Reimbursement of legal expenses in civil proceedings.

Most civil litigation involves financial costs. Therefore, the law provides the winning party with the right to compensation for costs. Article 94 of the Russian Civil Procedure Code even contains a list of legal expenses that can be reimbursed.

However, experts say that getting reimbursement is difficult and the issue has many nuances. Therefore, in order to figure out how to obtain compensation for legal costs, it is useful to seek advice from a lawyer. And his help in court will clearly not be superfluous.

What are legal costs?

Costs associated with the trial may be mandatory - that is, they will be borne by the participant in the process in any case - as well as those that appear unexpectedly. As mentioned above, Article 94 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides a list of what can be considered legal costs:

• legal payments;
• travel expenses for people who must appear at the meeting;
• expenses for finding the defendant;
• costs of carrying out the sentence;
• compensation payments;
• other costs.

The costs of legal proceedings can be quite large. Theoretically, they can also include the costs of drafting court documents, making copies, and much more.

As for the expenses associated with the appearance of witnesses at the meeting and with the search for the defendant, there is a calculation scheme. Witnesses and specialists who take part in the trial can expect reimbursement of expenses.

For example, costs for food, accommodation (if people come from another city), transport and work, if we are talking about specialists. The more complex and expensive the specialist’s work, the higher the costs of litigation.

Also, this category of court participants can be financially compensated for the time they spent. However, in reality, if a witness or specialist lives in the same city or region where the proceedings are taking place, you cannot count on compensation.

Costs associated with the consideration of the case

The costs associated with the consideration of the case include the costs that are borne by the persons involved in the case for payment to experts, specialists, witnesses, translators, as well as for reimbursement of other costs for performing individual procedural actions.

Unlike the state duty, the amount of costs is determined based on the costs actually incurred by the persons involved in the consideration of a particular case.

To legal costs according to Art. 94 Code of Civil Procedure includes:

1. amounts to be paid to witnesses, experts, specialists and interpreters;
2. expenses for translation services incurred by foreign citizens and stateless persons, unless otherwise provided by an international treaty of the Russian Federation;
3. travel and accommodation expenses of the parties and third parties incurred by them in connection with their appearance in court;
4. expenses for the services of representatives;
5. on-site inspection costs;
6. compensation for actual loss of time in accordance with Art. 99 Civil Procedure Code;
7. postal expenses incurred by the parties related to the consideration of the case;
8. other expenses recognized by the court as necessary.

Therefore, the list of legal costs is not exhaustive.

The amounts to be paid to witnesses, experts, translators and specialists summoned to court are determined on the basis of the provisions of Art. 95 Code of Civil Procedure.

These amounts include:

• travel and rental expenses;
• additional expenses associated with living outside the place of permanent residence (per diem);
• monetary compensation for working citizens called as witnesses. It is determined based on the actual time spent on performing the duties of a witness and his average earnings, confirmed by a certificate from his place of work. For non-working citizens, such compensation is paid based on the actual time spent on performing the duties of a witness and the minimum wage established by federal law;
• remuneration for work performed by experts, translators, specialists on behalf of the court, if this work is not included in the scope of their official duties as employees of a state institution. The amount of remuneration for experts and specialists is determined by the court in agreement with the parties and by agreement with the experts and specialists.

Sums of money to be paid to witnesses, experts and specialists, or other expenses related to the consideration of the case, recognized by the court as necessary, are first deposited into the account of the relevant court by the party who has submitted a request to perform the procedural action necessary for it.

If this request is made by both parties, the required amounts are paid by them in equal parts.

In accordance with Art. 97 of the Code of Civil Procedure, amounts due to witnesses are paid upon the performance of their duties, regardless of the timing of the actual receipt of legal expenses from the parties to the relevant accounts. Payment for the services of translators and reimbursement of expenses incurred by them in connection with their appearance in court are made upon fulfillment of their duties at the expense of the corresponding budget.

Payment of expenses for translation services incurred by foreign citizens and stateless persons will depend on the provisions of the relevant international treaties of the Russian Federation.

The procedure for determining and paying expenses for travel and accommodation of the parties and third parties incurred by them in connection with their appearance in court is similar to the procedure discussed above established for witnesses.

