Ekaterina Kopylova, Senior Tax Consultant at Tax Compliance, analyzed the main tax events of April in the tax digest of Pravo.ru.

1. Legal positions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation

Constitutional Court approved the increase in court fees, but called for a balanced approach

Event:

The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation issued a ruling recognizing the legitimacy of increasing state fees when applying to courts. It emphasized that the current tariffs have not been revised for almost 15 years, and their adjustment in view of the changed socio-economic realities is in line with the principles of the rule of law.

Nevertheless, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation established a significant legal clarification, according to which the legislator is obliged to systematically assess the dynamics of economic conditions, promptly adjust the amount of the relevant payments taking into account the current conjuncture, as well as to guarantee the preservation of special legal mechanisms to protect the interests of socially vulnerable segments of the population.

Expert Commentary:

This ruling of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation indicates the need for a balance between the fiscal interests of the state and the constitutional rights of citizens to seek justice.

However, the increase in state fees may create a double effect. On the one hand, the increase in fees can reduce the number of frivolous lawsuits, relieving the burden on the courts and improving the quality of justice. On the other hand, there is a risk of limiting access to judicial protection for socially vulnerable groups and small businesses, for whom even a moderate increase in fees may become a significant barrier. In addition, the Constitutional Court did not consider the specificity of individual disputes in relation to the problem of increased fees. For example, in case of the need to challenge the decisions of customs authorities, the amount of duty may reach tens of millions of rubles due to the peculiarities of the decision-making procedure for each customs declaration, although the dispute itself has a single subject and common factual circumstances.

2. Legal positions of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation

A subsidy compensating for losses is not to be included in income when applying the simplified taxation system

Event:

On April 18, 2025, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, considering case No. A09-12215/2023, ruled in favor of the transport company Star Trans, satisfying its position in the tax dispute. The company, which applies the simplified taxation system (STS) under the object «income», received a state subsidy in connection with the seizure of vehicles on the territory of Ukraine in 2022, but did not take it into account in the taxable income. The tax authority, recognizing these funds as income, made an additional tax assessment, and three instances supported this view. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation came to the conclusion that the subsidy, being a compensatory payment, is aimed at compensating for damage and is strictly targeted, and therefore should not be included in the tax base.

Expert's comment:

In its decision, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has consolidated a principled position, which, however, will not have a significant impact on companies applying the general system of taxation (OSN), since for them the procedure for accounting for subsidies is already regulated in detail by Articles 250 and 251 of the Tax Code, which clearly define the types of such receipts and their tax consequences. At the same time, for payers of the simplified taxation system with the object of «income» this decision is of particular importance, since the tax authorities have traditionally regarded any receipts as taxable.

The approach formulated by the RF Supreme Court may give rise to new court disputes concerning the treatment of various types of receipts when applying the simplified taxation system “income”. Moreover, if judicial practice extends this approach not only to subsidies from the budget, but also to other transactions, this may significantly increase the attractiveness of the simplified taxation system «income» in comparison with the simplified taxation system «income minus expenses».

In its decision, the Supreme Court outlined two key theses. First of all, the Court confirmed that in order to qualify the receipt as income, it is necessary to establish the existence of a real economic benefit for the taxpayer. In addition, with regard to subsidies, the Supreme Court emphasized that their legal assessment should be based not on the formal fact of transfer of budget funds, but on the economic nature of such payments.

3. Judicial arbitration practice

Forgiveness of debt by majority shareholder recognized as income

Event:

In the case of Serebryany Dvor LLC (No. A40-287296/2023), the courts rejected the taxpayer's arguments, denying tax exemption for debt forgiveness by a majority shareholder. In 2021, a foreign shareholder wrote off debt on loans and cession obligations. The company excluded these amounts from the taxable base, citing subp. 11 п. 1 of Art. 251 of the Tax Code, but the tax authority and the courts found no grounds for applying the exemption, pointing to the absence of an actual transfer of property. The courts concluded that the transaction does not meet the criteria of the above norm and dismissed the claims.

