Tax limitation period. Limitation period for taxes: how long can the tax authorities collect the debt? Recognition of tax debts as uncollectible

20.02.2022

The statute of limitations for taxes of individuals allows the Federal Tax Service to demand from a citizen of the Russian Federation the fulfillment of financial obligations even several years after the occurrence of their causes.

But the law also defines the periods after which the inspection cannot force the payment of bills, even through the court.

Feature of the procedure

The final time for payment of the debt is also decided in court.

An application of the established form may be accepted by the court within 6 months. This period is counted from the last payment made (Article 48, Clause 2 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Important:if the fiscal authority misses the deadlines for filing an application established by law, this opportunity may be restored by the court.

Limitation period for personal transport tax

As for the transport tax, it is calculated by the inspection based on the characteristics of the vehicle and certain rates.

Payment is made after the receipt of a documentary notice, in accordance with Art. 363 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

The length of time indicated by the document corresponds to 30 days. Based on paragraph 1 of the document mentioned above, payment of transport tax in 2016 must be made before December 1, the year that follows the expired billing period.

At the same time, it should be borne in mind that Article 363, Clause 3 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation states that an institution can only demand the recovery of a three-year prescription, i.e. only for the previous 3 billing periods.

Precautionary limitation period

Violation by a state institution of the procedure and rules for issuing claims to a citizen for the collection of debts does not affect the change in the procedure for calculating the preemptive period for demanding a forced payment.

When a debt is found, the inspection sends a notification. In case of non-payment, after a certain period of time established by law, a repeated request is sent indicating a penalty or a fine.

Then, the limitation period for property tax will be calculated from the moment the person receives the first notification, and in case of non-compliance, the institution has the right to file a lawsuit in court.

Please note that a notice sent by mail is considered received only after six days from the date of its sending. After that, the citizen has a month to fulfill it.

Actions in case of overpayment of tax

A tax claim can be sent not only to an individual, but, conversely, from him to the IFTS.

In case of overpayment of the principal amount or penalty interest, the institution is obliged to recalculate the amount of the overpayment and notify the payer within 10 days from the date of confirmation of the overpayment.

To return the money, you must submit an application of the appropriate sample to the inspection.

In this case, the legislation provides for two options for the return of funds.

In the first option, these funds will be reimbursed by transfers against a future payment.

The second option involves returning the amount to the bank account of the person who made the overpayment. On the basis of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, Article 78, the transfer of the entire amount must be made no later than three years from the time the fact of overpayment was established.

If the institution refuses to return the money, the citizen can file a claim with the court. The statute of limitations for claims in this case is also equal to three years.

Important: if the overpayment was not claimed by the person who paid, within the time limits prescribed by law, then they have the right to write it off on the basis ofart.59 . The amount of overpaid funds, including land, property and transport tax, is written off to non-operating expenses, as provided forarticle 265 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation .

Statute of limitations for collecting taxes

Every citizen of the Russian Federation has obligations to the tax office. They must be paid, according to the approved terms, by both individuals and legal entities.

The area of taxation is quite complex. It often contains contentious issues. The biggest problem that can appear in the field of taxation is the presence of overdue debt.

In most cases, the resulting debt must be paid within the time limits established by law. But there are taxpayers who violate the conditions and refuse to pay. In this case, the collection is carried out for a long time by force.

Collection procedure

In case of detection of arrears, within the time limits established by law, the tax authorities may begin the procedure for collecting:

The first thing tax company employees do is send a notification to the payer. It clearly states the amount to be collected, including the total debt and accrued penalties. In addition, the notification specifies the exact time frame during which the taxpayer must pay everything.
If the debtor does not pay within the time limits established by law, the tax authority has the right to collect the tax debt on its own, to use the so-called indisputable collection procedure. And also the tax officer has the right to prepare a lawsuit in court.

Let us consider in more detail how tax debt is collected from an individual and a legal entity.

From individuals

First of all, the tax authority sends a notification to the taxpayer. This document must be prepared at least 30 days before the payment deadline. If possible, the notice is handed in person, against receipt.

If it is not possible to deliver the notice to the debtor in person, against receipt, it:

sent electronically;
registered courier;
sent by mail, registered mail (the most common and less expensive way).

According to, the taxpayer is not required to pay tax if he has not received a tax notice. The obligation to pay arises from the moment of receipt of the document.

If the notification was sent within the time limits established by law, but the taxpayer did not pay, the tax authority sends a demand for its payment. Not only the amount of the debt, but also the amount of accrued penalties is prescribed in the requirement. This document, according to the law, must be prepared and sent no later than 3 months from the date of detection of arrears.