The costs of paying for the services of representatives are awarded by the court at the written request of the party in whose favor the decision was made, on the other hand.

If, in accordance with the established procedure, the services of a lawyer were provided free of charge to the party in whose favor the court decision was made, the costs of paying for the lawyer’s services are recovered from the other party in favor of the corresponding legal entity (Article 100 of the Code of Civil Procedure).

The costs of paying for the assistance of a representative must be supported by evidence (for example, an agency agreement, bank documents) and are subject to reimbursement if they are not excessive. When deciding this issue, the court must be guided by the reasonableness of the costs determined by the specific circumstances. Circumstances that the court may take into account include: the cost of economical transportation services used by the representative; the prevailing cost of paying lawyers in the region; duration of consideration and complexity of the case, etc. At the same time, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation in its ruling dated October 20. 2005 No. 355-O indicated that, when making a reasoned decision to change the amount of amounts collected to reimburse the costs of paying for the services of a representative, the court does not have the right to reduce it arbitrarily, especially if the other party does not object and does not provide evidence of the excessiveness of what is collected from it expenses.

The costs of conducting an on-site inspection of written and physical evidence include the cost of travel to the location of the relevant evidence and back to the courthouse, as well as the costs of conducting the inspection itself (for example, the cost of photographing or videotaping).

Compensation for the actual loss of time is recovered by the court from the party who filed an unfounded claim or dispute regarding the claim in bad faith, or who systematically opposed the correct and timely consideration and resolution of the case, in favor of the other party.

(Article 99 of the Code of Civil Procedure). The materials of the civil case must contain evidence of the guilt of the person from whom compensation is being recovered (systematic failure to appear, failure to provide evidence, etc.). When determining the amount of compensation, the court must establish the actual loss of time, be guided by the requirement of reasonableness and take into account the circumstances of the particular case (its complexity, property status of the parties, etc.).

Postal expenses incurred by the parties related to the consideration of the case are reimbursed based on the actual costs of sending the relevant correspondence.

Other expenses recognized by the court as necessary may include, for example, the costs of storing material evidence (Part 3 of Article 74 of the Code of Civil Procedure).

State duties

Also, we must not forget about such an expense item as government duties. State duty is a mandatory contribution established and determined in accordance with the law.

All civil cases are subject to them, and the payment of these fees, depending on the outcome of the trial, is either divided or assigned to the losing party. You have to pay a state fee not only when filing a claim, but also for cassation appeals, issuing court orders, and when filing applications for special proceedings.

The amount of the fee depends on what category the lawsuit falls into and other factors. Calculation of state fees for courts of general jurisdiction, district courts and justices of the peace is carried out in accordance with Article 333.19 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. In proceedings concerning the division of property and financial penalties, the state fee is calculated based on the value of the claim.

The cost of the claim is equal to the amount that the victim is trying to recover from the defendant. In what situations it is necessary to determine it and indicate it in the application is discussed in Article 91 of the Code of Civil Procedure of Russia. It is also important to know that if the price of the claim increases during the course of the proceedings, the duty will also increase accordingly, since it is calculated as a percentage of the amount of the claims.

In some situations, the plaintiff can count on benefits when paying government fees. Benefits are provided to those who filed a claim for alimony, as well as to applicants with the first or second disability group. This is stated in Article 333.36 of the Tax Code.

Interestingly, the state provides participants in the proceedings with the opportunity to defer payments to compensate for expenses. This also applies to payment of state fees.

However, a person must have certain circumstances to qualify for this privilege. The usual basis for deferment or installment payment of legal costs in civil cases is the insolvency of the party to the proceedings, but this factor still needs to be proven.

Government duty

Taking into account the legal definition contained in paragraph 1 of Art. 333.16 of the Tax Code, the state fee in civil proceedings can be defined as a fee collected by the state from persons specified in the law in respect of whom legally significant actions are taken by the courts.

Various types of procedural actions are subject to payment of the state fee, for example, filing applications aimed at initiating proceedings in the court of first instance or proceedings to review court decisions, applications for the issuance of writs of execution for the forced execution of decisions of arbitration courts, etc. The state fee also pays for the re-issuance of copies of documents from the case and issuing a duplicate writ of execution.

