Cases

• Employees involved

  Mikhail Begunov, Ivan Tsvetkov, Nikita Zharov

• Process description

  The Tax Compliance team was given the task of analyzing the tax risks associated with the procedure for taxing the income of individuals working outside of Russia.

• Result

  The Tax Compliance team has identified the areas most exposed to tax risks and prepared recommendations for improving document management (in terms of processing the client's labor relations with employees working outside of Russia) based on the results of the analysis.

We proved the illegality of the initiation of criminal proceedings and obtained the cancellation of the case by the prosecutor's office

• Employees involved

  Mikhail Begunov, Alexander Dmitriev

• Process description

  Investigative authorities have initiated criminal proceedings against managers of an organization on the grounds of committing a crime under part 2 of Art. 199 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Our lawyers have analyzed the resolution on institution of criminal proceedings and came to the conclusion that it may be cancelled on the following grounds: First reason for cancellation - in the framework of the preliminary investigation the Client's officials, who managed the company during the tax audit, were not interrogated, the role of each of them is not defined, that does not allow to make a conclusion on the presence of the actions of a specific person of the elements of the crime, provided by Art. 199 part 2 of the Criminal Code. 2 OF THE CRIMINAL CODE. The second reason for cancellation - the decision of the tax authority to prosecute for a tax offense suspended by the arbitration court before making a decision on the court case on the Company's application to recognize the decision of the tax authority invalid and, in addition, by the time of institution of criminal proceedings established by Article 32 § 3 of the Tax Code has not expired, and, respectively, the materials of the tax authorities were sent to investigative authorities in violation of the law.

• Result

  Tax Compliance attorneys were able to prove the illegality of the initiation of criminal proceedings, the prosecutor's office considered the complaint and issued a resolution to cancel the investigator's resolution to initiate a criminal case. The initiation of criminal proceedings against the Client under Art. 199 of the Criminal Code was cancelled by the prosecutor's office.

• Employee involved

  Alexey Stanchin

• Process description

  The client had the task of reorganizing the legal structure of the business. Significant problems in implementing the project were: (1) restrictions on corporate matters by the founders; (2) a significant amount of accumulated deductions for inseparable improvements; (3) possible tax risks associated with the foreign element of the business. In view of the above, the taxpayer was offered ways to reorganize the existing legal structure. The Tax Compliance team has prepared a guide on how to implement the said project with the least risk of future tax claims.

• Result

  The client received a guide on how to improve the existing legal structure and with step-by-step actions to implement it

• Employee involved

  Alexey Stanchin

• Process description

  The tax authority in the framework of an on-site tax audit came to the conclusion that the taxpayer used technical links for the purposes of obtaining tax profits on VAT and income tax. In particular, the tax authority believed that: (1) in fact the provision of services took place directly from organizations that apply special tax regimes (without VAT); (2) the taxpayer and the counterparty are related business entities. In view of the above, the taxpayer was invited to dispute the technical nature of the disputed counterparties. The Tax Compliance team helped the client to elaborate a legal position which confirmed: (1) lack of controllability between the participants of the contractual relations chain; (2) economic feasibility of the transaction; (3) the reality of financial and economic activities of the disputed counterparties.

• Result

  The tax authority accepted the arguments of the taxpayer

• Employee involved

  Ivan Tsvetkov

• Process description

  The company purchased goods used in construction at the customer's facilities, paying for the supplies by means of the transfer of promissory notes. As a result of an on-site tax audit, the tax authority concluded that the Company's expenses for purchasing the aforementioned goods were not actually confirmed, on the basis of which it assessed additional VAT and corporate profit tax on all transactions with counterparties. The tax authority also assessed additional personal income tax and insurance contributions on the amount of promissory notes transferred as payment for the above transactions, qualifying these expenses as dividends of a person controlling the Company.

• Result

  As a result of developing a legal position, preparing objections to the act, supporting additional tax control measures, preparing objections to the supplement to the act, as well as representing the Company during the consideration of audit materials by the tax authorities, the tax authorities managed to prove the unreasonableness of additional charges in terms of income tax, personal income tax and insurance premiums, thereby reducing the amount of additional charges by 76%.