If the taxpayer does not repay the amount of the debt on time and the amount of the debt exceeds 1,500 rubles, then the tax authority has the right to apply to a court of general jurisdiction within 6 months from the moment the debt was formed. In this case, the debtor receives a copy of the application no later than the day the documents are submitted to the court.

The justice of the peace issues an order alone, which has the force of a writ of execution. It is worth noting that the court order is issued without hearing each side and explanations. A copy of the order is sent to the taxpayer, who, according to the law, is obliged to make payment within 10 days from the date of receipt.

If the taxpayer does not have enough funds to pay off tax debts, then personal property is subject to collection.

From legal entities

For debt collection for legal entities use:

financial resources that are in the accounts;
property of the enterprise: equipment, appliances or furniture.

The first option is the simplest and best. If this option is chosen, the tax authority prepares a claim in which it indicates the amount of the debt and the amount of interest accrued. This document is sent to the taxpayer.

From the moment of receipt of the request, the legal entity is obliged to pay off tax debts. If this does not happen, the tax authority goes to the bank where the account of the legal entity is opened and issues a decision. According to the decision received, the debt is automatically written off from the account.

The second option is when the payment of the debt is carried out at the expense of the property of the enterprise. This is true if there is no money in the account or there is not enough money to fully repay the debt.

In this case, the tax inspector sends an official notice to the debtor, which says that it is necessary to pay off the debt within the time limits established by law. After revealing the fact that the legal entity cannot repay the debt at the expense of funds, a claim is drawn up.

Drawing up a claim, the tax authority submits to the court and asks to pay off the amount of debt by collecting property.

Only after the case is transferred to the bailiffs, the property is inspected, the value is fixed and confiscation is carried out. All seized property will be sold and debts repaid. It is also worth taking into account that bailiffs sell property at a minimum cost. The main goal is to quickly sell what is available and get funds.

The second option can last up to 1 year.

Penalties

If the taxpayer does not pay the payment on time, then he may be charged penalties for non-payment, which are calculated in a special way. The accrued amount of interest is added to the amount of the principal debt. It is also worth noting that the tax authority may charge interest not only on the amount of the debt, but also on the accrued fines if they have not been repaid in a timely manner.

To determine the amount, two dates are taken into account: the immediate date of payment and the statutory date before which the taxpayer had to pay the tax. In most cases, penalties are charged for each day of delay.

To determine the size of the penalty, a value equal to 1/300 of the current refinancing rate, which is in effect on the reporting date, is used.

The calculation formula is as follows:

Penalty = (Total tax amount * number of overdue days * current Central Bank refinancing rate): 300.

Sanctions for non-payment of taxes

In addition to penalties to the debtor, another form of material punishment will be applied - these are fines. The amounts and methods of accrual are strictly determined by Article 122 of the Tax Code. The violator may be fined, in the amount of 20% of the amount of arrears. If it turns out that the actions of the debtor were intentional, then the amount of sanctions increases to 40%.

Recognition of tax debts as uncollectible

According to the uncollectible write-off, arrears, accrued penalties and fines, which are attributed to the taxpayer, are recognized in the following cases:

Liquidation of the organization, in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation. In this case, the company cannot repay the debt due to insufficient property and cash.
Declaration of bankruptcy of an individual entrepreneur, in terms of arrears outstanding due to insufficient property.
The adoption by the court of an act, according to which the taxpayer is released from debt collection due to the expiration of the collection period.
Death of an individual.

Fines and penalties are also considered hopeless for writing off if, at the time of the decision, they have already been written off by financial companies that have been liquidated.

The procedure for writing off arrears recognized as uncollectible for writing off is provided for by Article 59 of the Code.

preemptive term

Many taxpayers are interested in the question of whether there is a deadline during which taxpayers can demand payment of the debt. If you carefully study the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, you can understand that there is no exact deadline, but such a deadline must be.

However, in practice, the tax authorities often believe that they can issue claims for the payment of taxes and penalties at any time.

In this regard, many taxpayers receive a claim from the tax authorities for the past years. The question arises, is this requirement legal on the part of tax officials? It is also not clear whether the well-known limitation period of 3 years applies to tax offenses?

It is worth noting that the statute of limitations, equal to 3 years, is established for civil offenses, as specified in. As for tax legal relations, then it is worth carefully studying. It is there that it is clearly stated that the norms of civil law are not applicable to tax legal relations.

