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- We'll cover up the payment: the tax authorities will start collecting debts of individuals without trial
We'll cover up the payment: the tax authorities will start collecting debts of individuals without trial
The Federal Assembly is considering a draft law that will allow tax authorities to collect taxes, fees, and insurance premiums from citizens outside of court, calculated by individuals on their own (when filing declarations, applying a special tax regime for the self-employed). Another innovation is related to the objections of citizens in this regard. The Federal Tax Service assured that it would be much easier to prevent foreclosure than it is now. To do this, it is enough to inform the tax authorities about the disagreement in any convenient way. This may be an objection to a tax notice, a complaint, or an unmotivated disagreement with the collection. What debts will fall under the new order is in the Izvestia article.
Without trial and investigation
Out-of-court recovery will be effective in cases where the debt is accrued on the basis of a tax notice, a decision to prosecute or revocation of the right to deduction, and provided that there are no objections from the taxpayer. That is, if the tax requirements are indisputable, legal proceedings will not be required.
As explained to Izvestia by the Federal Tax Service, after the bill is passed, the disputed amount of debt will be excluded from the balance of the debt until judicial confirmation, which significantly improves the legal status of the taxpayer. Now, if a citizen does not agree with the amount of the debt, it continues to be credited to him.
Other innovations include an increase in the time limit for filing objections to 30 days, now 20 days are allotted.
"The method of filing objections will also be simplified," the Federal Tax Service said. — If this is a personal or written appeal to the court now, then in the future it will be enough to apply through the electronic services of the Federal Tax Service of Russia or the EPGU (on the Gosuslug portal) to terminate the collection.
At the same time, the press service of the Ministry of Finance of Russia told Izvestia that if a citizen missed the 30-day deadline for a valid reason, he will be able to file a petition for the restoration of the deadline by the tax authority.
The new procedure will allow citizens to reduce the amount of debt by about 44-46%, the Finance Ministry stressed. This is how much the amount of debt is increasing now, if challenged in court, due to the continued accrual of penalties and the need to pay state duty.
Natalia Povetkina, Head of the Department of Financial, Tax and Budgetary Legislation at the Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation (IZiSP), notes that the judicial procedure remains in place for the amounts of debts for which the tax authority missed the deadline for making a decision on recovery. In addition, the obligations to pay fees, insurance premiums, penalties, fines, and interest indicated in the decision on bringing to justice for a tax offense remain. At the same time, the minimum amount of debt collected through the court should be at least 3 thousand rubles, if the amount is less, then three years may pass before going to court, the lawyer points out.
The pitfalls
The new procedure for out-of-court collection will affect personal property taxes, as well as land and transport taxes, explains Yana Osipova, a member of the Russian Bar Association and director of Legal Link Law Firm. These types of taxes are paid by individuals independently on the basis of the submitted notification, which is generated automatically.
The risks of a worsening situation for individuals are very high, warns Ekaterina Khudova, Adviser to the Federal Chamber of Lawyers of the Russian Federation. And this is primarily related to the administration of tax obligations.
— With the introduction of the Unified tax account from 2023, the situation with the size of tax arrears of individuals is egregious, — says the lawyer. — Former individual entrepreneurs have suffered greatly due to the fact that the negative balance is made up of debts from previous years, which have expired. Even if the tax authority recognizes the debt as uncollectible, it has the right to restore it.
Procedurally, the tax service applies for a court order, and only in case of cancellation submits an administrative claim to a court of general jurisdiction, Khudova continues. In her opinion, failures in the ENS system for debt formation are obvious, which is confirmed, among other things, by the decisions of the courts of general jurisdiction to refuse to satisfy the requirements of the tax authority.
First, it is necessary to streamline tax administration and allow the Federal Tax Service to write off bad debts in accordance with the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, and then introduce a new procedure, lawyer Khudova believes.
Also, according to her, the pitfall lies in the fact that a person who does not constantly look into the taxpayer's personal account will not be notified in a timely manner about the debt decision. And, as a result, he will only see the arrest on the account, and the deadline for filing objections will have expired by that time.
The rights of the self-employed
Obviously, citizens can always defend their rights in court. However, as practice shows, every year individuals expressed their disagreement and canceled only about 5% of the decisions made by magistrates, out of 6 million court orders in administrative cases for the collection of mandatory payments and sanctions, recalls O2 tax expert Tatiana Safonova.
— Having concluded about the passivity of citizens and based on their tacit consent in most cases with tax collection, the government decided to simplify the collection procedure and exclude judges from the chain of decision—making regarding the property of individuals, that is, to seize it without trial, - says Tatiana Safonova. — However, Article 35 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation states that no one can be deprived of their property except by a court decision. This is especially true for individuals who do not always have enough knowledge and competencies to protect their rights.
Daria Yuzhakova, a representative of the Association of the Self-Employed of Russia, notes that a citizen, as before, can challenge the debt imputed to him, including in court. However, in this case, the proposed changes shift the initiation of legal proceedings from the tax service to a weaker and less protected party — individuals, she believes. Now they themselves must figure out on what basis they have a debt, and prove that it is unjustified, as well as pay the state fee for going to court — the tax authorities are exempt from this.
Yuzhakova reminds that it is especially important for the self-employed to keep track of their charges in the My Taxes app and prevent delays in paying professional income tax. If in doubt, you should immediately contact the tax service with a request to clarify on what basis the authority came to the conclusion that there is a debt.
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