The courts also noted that there was a scheme involving technical organizations reorganized after financial transactions, which allowed minimizing tax payments. At the same time, the borrowed funds were used to purchase real estate for the beneficiaries, which confirmed the absence of a business purpose.

Expert Commentary:

Disputes over the recognition of forgiven debts as non-operating income have been going on for many years, and there is no trend towards their completion. Modern court practice, including recent cases, demonstrates a shift in emphasis: whereas previously the key argument of the tax authorities was the formal absence of property transfer (which excluded the application of subparagraph 11, paragraph 1, Article 251 of the Tax Code), now the courts are increasingly analyzing the reasonableness and good faith of the taxpayer's actions - from receiving the loan to its forgiveness. The nature of the company's activities also plays an important role: for example, whether it is a real operating enterprise or performs only auxiliary functions.

The prospects of winning debt forgiveness cases now depend to a greater extent on the taxpayer's ability to prove the real business purpose of the transactions, rather than only on formal compliance with the Tax Code.

4. Draft law of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation on changes in tax legislation

Reform of the unified tax account

Expert Commentary:

The new wording of the rules on the Unified Tax Account proposed by the RF Ministry of Finance brings long-awaited certainty to several key aspects. Now it is clearly spelled out how to take into account decisions of tax officials on early termination of tax deferrals (installments) or cancellation of deductions. But the main novelty is the possible strengthening of guarantees for companies challenging decisions of the Federal Tax Service. If the court takes interim measures for a business, the disputed amounts are temporarily excluded from the balance of the FTS, which prevents financial pressure on the taxpayer during the trial.

Expansion of the perimeter of tax monitoring

Event:

The RF Ministry of Finance proposes to relax the requirements for potential participants in tax monitoring, making this regime more accessible. Now to enter the system it is enough to meet any of the three traditional criteria (revenue volume, size of assets or amount of tax payments) instead of the mandatory fulfillment of all of them at once.

Special attention is paid to the successors of companies already participating in monitoring: for them the thresholds are canceled altogether. This decision will remove artificial barriers for reorganized businesses, allowing them to maintain a transparent dialogue with the tax authorities even after changes in the corporate structure.

Expert comment:

Such a reform could eliminate redundant restrictions, enabling more companies to move to a modern model of tax administration - with predictability of audits and minimization of bureaucracy.

5. News from the Ministry of Finance

The Russian Ministry of Finance is working on the issue of optimizing taxation of payments to employees in the Far North

Event:

After the introduction of the progressive personal income tax scale, business faced an unexpected problem: how to properly tax payments to northerners. The situation now resembles a tax conundrum: northern allowances are taxed at the old rates of 13 and 15%, while all other payments (salaries, bonuses) are taxed at the new five-step scale of 13-22%.

The difficulty lies in the fact that when calculating average earnings (vacation pay, sick pay, business trips) accountants have to divide each payment into two parts, apply different tax rates and make parallel calculations.

The Ministry of Finance has recognized the problem and has started working on it.

Expert's comment:

The problem of taxation of northern allowances remains acute for businesses, despite the available clarifications from the Federal Tax Service. Companies have to incur significant costs to modernize their accounting systems and introduce additional control procedures. At the same time, the key difficulty lies in the imperfection of legislation, which requires a clear statement of the rules for calculating personal income tax for various types of payments.

6. News from the Federal Tax Service 

Summing up the results of the completed digitalization experiment for the self-employed

Event:

The FTS successfully completed a six-month pilot project (September 2024 - March 2025) in which the self-employed tested a convenient digital format for working with customers. Through mobile applications of three EDI operators or smartphones with NFC chips, participants could generate acts of completed work/services, sign them with an electronic signature, and instantly send them to counterparties.

Expert's comment:

Although the official experiment is over, its results are becoming a public practice. The self-employed can continue to use EDI - there are no legal restrictions for this, and operators will retain their working services. To start, it is enough to agree a format with the customer and choose an EDI platform.

This experiment has shown that even microbusinesses are ready for digital solutions that reduce paperwork. Now it is only a question of mass implementation - the technological and legal bases have already been tested.