How to file a petition to reduce a fine to the tax office

What can the tax office fine you for?

The Tax Code of the Russian Federation indicates offenses for which a fine is provided. The most common types:

• missed deadlines for submitting reporting documentation;
• concealment of material information;
• non-payment of taxes.

Late filing of reporting documentation primarily includes tax returns. Fine – 1 thousand rubles. The sanction is enshrined in Art. 199 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. If time is missed, the tax authority has the right to impose a fine. For example, if an organization does not register on time, it faces a fine of 10 thousand rubles (Article 116 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

We advise you to read:

• ✅ Statement of claim for collection of debt on utility bills
• ✅ Request to leave a statement of claim without consideration: sample
• ✅ Power of attorney to receive money: sample
• ✅ Certificate of work performed under the premises rental agreement: sample

Concealment of information refers to the withholding or failure to provide information that is important for determining the tax base and taxation in general. For example, this could be hiring a foreigner.

Non-payment of taxes is the most common reason for imposing a fine. If the debtor evades the direct obligation to make payments, then the tax authority is authorized to impose sanctions against him. The amount can be up to 40% of the unpaid amount. Formally, this possibility is enshrined in Art. 122 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

When the taxpayer is not at fault and the fine should be canceled

Eliminating a penalty due to innocence is not canceling all tax debt. The arrears and penalties must be contested separately, no longer citing innocence - or paid if the entrepreneur agrees with it. But even if you pay off only the fine, the final amount of debt to the tax authorities will become less, sometimes significantly.

There are three circumstances in the Tax Code in which the taxpayer is not guilty of violating the law. But you can be innocent for any other reason - Art. 111 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Natural disaster and emergency

The tax office cannot fine for non-payment of taxes and failure to submit reports if this happened due to a fire, accident or pandemic. If force majeure is already known throughout the country, no certificates are needed. In case of a fire or accident in the office, you must provide documents.

Example

The court overturned the company's fine of 136,900 rubles for failure to provide 2,738 primary documents for verification. The primary data was stored in a rented office. There was a fire in the landlord's building and the documents were burned. The company showed the court a certificate about the fire from the Ministry of Emergency Situations. And some of the burnt documents were eventually restored and brought to the inspectors after the fine. But the tax office did not take this into account. The court agreed that the company was not to blame - case No. A41-31823/2010.

The entrepreneur could not think about taxes and reports due to illness

This only works for individual entrepreneurs. Organizations are not released on this basis.

There are diseases and conditions due to which a person cannot think normally. These are mental disorders, coma, high fever, very severe pain. A certificate is required to confirm illness. The illness must occur during the reporting period.

Physical ailments do not count. In this case, tax matters can be delegated to a representative. But any illness should be counted as a mitigating circumstance.

Implementation of recommendations from letters from the Ministry of Finance, Federal Tax Service and other government agencies

Government agencies clarify controversial issues regarding taxes. A taxpayer can also ask a government agency a question on his own behalf, and ask his tax office for a reasoned opinion.

If the entrepreneur followed the recommendations from the letter from the government agency, and the inspectorate interpreted the controversial issue in its own way, there should not be a fine. The ground does not apply if the explanation is based on incomplete or unreliable information.

Example

The tax authorities fined the individual entrepreneur 193,000 rubles for understating the base under the simplified tax system for income and 1,700 rubles for failure to submit a declaration. The individual entrepreneur's business consisted of renting out premises. In the reporting year, the entrepreneur sold the premises for 15,300,000 rubles and decided to close down the business. There was a Letter from the Ministry of Finance in this case. It said that if an individual entrepreneur stopped working and sold real estate, then the income from the sale is not counted as revenue. And you can get a deduction for personal income tax. The entrepreneur did just that. But the tax office considered that the income should be taken into account under the simplified tax system. The court agreed with the additional assessment, but canceled the fine because the letter from the Ministry of Finance confused the entrepreneur - case No. A05-13186/2013.

Any other circumstances

An entrepreneur can refer to any circumstances of innocence.

Examples

The company was fined 1,600,000 rubles for underpayment of property taxes. The company applied a tax break it was not entitled to for a new building with high energy efficiency. But for the previous two years, the inspection confirmed the benefit on cameras. And suddenly, during an on-site inspection, I found out that the building was not eligible for the benefit. The court upheld the additional assessment, but canceled the fine - case No. A56-129672/2019.