Some procedural actions, for example, filing an application for review of a decision in absentia by the court that issued it, various types of petitions, are not paid with state duty.

According to Part 2 of Art. 88 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the amount and procedure for paying state duty are established by federal laws on taxes and fees.

The rates of state duty for cases considered by courts of general jurisdiction are determined by Art. 333.19 Tax Code.

Analysis of this article allows us to distinguish three types of state duties:

1) fixed, the size of which is determined in a fixed monetary amount. For example, when filing an application in cases of special proceedings, the amount of the state fee is 200 rubles (subclause 8, clause 1, article 333.19 of the Tax Code);

2) proportional, calculated as a percentage of either the price of the claim or the amount of the state duty levied when filing claims of a property or non-property nature. Thus, when filing a claim of a property nature subject to assessment, if the claim price is up to 20,000 rubles, the amount of the state duty is 4 percent of the claim price, but not less than 400 rubles (paragraph 2, subclause 1, clause 1, Article 333.19 of the Tax Code). And when filing an application for a court order - 50 percent of the amount of the state duty collected when filing a claim of a property nature (subclause 2, clause 1, article 333.19 of the Tax Code);

3) mixed, which is a combination of elements of a fixed and proportional duty. For example, when filing a claim of a property nature subject to assessment, if the claim price is from 20,001 rubles to 100,000 rubles, the amount of the state duty will be 800 rubles plus 3 percent of the amount exceeding 20,000 rubles (paragraph 3, subparagraph 1, clause 1, art. 333.19 NK).

In some cases, determining the amount of state duty depends on the totality of circumstances specified in the law. Thus, when filing claims for the division of property that is in common ownership, as well as when filing a claim for the allocation of a share from the specified property, for recognition of the right to a share in the property, the amount of the fee depends on whether there is a court decision recognizing the plaintiff’s property rights ( plaintiffs)

for the specified property (subparagraph 3, paragraph 1, article 333.20 of the Tax Code). The same procedure applies when filing claims for the heirs to claim their share of property (subclause 11, clause 1, article 333.20 of the Tax Code).

The price of the claim is important when determining the amount of state duty on property claims subject to assessment (Article 91 of the Code of Civil Procedure). It represents the value expression of the material object of the claim.

If we are talking about one-time penalties, then the price of the claim is determined:

• for claims for the recovery of funds, based on the amount of money recovered;
• on claims for reclaiming property, based on the value of the claimed property;
• in claims for ownership of a real estate object owned by a citizen, based on the value of the object, but not lower than its inventory valuation or, in the absence of it, not lower than the value of the object under the insurance contract;
• for claims regarding ownership of real estate owned by an organization - not lower than the balance sheet value of the object.

In relation to claims for the collection of periodic payments, the law establishes a notional amount - a set of payments for a certain period. So, according to paragraphs 3–8 of Part 1 of Art. 91

Civil Procedure Code, the cost of the claim is determined:

• for claims for the collection of alimony, based on the totality of payments for the year;
• for claims for urgent payments and issues, based on the totality of all payments and issues, but not more than for three years;
• for claims for unlimited or lifetime payments and issues, based on the totality of payments and issues for three years;
• on claims for a decrease or increase in payments and distributions, based on the amount by which payments and distributions are reduced or increased, but not more than for a year;
• on claims for termination of payments and disbursements, based on the totality of remaining payments and disbursements, but not more than for a year;
• on claims for early termination of a property lease agreement, based on the totality of payments for the use of property during the remaining term of the agreement, but not more than for three years.

The price of the claim is determined by the plaintiff, who must indicate it in the statement of claim. If this requirement is not met, the statement of claim must be left without movement (Article 136 of the Code of Civil Procedure).

If a statement of claim combines several independent claims, then its price is determined based on each claim separately. If the plaintiff has underestimated the price of the claim or has difficulty determining it accurately, the judge has the right to determine the price of the claim when accepting the statement of claim.

