17.09.08

In a recent court case, tax officials argued that their job is to calculate fines according to Article 119 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation but that their calculations are thrown out in court due to the court's soft-heartedness.

Tax officials asserted that if the taxpayer fails to produce evidence of financial burden or to submit a petition for decreasing the fine, the court does not have the right to lower fines based on the circumstances of the case on its own initiative. The court takes the following circumstances into consideration in cases of tax violation: the taxpayer’s property status, whether the tax offence is significant, and whether the violation was a first-time offence.

The court set its case before the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation on the basis of Amendment N 41/9 from June 11, 1999, and proved that the court has the right to lower penalties by more than half in accordance to findings of extenuating circumstances (Amendment of the Federal Arbitration Court of the Far Eastern District dated July 18, 2008).

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Source: Российский налоговый портал