In another case, the company fought off a Pension Fund fine of 48,000 rubles for late delivery of SZV-M for 96 employees. Reports were due by June 15th. That day the lights were turned off in the office. The accountant could not submit the report online or print it on paper and send it by mail. The company showed the court a letter from the energy workers that there was an accident in their building that day. The court did not accept the tax office’s argument that there was no need to wait until the last day. It is not prohibited to postpone reporting until the last day of the deadline. The company was cleared of blame - case A39-10767/2018.

Grounds for mitigating the fine

The size of the sanction can be reduced. So says the article. 112 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. But reasons are needed. Conditions for reduction are divided (conditionally) into the following types:

• are common;
• for citizens;
• for organizations;
• for individual entrepreneurs.

The types depend on the subject. General grounds are possible if the violation is minor. For example, the deadline was missed by only a few days and no damage was caused to the state budget. The rule of “first violation” should be highlighted separately: if a person has committed an offense for the first time, then this serves as a basis for mitigating the punishment.

In addition to the examples listed, the article highlights the following conditions:

• critical circumstances;
• threats and coercion;
• plight;
• other factors.

Critical circumstances include personal and family problems. This concerns citizens. For example, divorce proceedings or multiple dependents are valid reasons.

Distress is the inability to make a payment due to an objective lack of money. Other factors include conditions that the tax authority determines independently based on the specifics of the situation. In other words, the Federal Tax Service has the right to personally determine who is worthy of mitigating the sanctions.

Legal entities and individual entrepreneurs can hope for a reduction in the fine under the following factors:

• unseen circumstances;
• risk of bankruptcy;
• failures and problems when transmitting information to the Federal Tax Service.

Examples: loss of documentation due to fire, low efficiency of postal services, etc. Practice shows that it is more difficult for organizations to prove the validity of conditions than for citizens.

If at least one of the listed factors is present, the person has the right to a reduction in the fine. But for this you will need to draw up a special procedural document.

Types of mitigating circumstances

If the fine is applied lawfully, and the taxpayer agrees that he has violated the legislation on taxes and fees, it will have to be paid to the budget. When deciding whether to prosecute, the Federal Tax Service always applies the maximum possible punishment. But it can be easily reduced if there are mitigating circumstances to reduce the tax fine, which include:

• committing an offense for the first time;
• admission of guilt and repentance;
• absence of malicious intent;
• difficult financial situation of the company (large accounts payable, pre-bankruptcy);
• social significance of the organization’s activities in the field of construction, housing and communal services, healthcare, etc.;
• status of a budgetary institution;
• slight delay in reporting due to technical problems;
• no damage to the budget (for example, the declaration was not submitted on time, but the tax was paid on time and in full);
• independent identification and correction of errors in accounting and tax calculation;
• a significant volume of requested documents, and the taxpayer is forced to take active measures to extend the deadline for submission;
• lack of requested documents as a result of their destruction (for example, in a fire);
• If the punishment is imposed on an individual entrepreneur or another individual, then a serious illness, disability, the presence of dependent children, etc. are recognized as a mitigating circumstance.

Not only the tax office, but also the court can cancel or reduce the fine. Use the free instructions from ConsultantPlus to achieve justice.

How to make a petition?

A petition to reduce a fine to the tax office is a request addressed to the tax authority. This is a full-fledged document that requires compliance with the rules of execution. The law does not directly stipulate the mandatory clauses of the act. However, in practice, a composition technique has been developed.

Requirements:

• written form;
• availability of details;
• motivation and narrative;
• business style of presentation.

The document can be drawn up either in handwritten or printed form. Details – mandatory information about the applicant. Contains contact information, full name (if a citizen) or full name (if a legal entity). They are written at the top of the text on the right side. A title must be written after the details.

The main part contains the facts of the case. The applicant proves that events and certain conditions prevented the tax transaction from being completed on time or without violations. The reason must be valid. In addition, during the argumentation, it is recommended to make reference to the provisions of the law that give the right to reduce the fine. Next, a specific request is stated, for the sake of which the act is drawn up - a reduction in the size of the fine.

It makes sense to list applications in a separate section. These may be certificates and certificates that confirm the validity of the reason for the violation. The text itself ends with the date of application and the signature of the applicant. If the document is from a legal entity, then the seal of the organization is affixed.

What should a taxpayer do?

It should be noted that the presence of mitigating circumstances is resolved by tax authorities with companies at the stage of reviewing materials from field and (or) desk audits.

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First of all, consideration of the possibility of reducing the applicable penalty begins with the taxpayer filing a petition for a reduction in penalties.

There is no specifically established form for the application. It is submitted in free form and contains circumstances that may mitigate tax liability.

