Ansimova, E. P. Indicators of the Financial Status of Gas-Supply Enterprises as Parameters of Taxpayers’ Risk Status

Abstract: The subject matter of the present research article is the relation between tax risks and parameters of the financial status of economic entities in the sphere of gas supply as well as direct tax risks of gas-supply enterprises and their evaluation methodology. The purpose of the research article is to define the risk status of taxpayers in the sphere of gas supply. Based on the author, application of the ‘Public Criteria for Independent Risks Evaluation Used by Tax Authorities in Field Tax Inspections for Taxpayers’ set forth by the Order of the Federal Tax Service of the Russia Federation No. ÌÌ-3–2/467@ issued on October 14, 2008 within the framework of tax control over major taxpayers without taking into account peculiarities of their sector does not guarantee accurate and valid results when defining the level of the aggregative tax risk. Research methodology of the research includes dialectic-materialistic method of understanding objective reality and associated general and private scientific methods such as comparison, synthesis, analysis, deduction and induction. The author of the article offers a number of financial ratios to be used as indicators of dependability of gas-supply enterprises as taxpayers. The results of evaluating these indicators for enterprises in the Central Federal District, Western Siberia and Far East create grounds for making a conclusion that evaluation of the tax risk of gas-supply enterprises by the means of comparing actual values of financial ratios with their average value for this economic sector including production and distribution of gas, water and electric energy (as well as for the gas supply sector) is ungrounded and inconsistent. It is useful to define standard parameters of the financial status of economic entities as the criteria of the permissible level of tax risk only in case of particular sub-sectors of gas supply. According to the author, objective definition of the risk status of a taxpayer means comparison of the financial indicator with the average values of associated ratios for gas distribution enterprises or legal entities conducting the natural gas transmission.

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