Cases

The client petitioned the court to invalidate the tax authority's decision based on the results of the on-site tax audit, according to which he had been charged with substantial amounts of NGOs and VAT, as well as related penalties and fines in the amount of over 3 billion rubles. Most of the claims were related to expenses for logistics services, because the tax authority suspected that they were of a fictitious nature. Enforcement of this decision could have caused significant damage to the company and paralyzed its operations (given the significant amount of tax charges that could have been critical to the client's business).

Thanks to professionalism of Tax Compliance lawyers we managed to choose the right line of defense, based on which the court of the first instance partially upheld the client's claims (most of additional tax charges were declared illegal). It also set an important precedent and resulted in positive arbitration practice of annulling tax authorities' decisions. This case supported the approach according to which the taxpayer should not be held liable for the actions of third parties. According to independent experts, the dispute may be of great importance for the practice of application of Article 54.1 of the Tax Code in general and, in particular, for large taxpayers who make extensive use of the services of third-party transportation and logistics companies, such as those operating in the FMCG sector. In addition, interim measures were obtained in this dispute, which allowed the company to stay afloat until the resolution of the dispute on the merits (preventing the debit of funds from the company's accounts).

Analysis of activities and development of a detailed action plan and measures to minimize risks in the liquidation of intra-holding companies

Alexander Dmitriev

The Austrian company had a number of subsidiaries on the territory of Russian Federation, engaged in sales, warranty services and development of technical documentation for ship equipment. Due to the recession of economic activity and purchasing power of business, the company decided to reduce its presence on the Russian market and made a decision to close a number of directions.

After an in-depth analysis of financial and economic activities of companies and assessment of risks a detailed plan describing all stages of liquidation of legal entities was drawn up. One of the stages was the reconciliation of mutual settlements with intra-holding companies and withdrawal of the parent company from the Austrian jurisdiction. There was also a plan for the transfer / dismissal of more than 150 employees of the liquidated legal entities. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Representing a former manager of a company in arbitration court in a case for bringing him to subsidiary liability

Andrey Solomyany

Bankruptcy trustee claimed vicarious liability of the former CEO and participant of the company in liquidation on the grounds that the transactions had caused substantial harm to the property rights of the creditor and failure to fulfill the obligation to apply to the court for bankruptcy of the company headed. Tax Compliance experts developed a defense stance substantiating the absence of grounds for bringing the Client to subsidiary liability and refuting the applicant's arguments

The court refused to bring the company's general director to subsidiary liability because of an absence of evidence of the corpus delicti in the actions of the debtor's former general director

Preparation of an expert opinion with an assessment of the risks of subsidiary liability

Preparation of an opinion with an analysis of the risks of bringing individuals to subsidiary liability for the company's obligations and possible mechanisms to reduce these risks

An on-site tax audit was conducted in relation to a construction company. The transactions with "unscrupulous" counterparties were the subject of the audit. The client contacted Tax Compliance to assess the risks of bringing individuals who participated in the management of the audited company to subsidiary liability and possible actions to mitigate these risks

After analyzing the documents and information provided, Tax Compliance consultants prepared an expert report describing the risks of bringing the interested individuals to subsidiary liability for the obligations of the company subject to a field tax audit, as well as recommendations for specific steps to mitigate such risks.

An on-site tax audit was conducted with respect to the Client, as a result of which the tax authority charged the taxpayer with fictitious document turnover with three vendors, rendering services of advertising on TV channels (RBC-TV, Channel 8, Good Cinema, World Business Channel) and radio stations (Radio Energiya MO 103.5 FM, Europe Plus MO 90.5 FM, Avtoradio MO, Humor FM, Megapolis FM, Retro FM, Nashe Radio, BEST FM, Kommersant FM). The project was complicated by the fact that the analysis showed no direct money transfers from the Client to the TV channels and radio stations. To prove the cost of advertising an expert audit was conducted to determine the actual tax liabilities of advertising services purchased by the company directly from TV channels and radio stations on the basis of primary documents (broadcasting statements), taking into account the terms of the contractual relationship with the disputed counterparties.

Tax Compliance lawyers appealed the act of tax audit and prepared a legal position that resulted in the reduction of additional tax charges based on the results of the field tax audit by 80%. As part of the appeal of the audit results the mechanisms of tax reconstruction calculation were applied to reduce the amounts of arrears, taking into account the actual expenses of the company. This approach may be used when declaring expenses of oil companies.