all income is automatically considered indirect. Everyone else must keep the separation in their accounting policies.

The division of income with strict observance of all the provisions of article number 318 is not necessary, since some of its provisions are advisory in nature, therefore the accountant himself has the right to decide which income to attribute to indirect and which to direct.

Features of indirect costs

Indirect costs include all costs that are not included in the number of direct.

The distribution is made by an accountant and the allocation of expenses to one category or another depends on many factors.
The article does not spell out exactly what principle to do the distribution, so the company often takes advantage of this, and the distribution occurs with the greatest benefit to production.

This approach is not beneficial for the tax authorities, therefore, conflict situations often arise that are resolved only in court.

For example: electricity and steam are included in the list of production costs by many companies, i.e. indirect costs.

The same applies to containers for the transport of raw materials, packages, stickers, the work of auxiliary institutions and employees.

This approach is not beneficial to the tax service. The argument is that electricity is related to the product, as well as its constituent components, and therefore must be included in the list of direct costs.

Disputes are also caused by the wages of workers directly involved in the manufacture of goods, fuel, water, etc.

Fixing the list of direct and indirect costs in the accounting policy

Each company that does not have a cash register and does not provide only services to the population is required to keep records of income and expenses in the accounting policy of the company.

This requirement is mandatory and beneficial to the company itself.

If the accounting policy is not provided to the tax authorities, the cost breakdown will be made by the taxpayers.

To prevent this from happening, the documentation is drawn up correctly, and the classification of expenses as indirect is fully justified.

List of direct costs:

Cost of purchased raw materials e, materials, services or works.
Amounts at tariff rates, salaries of workers(according to the employment contract or as a percentage of the company's profit).
Prizes and allowances as well as any other incentive accruals to staff.
Accruals compensating for harm received as a result of work, medical services and others.
Services provided to employees free of charge: food, utility bills, housing and more.
Special clothes and shoes, protective suits and other equipment necessary for work.
Salary, holidays, tickets, insurance.
Allowances, tuition fees, refresher course.
Reimbursement and compensation of workers' expenses.

Everything that is not included in the list of direct costs in accordance with the law can automatically be classified as indirect.

Features of accounting for payroll costs

Manufacturing of products in accounting has several main costs:

Salary.
Social payments.
Material costs.
Depreciation.
Other expenses.

Wage is the main column. For the correct calculation of allowances, bonus additions and basic labor income, special calculation sheets are used.

For each employee, an individual approach is applied, taking into account:

opening hours;
volume of performed products;
quality products;
laboriousness process;
skills, promotions;
allowances, pension.

In the end, the final score is formed.

In addition to the calculation system, depending on the hours of production, there are calculations on the volume of sales, under the contract, and others.

The payment received is a direct expense. and taken into account by the tax office. There are categories of workers that can be classified as indirect. These are those who are not in the company on a permanent basis, are not documented and perform work as needed.

It is beneficial for the enterprise to have an informal workforce, whose salary is placed in a “white envelope”, since there will be no tax to pay.

Such wages are of no use to the worker, since no seniority is formed, there are no pension accruals, and he risks losing his job at any time without good reason.

Some large companies include the wages of their employees in the list of direct expenses.

Indirect costs of production organizations

All expenses that are not included in the ledger as direct are included. As well as income regulated article 265 of the Tax Code.

Accounting for them depends on the method of filling out the accounting- manual or automatic.

If the manual method is used, then the accountant independently enters in the Declaration all indirect costs, when, by whom and in what amount they were committed.

If this is an automatic distribution, then they will be calculated by the computer itself.

Trade organizations have the right to include in direct costs only the costs of products sold., which has already arrived on store shelves or has been purchased.

If the product has not yet been sold, then the costs are included in the item of the unfinished trading process.

Indirect costs of organizations providing services

Virtually everything is included in the indirect costs of such organizations.

It's fixed article 318 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

All costs will be taken into account during the period they are incurred, the division into indirect and direct, as well as the costs of sold products and those in the manufacturing stage is not relevant.

Indirect costs of trade organizations

The direct expenses of trade organizations include:

The cost of purchasing goods and services. This is formed from: the contractual (wholesale) price of the goods and the costs of preparing for sale (packaging, labeling, packaging, etc.).
Expenses for the sale of goods(its delivery to the place of sale or to the reseller).

All other types of waste are indirect.

Accounting for indirect costs in the absence of income

The lack of income is due to two reasons:

The first is: the company is doing its business correctly, but it does not have buyers or the sale does not bring in revenue. Taxation for such industries can only become disastrous and significantly worsen financial affairs.
The second reason: the organization performs the work, but payment will occur after a while.