As a rule, the following are taken into account as mitigating liability:

the nature and significance of the taxpayer’s activities (for example, a socially-oriented institution);

difficult financial situation;

no damage to the budget, insignificant delay (one day), no harmful consequences of the offense;

independent correction of the violation before the start of the tax audit, payment of additional tax;

legal uncertainty regarding the provision of benefits that existed at the time the tax offense was committed.

Sample petition to the tax office to mitigate the fine

It is not recommended to make mistakes. The tax authority may reject a request for the application of mitigating circumstances for a tax audit if it is not drawn up in accordance with the rules of business practice. It is important to carefully consider the points and parts of the document. Don't forget to fill in the details. The circumstances must be presented in detail and to the point. Without artistic expressions and statements. Dry style only.

Before drafting, it is recommended to use a standard template that will help you format the document correctly. The form contains all the necessary information. All that remains is to either fill in the empty fields or register the act according to the template. This guarantees acceptance of the document by the tax authority.

Sample petition to the tax office to mitigate the fine WORD 11.91 KB

Application form to the tax office to reduce the fine WORD 11.79 KB

What do the law and judicial practice say? Under what circumstances can the fine be reduced?

Mitigating circumstances will help . Art.

114 of the Tax Code established that if there is at least one mitigating circumstance, then the fine must be reduced by at least half. But what circumstances are considered mitigating in relation to companies - there is not a word about this in the Tax Code.

Article 112 of the Tax Code speaks of mitigating circumstances, but in relation to individuals, not companies.

Therefore, mitigating circumstances for companies have been developed through practice. Currently the following circumstances are considered:

• the insignificance of late tax payment (it is clear that if there was an on-site tax audit that discovered an underpayment, then this item will not apply);
• admission of guilt and elimination of errors (for example, if the company itself paid the tax before the inspection made a decision);
• the company's charitable activities;
• social orientation of the taxpayer’s activities (company - agricultural producer, city-forming enterprise, etc.);
• difficult financial situation of the company (liquidation, bankruptcy proceedings, seasonal nature of work, etc.);
• disproportionality of the act to the severity of the punishment.

What needs to be done in practice to reduce the fine? Submit the appropriate petition. This can be done both at the stage of considering objections to the on-site inspection report and in court.

Procedure for filing an application

A written request is submitted to the territorial division of the Federal Tax Service. For citizens this is the tax authority at the place of residence, for legal entities - at the place of registration of the enterprise.

The filing deadline is 1 month from the date of imposition of the sanction. The one-month period is valid for the initial submission of an application to the regional Federal Tax Service. If you plan to appeal the actions, the time increases to 3 months.

The tax authorities themselves consider the request within 10 working days. In fact, the body often delays making a decision and drags out the process for a month. In such a situation, it is recommended to notify the Federal Tax Service again about the resolution of the issue.

In what form is it served?

A complaint can be filed:

• in person, during face-to-face communication;
• via fax;
• by mail or delivery service.

If the paper is printed, filled out in paper form and handed over personally to the recipient, then the receiving party is obliged to give you written confirmation that this document has been received by them, with the seal and signature of the Federal Tax Service.

This rule is very important, since when applying to a court, such information will be valid and will allow you to prove the fact that the complaint was transferred to the employee.

There is also an electronic form for submitting this document. To do this, you need to register on the Federal Tax Service website, enter your data, and fill out the appropriate fields in the drop-down form. Then the official is obliged to promptly consider the complaint and provide a response regarding the incident.

Getting rid of non-existent arrears and penalties

Fortunately, in case of the above errors, it is not so difficult to force the tax office to reset the penalty. Payment is in the budget. This means that you do not need to pay any additional amounts. You just need to direct this money to its intended purpose. To do this, submit an application for clarification of payment. In it you indicate what mistake you made and provide the correct details. Don't forget to attach a copy of the defective payment slip.

You can download a sample application for free from ConsultantPlus by signing up for a free trial access to the system:

Inspectors credit the money to where it is intended, and the penalties are reversed (Clause 7, Article 45 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). If, of course, everything was paid on time. If there was a delay, penalties will be left until the day of payment (Clause 3 of Article 75 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

In a similar way, you can clarify almost all the details, except for the name of the recipient's bank. Since 2021, even the treasury account has been updated (clause 7 of article 45 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

NOTE! You just need to submit an application to clarify the payment. In no case should it be confused with a test. The tax office will also make a credit. But then you will have to pay penalties - on the day of the test.