There is no direct norm, similar to Article 196 of the Civil Code, which would clearly spell out the deadline for collecting tax arrears in the Tax Code. At the same time, it should be noted that the statute of limitations for overpaid tax or penalties is provided for by the Tax Code and is three years.

It turns out that tax debts are indefinite, and the tax authority can apply for debt collection even after 5 years or not?

According to the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the tax liability of each taxpayer is indeed unlimited. At the same time, the code provides for deadlines, if missed, debts can be recognized as uncollectible for write-off.

With regard to property taxes (on property and transport), in this case, one rule is stipulated, according to which the Tax Authority has the right to charge taxes only for three tax periods. Of course, this cannot be called a restrictive period, but, nevertheless, this rule limits the activities of tax authorities.

So, answering the question about the preemptive period of the taxpayer's debts, we can conclude that it does not have a statute of limitations.

Video: Tax debt collection

The statute of limitations for taxes is the period of time when the tax authority has the right to enforce the collection of tax arrears. However, payers quite often form tax arrears. Therefore, it is important to understand whether there is a statute of limitations for taxes for individuals and legal entities and what are the nuances in this matter.

What is the statute of limitations for taxes

Taxes are obligatory, so-called individual gratuitous cash payments that are collected from organizations, individuals, as well as individual entrepreneurs in order to ensure the activities of the state and (or) municipalities. The debt is formed in case of non-compliance with the terms of their payment, which are established for each payment in the relevant chapters of Part 2 of the Tax Code. They are changed in the order described in ch. 9 NK. In case of violation of the established periods, a fine is paid ( Art. 75 NK).

When the amount of payment is calculated by the IFTS (for example, these are land or transport payments), its payment is required after receiving the appropriate notification (within a month from the date of its receipt). A longer duration is provided for in the notice itself.

The statute of limitations provided ch. 12 GK, does not apply in the tax field.

The statute of limitations for personal taxes

If an individual is indebted, he (regardless of the fact of being held liable for tax violations) is sent a demand to pay tax. It contains information:

about the amount of debt;
the amount of penalties (at the time of its sending);
the period of its execution (eight working days from the date of receipt, unless otherwise indicated);
exacting and interim measures to be used in case of ignoring the requirement;
grounds for collection of payment and legislative periods for its payment.

It is sent either no later than three months from the date of detection of arrears (this is the next day after the date of payment), or within a year from this day (when the amount of non-payment is less than 500 rubles). According to the results of the tax audit, the corresponding request is sent to the taxpayer within 20 working days from the date the decision comes into force.

Tax audit is:

cameral - employees of the IFTS check the declarations, calculations and other documents provided by the taxpayer in their office;
exit - the check takes place at the address of residence of the taxpayer.

Real estate or transport taxes paid by individuals are calculated by the IFTS for no more than three tax periods before the calendar year when a notification of their payment is sent. Thus, the maximum amount of debt that can come from the named payments in 2019 will consist of the terms for 2016, 2017 and 2018.

The limitation period for paying taxes by an individual depends on the amount of the debt:

if the debt is more than 3000 rubles. - six months from the date of expiration of the time for satisfaction of the tax claim;
when the debt is 3,000 rubles, the statute of limitations for non-payment of taxes is six months from the moment the specified amount is exceeded;
if the amount does not exceed 3000 rubles. and three years have passed from the moment when the tax requirement should have been fulfilled, the period for collecting taxes from individuals is six months after the specified three years.

Within the specified periods, the tax authorities file a claim for the collection of tax debts in a court of general jurisdiction (Article 1 of the Federal Law of 07.02.2011 No. 1).

Missing deadlines means that the debt is recognized as uncollectible and, on this basis, is written off upon a proper application to the Federal Tax Service or the court. When the IFTS has already filed a lawsuit, there you also need to declare a pass by filing a petition. The deadline missed for good reasons can be restored.

Limitation period for legal entity taxes

In case of arrears, legal entities are required to pay tax (in the same manner as individuals and during the periods indicated above). Ignoring it most often means collecting a debt without a trial (in an indisputable manner). There are cases when only judicial recovery is possible, they are indicated in clause 2 Art. 45 NK. For example, when an amount of more than 5,000,000 rubles is collected from the personal accounts of companies.

Arrears are charged from the legal entity in the mode of Art. - 47 NK. Initially, the tax authorities send collection orders to the banks where the debtor's accounts are located to write off funds from them. This happens within two months after the expiration of the time for fulfilling the requirement. If the specified time is missed, the tax authorities will no longer be able to unquestionably collect money from the accounts. The statute of limitations for tax payments is six months. Moreover, the court will assess both the legitimacy of the accrual and the correctness of the calculation of the payment.

