On July 02, 2013 the President of the Russian Federation signed the Federal Law No.153-FZ “On amending the part one of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation” (hereinafter the “Federal Law”), introducing substantial changes to the pre-trial settlement procedure for resolving tax disputes.

1.    Starting from January 01, 2014, a mandatory pre-trial appeal is foreseen for all acts of non-normative nature and actions (or failure to act) of tax authority officers, to be taken to a superior tax authority.

The period for filing an appeal is 1 year from the date when the tax payer became aware (or should have become aware) of the violation of his rights.

Subsequently, within 3 months from the date the decision on his appeal is made, the taxpayer is entitled to take the appeal of the decision made by a superior tax authority to the next superior tax authority (the Russian Federal Tax Service) or to the court.

Acts, actions (or failure to act) of the officers of the Russian Federal Tax Service are appealable only through court; there is no administrative procedure for appealing them.

It should be noted that the current claim settlement procedure for resolving tax disputes is stipulated by the law only for decisions on holding or not holding liable for a tax offence, which are made based on tax inspection results.

2.    The timeframe for considering an appeal in accordance with the mandatory pre-trial settlement procedure for resolving disputes is 15 days from the date the appeal is received by the superior tax authority (in case of appealing decisions on holding / not holding liable, this period remains unchanged at 1 month). If required, the head of the relevant tax authority is entitled to extend in each case the said timeframes by 15 days or 1 month respectively.

3.    The period for appealing the decisions on holding liable (or not holding liable) for a tax offence which have not come into effect is increased to 1 month.  

Earlier this period was equal to 10 days from the moment the tax payer is served a relevant decision (20 days in case of holding liable based on the results of inspection of a consolidated group of tax payers).

In addition, requirements are being revised as to the form and content of petitions and appeals, as well as grounds for dismissing them.

The Federal Law enters in force on August 03, 2013, and the provisions as regards the mandatory pre-trial appeal of all non-normative acts and actions (or failure to act) of a tax authority are applicable starting from January 01, 2014.

Federal Law No.153-FZ “On amending part one of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation” dated July o2, 2013

Additional notes

Should any questions arise in connection with the above or if you need any additional materials, please contact Igor Gorokhov or Anastasya Kuzmina, St. Petersburg Office of Capital Legal Services.

This Information letter keeps the clients of the Capital Legal Services and other interested parties abreast of information that may, to any extent, affect their activity or cater to their particular interests. The opinions and commentaries expressed in this Information letter shall not be deemed as legal opinions.