THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF TAX PLANNING AT THE ENTERPRISE

Abstract

Tax payments are an integral part of the company's expenses, they affect cash flows, the final financial results of its activities and the level of competitiveness. In this regard, tax planning at the enterprise is increasingly becoming a common business practice. The lack of a unified theoretical and methodological approach to the formation of the conceptual foundations of tax planning at the enterprise, a complete system of tasks, principles, methods, tools, executors and procedures for organizing this process determined the choice of topic and the relevance of further research of the outlined issues. The purpose of the article is to generalize scientific approaches to the interpretation of the essence of tax planning at the enterprise and to highlight the principles and methods of its implementation, to determine the purpose, tasks and stages of the organization of the tax planning process. To achieve the defined goal of the research, such scientific methods were used as: system analysis and synthesis; systematization and comparison; logical generalization, tabular and graphic methods. Tax planning belongs to exclusively legal ways of reducing the amount of taxes paid by the company and the level of the tax burden, minimizing tax risks due to the implementation of a system of measures using separate tools and methods. Tax planning should be considered in the relationship and interaction with other business processes at the enterprise. The main ultimate goal of tax planning at the enterprise is to achieve the most optimal level of tax burden in legal ways with an acceptable level of tax risks, the best distribution of tax payments over time and, thereby, ensuring the improvement of financial indicators of activity, growth of competitiveness and value of the enterprise. Achieving the goal involves solving a certain list of tasks that must be tied to the planned period. Tax planning at the enterprise must be carried out with mandatory observance of scientific principles, primarily such as legality, complexity, systematicity, accuracy, efficiency, flexibility. Tax planning at the enterprise is implemented using certain methods, which are systematized into two groups – general and special. Tax planning, like any business process at an enterprise, requires clarity and consistency in its implementation. It is advisable to combine the entire set of tax planning works into 3 major stages – this is the preparatory stage, the stage of the actual development of tax planning measures and the final stage of the practical implementation of measures, their assessment and control. At the same time, it is appropriate to divide each of the specified stages into separate consecutive substages, or lower-level stages. Tax planning is an important and integral component of the planning and management system at the enterprise. Provided a high-quality organization of tax planning, this will provide the company with the opportunity to: optimize tax obligations; avoid fines; develop a structure of mutually beneficial agreements with customers and suppliers; effectively manage cash flow and maximize profits.