After the seller has shipped goods, the buyer is entitled to claim input VAT on the entire value of the goods as a deduction. In this connection, it must recover VAT on the advance payment if it had previously been deductible.

The Ministry of Finance of Russia in the Letter dated 29.02.2024 N 03-07-11/18515 noted that the norms of the Tax Code does not establish the dependence of the tax period in which the buyer is obliged to restore the amounts of value added tax deducted in respect of payment, partial payment, transferred to the account of the forthcoming supply of goods, from the tax period in which the seller made the shipment of the goods and in which the seller has the right to deduct the amounts of value added tax calculated by him from the amounts of payment, partial payment

In 2022, the department took a different view. It considered a case where the seller shipped goods in one quarter and the buyer accepted them in another. In such a situation, the buyer must recover VAT on the advance payment in the period when the shipment was made. This conclusion is based on the position of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation.