Article 76 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation regulates the procedure for blocking a taxpayer’s account by tax authorities. Let's look at the questions it raises and answer them in this article.
- Art. 76 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation - who is it intended for?
- What is the idea behind account blocking?
- What circumstances may lead to blocking?
- What accounts can be frozen?
- How is an account blocked under clause 2 of Article 76 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation?
- What amount can be blocked?
- The “blocking” decision has been made. What follows?
- Bank actions
- Features of account blocking under clause 3 of Article 76 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation for failure to file a declaration
- In what cases is blocking under sub. 1 clause 3 art. 76 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation is illegal
- What is needed to cancel the suspension?
- What other reasons could there be for unblocking an account?
- Is it possible to punish controllers for delaying unlocking?
Article 76 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation - who is it intended for?
Suspension of transactions on accounts is one of the methods designed to ensure the fulfillment of the obligation to pay taxes, fees, and, from 2021, insurance premiums, which are regulated by the Tax Code.
Article 76 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation prescribes this procedure in detail for taxpayer organizations. These are the ones that will be discussed in this article, but it should be borne in mind that, according to paragraph 11 of Article 76 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, these rules also apply in relation to:
- organizations - tax agents, payers of fees, insurance premiums;
- individual entrepreneurs - taxpayers, tax agents, payers of fees and insurance premiums;
- organizations and entrepreneurs who are not taxpayers /tax agents, but are still required to submit tax returns. This category includes, for example, “simplified” people who issued VAT invoices or calculations for insurance premiums;
- private notaries and lawyers who have established law offices - taxpayers\tax agents and payers of insurance premiums.
In addition, the Tax Code also affects the responsibilities of banks. It also applies to tax authorities, since when blocking an account, they must strictly follow the established procedure.
Suspension due to declaration
Movement on the account may be suspended in accordance with Part 3 of Article 76 of the Tax Code in the event of failure to submit a tax return or documents requested from the taxpayer - blocking due to the declaration.
In these cases, the tax office also needs to comply with formalities to block the account, but to a lesser extent. The situation for the tax office becomes more complicated if the tax office uses electronic document management with the tax office. Then the tax office needs only the information it has from the computer to decide to suspend the account. And blocking in cases of failure to submit a tax return occurs very quickly.
Often, account blocking occurs without sufficient grounds, formally. Nalplat sent a message to the tax office, but it did not go through. The reasons why the message (receipt) did not go through to the tax office’s computer on the tax payment side are not of interest to the tax office. The computer program does not understand; the mere fact of not filing a tax return on time is enough for it.
The response to the tax office’s request was not received via electronic communication channels within the established period - that’s all, there are formal grounds for suspending movement on the account.
Receive an appropriate decision to suspend the account.
What is the idea behind account blocking?
Suspension of account transactions means the cessation of all debit transactions.
Exceptions
The following types of payments are exceptions:
- Payments with the order of execution preceding the order of tax payments. The taxes collected are of 3rd priority, and, therefore, even from a blocked account the bank has the right to make payments:
- for enforcement documents related to compensation for harm caused to life and health and claims for the collection of alimony - 1st stage;
- according to executive documents for calculations for the payment of severance pay\salaries to resigning employees and for the payment of remuneration to the authors of the results of intellectual activity - 2nd stage;
- according to payment documents that provide for the transfer or payment of wages, if they were received by the bank before the decision on suspension was made.
- Transfer to the budget of taxes (advance payments) and fees, insurance premiums and penalties/fines on them (according to the letter of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated 06/03/2010 No. 03-02-07/1-266).
The tax office may also suspend electronic money transfers - all operations that entail a decrease in the balance of funds in the current account.
Features of making payments during the period of restriction of account use
To suspend transactions on an organization’s accounts, the tax authority makes an appropriate decision and sends it to the bank where it has an account.
The organization is given only copies, but not the originals, of decisions to suspend and cancel the suspension of these operations. A reasoned justification for the need to “block the account”, as well as a mandatory preliminary ban on the alienation (pledge) of the taxpayer’s property is not required. Suspension of transactions on bank accounts means the cessation of only debit transactions, with the exception of categories of payments directly provided for by the Tax Code (post. of the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated July 5, 2011 No. 1836/11). The operation suspension regime also applies to funds deposited into the account after the suspension procedure was introduced.
