Pre-court settlement of tax disputes

• Employee involved

  Alexey Stanchin

• Process description

  The tax authority, as part of an on-site tax audit, concluded that there was a "tax optimization scheme. In particular, the tax authority believed the following: (1) the formality of the Company's relations with its counterparties; (2) nominality of the counterparties; (3) the actions of the Company and/or its counterparties led to its bankruptcy (which the inspection recognized as "fictitious"). The Tax Compliance team helped the client to elaborate a legal position supporting the possibility to apply the "tax reconstruction".

• Result

  The tax authority accepted the arguments of the taxpayer

The Federal Tax Service has decided to reduce the amount of penalties for non-payment of taxes

• Employees involved

  Mikhail Begunov, Nikita Zharov

• Process description

  The tax authority based on the results of a tax audit held the taxpayer liable for non-payment of taxes. On appeal, the superior tax authority accepted some of the taxpayer's arguments, but refused to take into account certain mitigating circumstances in order to reduce the amount of penalties. The Tax Compliance team helped the client develop a legal position for submission to the Central Office of the Russian Federal Tax Service.

• Result

  The Central Office of the Federal Tax Service accepted the arguments of the taxpayer. In particular, certain mitigating circumstances were taken into account. As a result, the amount of penalties was reduced fourfold.

Claims of the tax authority were partially eliminated. Claims of the tax authority on the involvement of "unscrupulous counterparties" were withdrawn.

• Duration

  October 2019 - March 2020

• Employees involved

  Mikhail Begunov, Alexander Dmitriev

• Process description

  With the help of additional tax control measures, the reality of subcontractors' activities was proved. The absence of intent in the actions of the client and lack of affiliation with suppliers, which partially confirmed the disputed shipments, was proved.

• Result

  Claims of the tax authority for the field inspection report were appealed and partially withdrawn. Positive pre-trial appeal against the acts of tax authorities in favor of taxpayers under 54.1 of the Tax Code was formed.

Settled a dispute with the tax authority on the legality of accounting exchange rate differences for income tax purposes

• Employees involved

  Mikhail Begunov, Nikita Zharov

• Process description

  The Company was accounting for profit taxation purposes for income/expenses in the form of exchange rate differences. Based on the results of the on-site tax audit, the tax authority concluded that the Company's expenses in the form of exchange rate differences do not meet the criterion of documentary support and should not be taken into account for profit taxation purposes

• Result

  The Tax Compliance team has prepared an appeal to the superior tax authority (Department of the Federal Tax Service of the subject), in which it: (1) presented evidence of sufficient documentary support of the respective expenses; (2) pointed out the methodological errors committed by the auditors in calculating the additional tax charges. Upon consideration of the appeal, the superior tax authority upheld the Company's position in full.

The client was provided services to appeal the results of an on-site tax audit, according to the act was established the minimization of tax liabilities on the difference between the cost of works and materials supplied and the withdrawal of this difference in order to illegally cash out through the subcontracting "transit" companies.

• Purpose

  Confirmation of the actual size of the client's tax liabilities due to the tax reconstruction procedure.

• Employees involved

  Mikhail Begunov, Yulia Pavlova

• Process description

  According to the results of an on-site tax audit, the tax authority points to the creation of a fictitious document flow with subcontractors engaged in order to acquire, in fact, goods (building materials), while overstating the cost of construction and VAT deductions. The amount of tax arrears is calculated from the full amount of the transaction on financial and economic relations with the disputed counterparties. As a part of support of additional tax control measures we rendered services on preparation of legal position for tax reconstruction in order to calculate the actual tax liabilities of the client. The primary documents confirming the client's expenses on purchase of materials used in construction of the facilities were submitted to apply the computational method of tax liabilities determination.

• Result

  As a result of successfully developed legal position at the stage of support of additional measures of tax control it was possible to reduce the amount of additional tax charges in the amount of not less than 3 billion rubles.