The lack of funds in the accounts during the year after the expiration of the claim period gives rise to a decision by the Federal Tax Service Inspectorate to collect the debt at the expense of property, which is sent to the bailiff unit. If this period is missed, the tax authorities can receive the debt through the court (within two years).

These rules apply to IPs as well.

Statute of limitations for tax violations

The named prescription is similar to that discussed above (when collecting a tax debt) in terms of rules and duration. The limitation period for holding liable is the time period when the IFTS charges a fine. It is equal to three years from the moment the violation was committed or after the end of the tax period, if we are talking about

Often, taxpayers receive claims from the tax authorities for the payment of tax arrears for long past periods. To what extent such requirements comply with the law and whether there is a statute of limitations for taxes, i.e. the period after which the tax authority loses the possibility of forcible collection of debt through the court.

Does the general limitation period, namely 3 years, apply to tax legal relations?

No, the general limitation period (three years) established by Art. 196 of the Civil Code for civil legal relations does not apply to tax legal relations, this is expressly stated in paragraph 3 of Art. 2 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, namely, the norms of civil law are not applicable to tax legal relations.

What is provided in the tax legislation itself regarding the statute of limitations for taxes?

Direct norm, similar to Art. 196 of the Civil Code, which would establish a limitation period, after the expiration of which, the tax authority is no longer entitled to forcibly collect a tax debt from a taxpayer through a court, the Tax Code does not contain. In the same time, statute of limitations for the return of excessively collected taxes (penalties, fines) for taxpayers established in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, it is three years from the date when the taxpayer found out or should have known about the collection of excessive payments from him (paragraph 2, clause 3, paragraph 1, clause 9, article 79 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Are tax debts perpetual and can the tax authority collect arrears, for example, after 10 years from the moment of its formation?

The tax liability of the taxpayer in accordance with the current Tax Code of the Russian Federation is valid is perpetual, however, the code contains certain terms for the forced collection of debts from taxpayers by tax authorities, if missed, the debt should be recognized as uncollectible, and written off on this basis.
In addition, with regard to property taxes of citizens (transport tax, property tax of individuals), the calculation of which is entrusted to the tax authorities, in Art. 52 of the Tax Code establishes a special rule - the Tax authority has the right to calculate the specified taxes for no more than three tax periods (years) preceding the calendar year of sending a tax notice to a taxpayer-citizen. This rule is not, of course, a "limitation period" in its direct sense, but limits the tax authorities in terms of calculation of such taxes.
Let us explain what was said with an example, when sending a notification to a citizen in 2016 about the payment of transport tax, the tax authority will be able to include transport tax amounts there only for 2015, 2014, 2013, debts for earlier periods should not be included in such a notification, provided that before 2016, the citizen did not receive tax notices for the specified periods.
Thus, answering the question about the indefiniteness of the taxpayer's debts and the possibility of collecting the debt after a long period of time, the following conclusion can be drawn - the taxpayer's obligation to pay tax arrears does not have a statute of limitations, but is limited by the deadlines established in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation for the collection of tax in court, and also - the rules for calculating taxes in respect of property taxes of citizens-taxpayers.

Therefore, in order to answer the question of whether the tax inspectorate legally requires the taxpayer to pay debts for a long past period and whether it will be able to recover it from the taxpayer, you need to install: 1. Did the tax authority violate the rules for calculating taxes (if these are property taxes of individuals); 2. whether the inspection missed the deadlines established by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation for the forced collection of arrears.

How to determine the moment of the beginning of the period for the collection of debts by the tax authority?

The beginning of the countdown for the collection of the tax debt is the moment when the tax authority reveals the taxpayer's debt. From the moment the tax debt is revealed, the period for collecting the debt begins to run and the actual collection procedure begins.
If the arrears were established by the tax authorities as a result of a tax audit(office, field, repeated), the moment of detection and the start of the countdown for its collection will be the day the decision comes into force as a result of such P rovers.
If the amount of tax payable was specified on your tax return taxpayer or calculated by the tax authority in the tax notice, but actually not transferred by the taxpayer to the budget, under the day the arrears are discovered should be understood as the next day after the due date for paying the tax (by declaration, by notification), and if the taxpayer submits a tax return in violation of the established deadlines, the next day after its submission. From this moment, the established deadlines for collecting arrears from the taxpayer will also run.

How much time from the moment of revealing the tax debt is established by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation for the procedure for collecting tax arrears?