The state fee must be paid by the interested party before filing the relevant application or complaint. Exceptions are cases of granting a deferment or installment payment of the duty. If a person has applied to the court for the issuance of copies (duplicates) of documents, the state fee is paid before the copy (duplicate) is issued. The legal successor pays the state fee if it was not paid by the legal predecessor.

When several persons who are not entitled to benefits apply at the same time with an application (complaint) or for the issuance of a document, the state fee is paid by them in equal shares. If among them one or more persons, in accordance with the law, are exempt (exempt) from paying state duty, its amount is reduced in proportion to the number of persons exempt from payment.

When filing claims containing claims of both a property and non-property nature, the state fee must be paid simultaneously for each claim. For example, when filing a claim for divorce and division of jointly acquired property of spouses, the state fee is paid both in the amounts established both for claims for divorce and for claims of a property nature (subclause 12, clause 1, article 333.20 of the Tax Code) .

If the judge separates one claim or several of the combined claims into separate proceedings, the state fee paid by the plaintiff is not recalculated and is not refunded. In cases separated into separate proceedings, the state fee is not paid again.

Additional payment of the state fee is made in the following cases: a) if it is difficult to determine the price of the claim at the time of its presentation. In such a situation, the amount of the fee is preliminarily established by the judge, with subsequent additional payment of the missing amount based on the price of the claim, determined by the court when resolving the case; b) if the plaintiff increases the amount of claims during the proceedings. In this case, the missing amount of the state duty is paid in accordance with the increased cost of the claim; c) when the court, in cases provided for by federal law, goes beyond the limits of the claims stated by the plaintiff in the direction of increasing them.

Additional payment of the state duty is made within 10 days from the date the court decision enters into legal force (subclause 10, clause 1, article 333.20 of the Tax Code). If the plaintiff increases the amount of the claim, the consideration of the case continues after they provide evidence of payment of the state duty or the court resolves the issue of deferment, installment payment of the duty or reduction of its amount (Part 2 of Article 92 of the Code of Civil Procedure).

If the additional payment of the state fee is not made, the court considers the case within the stated amount of the claims.

The offset of the overpaid (collected) amount of state duty is carried out at the request of the payer against the amount of the duty payable for performing a similar action. For example, according to sub. 13 clause 1 art. 333.20

If the Tax Code refuses to accept for consideration a statement of claim or an application for a court order, the state fee paid when filing a claim or an application for a court order is counted towards the state fee payable.

An application for offset can be submitted to the court within three years from the date of the relevant court decision on the return of the state duty from the budget or from the date of payment of this amount to the budget (clause 6 of Article 333.40 of the Tax Code). Attached to the application are: decisions, rulings and certificates of the courts on the circumstances that are the basis for a full refund of the duty, as well as payment orders or receipts with a genuine bank mark confirming the payment of the state duty.

The offset of overpaid (collected) amounts of state duty is carried out in the manner established by Chapter. 12 NK.

The law allows for the possibility of deferring or installment payment of the state duty, as well as reducing its size (Article 90 of the Code of Civil Procedure, paragraph 2 of Article 333.20, Article 333.41 of the Tax Code).

Deferment of payment of the state duty is the establishment by the court (judge) of a later deadline for payment of the state duty than provided for by law.

Installment payment of the state duty is the establishment by the court (judge) of a period during which the state duty is paid by the obligated person in partial payments within the time limits established by the court ruling (decision).

Reducing the amount of state duty is the establishment by the court (judge) of the amount of the duty less than that provided by law or originally determined by the court (judge).

The basis for performing these actions is the payer’s property status, confirmed by documents provided to the court (for example, certificates of income, family composition, etc.).

A request for a deferment or installment payment of the state duty or for a reduction in its amount can be submitted both when going to court and after a decision is made, if the party has been assigned the obligation to reimburse the duty. The relevant issue is resolved by a judicial ruling, against which a private complaint can be filed (Article 104 of the Code of Civil Procedure), or in the operative part of the court decision.

In accordance with Art. 333.41 of the Tax Code, a deferment or installment plan for the payment of state duty is provided within the period established by clause 1 of Art. 64 NK. No interest is accrued on the amount of duty in respect of which a deferment or installment plan has been granted for the entire period for which the deferment or installment plan has been granted.