For example, construction companies. Profit from building an object and renting it out will occur only after significant costs and a long period of time.

If the profit is calculated in cash, then when taxes are deducted, the company goes into negative.

Sometimes tax inspectors do not collect tax because the company has no income.

Leading experts of the country argue that it is forbidden to levy a tax on a company that does not have any profit. This is not always fulfilled.

How to justify indirect costs?

If indirect taxes are significant or represent a significant amount, this attracts the attention of the tax office.

Tax will require within five calendar days provide documents and extracts confirming the validity of indirect costs.

The more detailed and convincing the report, the less likely it is that the budget will need to be recalculated..

It is worth providing extracts and checks and magazines. In order for an expense to be classified as indirect, convince the service that it does not fit any of the criteria that classify it as direct.

Fare

Shipping costs are charged at the same time both indirect and direct costs.

If we are talking about the delivery of goods to the buyer, that is, to wholesale warehouses, stores or directly to the house, then this applies to indirect ones.

If we talk about the transportation of materials used at the production stage, then according to the article, it is direct expense.

To reduce the tax, it is possible to distribute the costs incurred for the delivery of goods within production evenly across all costs - include both sold and non-tradable goods.

What are indirect costs?

The cost of using and operating equipment, non-manufacturing costs, the cost of some goods.

Many industrial companies attribute to indirect costs: heating, electricity, depreciation, administrative and managerial apparatus, wages of individual employees, lighting.

Indirect costs depend on the country where the organization operates.

The turnover of the enterprise - the higher the income, the more space is allocated for indirect costs. From the field of activity: the service sector or the production sector.

When managing the accounting of an enterprise, much attention is paid to the distribution of costs into direct and indirect. With the right approach, you will avoid problems with the Internal Revenue Service and significantly reduce tax payments.

Main - compliance with the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and justification of the accounting policy.

Are the costs associated with the production and sale. They, in turn, are divided into direct and indirect costs.

Direct costs are...

According to Article 318 of the Tax Code, the distribution of sales expenses into direct and indirect must be carried out by organizations that use the accrual method to calculate income tax. About what relates to direct expenses in tax accounting, it is said in the same article.

First of all, direct costs are material costs regulated by Article 254 of the Tax Code. Among them are:

expenses for the purchase of raw materials, components and other similar things for the production of goods, performance of work, provision of services, as well as for the purchase of various materials for packaging or otherwise preparing goods for sale;
this also includes spending on the purchase of inventory and tools that are required for the production process and are not related to fixed assets;
payment of utilities for the operation of industrial premises;
purchase of overalls;
payment for works and services of an industrial nature, in a word, all expenses that may arise in the course of the company's work in its main activities.

The next category of direct production costs is labor costs. They include both the direct salary of the employees of the organization, various allowances and incentive payments, as well as insurance premiums that each employer is required to pay.

And finally, direct costs include the amount of depreciation accrued on fixed assets that the company uses in production or in the performance of works and services.

All other types of expenses that, on the one hand, are associated with the production process, that is, they do not belong to non-sales, but at the same time, do not fall under any of the listed types of direct costs, are classified as indirect costs.

At the same time, the company itself determines and fixes in the accounting policy the method of distributing costs into direct and indirect. The above distribution is only general. So, for example, the salary of employees of the company as a whole can be divided into the wages of "production" and administrative staff. The latter would be logical to attribute to indirect costs. The same situation is with material costs and depreciation deductions. After all, such expenses can also be carried out both as part of the production process and for the functioning of the organization as a whole, providing its leadership and administration and other auxiliary structures that are not involved in the direct production of products, works or services.

The meaning of such a ranking of costs lies in the fact that indirect costs for the purposes of calculating income tax are accepted at a time, upon the fact of their commission and implementation. general conditions recognition of expenses in tax accounting. Direct costs are taken into account only after the sale of products in the production of which these costs were involved.

Direct costs in accounting

The list of direct expenses for income tax is generally identical to the types of expenses for ordinary species activities in accounting. Let us remind you that they are regulated by PBU 10/99 “Expenses of the organization”. Clause 8 of this document contains a similar list of costs: material costs, depreciation, labor costs and social contributions. However, one more item will immediately come up - other costs, which allows the company, again, to determine for itself which costs it will attribute to this category.

In general, this possibility of self-allocation of costs in both tax and accounting provides one additional bonus: if the company adheres to general principles attributing costs to direct costs in NU and to ordinary costs in accounting, this will allow it to largely unify accounting for the whole organization.