The Tax Code of the Russian Federation establishes a deadline for collecting tax in court, which is determined on the basis of a combination of terms, namely:
- the time limit for filing a claim for payment of arrears and the taxpayer
– term for voluntary fulfillment of the requirement;
– the deadline for the tax authorities to apply to the court.
In total, from the moment the arrears are discovered to the filing of an application with the court for its collection at the expense of the taxpayer's money, the tax authorities have about nine months, and if the arrears are collected at the expense of the taxpayer's property (in the case of citizens, the property also includes cash) , the maximum period for judicial recovery is two years from the date of expiration of the period for the voluntary fulfillment by the taxpayer of the requirement to pay tax. In addition, it should be borne in mind that the period for collecting debts on property debts of citizens in court depends on the amount of tax debt.
If the deadlines for collecting arrears are violated and the court refuses to restore them, the inspectorate loses the opportunity to recover the debt from the taxpayer, and the arrears must be recognized as uncollectible on the basis of paragraphs. 4 p. 1 art. 59 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

How is the limitation period for taxes for legal entities calculated?

Each legal organization is obliged to pay tax to the budget system in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation. If an organization does not pay tax for any reason, then the tax office can sue for non-compliance with the law. But organizations do not always pay the entire amount of the debt, therefore, the unpaid amount remains with the debtor.

Many organizations have a question: is there a statute of limitations on taxes to the budget?

The statute of limitations for taxes for individual entrepreneurs (IP) is not established by law and is written off in the following cases:

if an individual entrepreneur is declared bankrupt;
if the individual entrepreneur has died.

The provision of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation does not indicate a specific rule that determines one or another limitation period. To determine the statute of limitations, you need to proceed from three terms:

the period during which the tax service may send a notification to the taxpayer about the lack of payment (insufficient payment) of tax to the budget;
the period during which the taxpayer may voluntarily pay (pay in addition) the amount of tax to the budget that has not been paid within the period prescribed by law;
the period during which the tax service has the right to apply to the court for the recovery from the taxpayer of the entire unpaid amount of tax to the budget.

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How long does it take for the IRS to collect the debt?

The taxpayer, having received an act of reconciliation of settlements with the budget, may discover tax arrears, which the enterprise has had for more than three years. Accordingly, each accountant is interested in what to do with this debt? Is it possible to write off the debt: if so, how to do it?

Having considered the norms of the Tax Code listed in Article 59 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, we can conclude that the basis for writing off tax debts is a judicial act. And only a judicial act deprives the tax authority of the right to collect tax debts due to the expiration of the established period for its collection.

But before you go to court, you need to deal with the debt that is on your personal account. How long does the tax office have the right to collect the debt? The procedure and terms for collecting debts are specified in articles 46, 47, 69, 70, 75 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

The tax service has the right to apply to the court for the collection of tax debts at the expense of the taxpayer's funds on the current account within six months or at the expense of property within two years from the date of expiration of the period established in the demand sent to the taxpayer to pay the debt. The term is considered from the date specified in the demand sent to the taxpayer.

The period during which the tax office must send a request for payment:

if the arrears are revealed as a result of a desk audit, then the request for payment is sent within 10 working days from the date of entry into force of the Decision on the audit report;
in other situations, the request for payment is sent within 3 months from the date of detection of the arrears.

How tax debt is written off

So, the organization decided to send a statement of claim to the court to obtain a judicial act, on the basis of which the tax service will write off the tax debt to the budget in a personal account. The first thing to do is to get a statement of settlements with the budget, which will indicate the debt.

The claim must include the following requirements:

recognize as illegal the actions of the tax authority, indicating in the certificate the debt to the budget, which they do not have the right to collect;
oblige the tax service to issue a certificate that does not contain debts to the budget.

Having considered the case, the court may decide:

oblige the tax authority to issue a certificate stating that the tax service has lost the ability to collect tax arrears;
issue a certificate without indicating tax arrears;

In any case, we will receive a decision, which will indicate the impossibility of collecting the debt by the tax authorities.

Now, having provided the tax inspectorate with a court decision and a cover letter, on the basis of which the tax authorities must draw up a certificate of debt in the approved form within 5 working days and, within 1 working day, make a decision on recognizing the debt as not real for collection and its write-offs. The procedure for writing off debts unrealistic for collection is established by Order of the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation dated August 19, 2010 No. YaK-7-8 / [email protected]

But if the amount of debt is not large, then the organization may decide to simply pay the tax debt and obtain a certificate of no debt to the budget.