Who pays compensation for legal expenses?

Typically, the cost of a lawsuit is the responsibility of the losing party.

But for this, the judge must make an appropriate decision. However, there are some peculiarities here too. For example, if a claim is partially successful, the plaintiff may only be able to recover the costs associated with the successful claim. The defendant can count on reimbursement of legal costs in proportion to those claims that the applicant was denied.

If, for example, witnesses were brought to participate in a civil trial on the initiative of a judge, and not by one of the parties to the proceedings, then the costs associated with this will be paid from the federal budget. This is discussed in more detail in Article 98 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

Representative expenses

The costs of attorneys and other representatives is a topic that should be discussed separately. They, like other expenses, are compensated by the losing side.

It is noteworthy that their sizes often exceed all other figures indicated in the claims. Quite often, the party who is responsible for the costs of the lawsuit tries to do everything possible to reduce the amount of these payments or avoid them altogether.

Often, the representative of a party in the proceedings is a person who did not have the right to provide such services for payment. Therefore, it is possible to avoid payments for this cost item.

The costs of a representative in a lawsuit add up in the same way as the costs of engaging a specialist or expert. That is, this is payment for transport, services, accommodation, if the lawyer arrived from somewhere, and so on.

Sometimes they try to add expenses to this list that are not directly related to the work of the representative in court, and in such a situation, the losing party has the right to file a petition to have them excluded from the list of legal expenses. For example, it will not be possible to recover expenses for a representative if:

• the representative and the winning party are relatives;
• the representative of the plaintiff or defendant is an employee of his company;
• the representative of the losing party does not have a legal background;
• the company representing the interests of the losing party does not have the right to provide legal services and does not provide them, according to the charter.

You can also exclude from the list of compensable expenses the transportation costs of a lawyer, if it is not possible to document the purpose of the trip, and the pre-trial services of a lawyer.

Accommodation costs can also be disputed. The situation with them is the same as with spending on transport. First, you need to prove that these expenses were directly related to the work of the representative. Secondly, if compensation for such costs was not provided for in the agreement between the plaintiff/defendant and the representative, it is impermissible to demand their coverage.

There are situations where it is easy to challenge costs awarded to compensate the losing party. For example, if the paperwork was carried out incorrectly.

This can be observed in the fragmentation of documentation, when instead of one claim two or three are drawn up, and several petitions are filed.

Another example is a situation where a lawyer receives payment for meetings that were disrupted because he filed a motion. It may also happen that the documents submitted by the lawyer were rejected by the judge, but are included in the list of costs that must be reimbursed. Violation of the terms of the contract by the plaintiff's representative is also an example of incorrect paperwork.

Violations of contract terms by a lawyer should be discussed separately. He can, for example, simply attend a meeting without particularly participating in it.

In this case, these meetings will be taken into account in his fee. In such a situation, most likely, his agreement with the party whose interests he represents contains clauses according to which he must do everything to ensure the success of the proceedings.

And if the lawyer is not very actively involved in the process, but his side wins, then the losing side can point this out when compensating for costs.

Tax accounting

Accounting for legal expenses differs in a number of rules. All costs must be confirmed. These papers can be used as confirmation:

• Checks and receipts.
• Agreements for the provision of legal services.
• Travel tickets.
• Extracts from investigative bodies.

It is recommended that the costs of pre-trial settlement be specified in the agreement with the lawyer. Costs are calculated on the basis of documents attached to the case.

The costs will be classified as non-operating expenses. Expenses that can be included in this composition are stipulated by Article 106 of the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation and Article 94 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. However, the list considered is not exhaustive. Sometimes the court recognizes legal expenses that are not included in the list. For example, these may be the costs of copying documents, translating them, or notarizing them. Expenses are not recognized when their connection with the proceedings is not obvious.

How to take into account legal costs in tax accounting for income tax ?

When expenses will definitely not be recognized

The conditions for recognition are specified in paragraph 1 of Article 252 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. In particular, these are:

• Validity.
• Availability of supporting documents.

How to reflect legal expenses in accounting ?

Expenses are not recognized in the following cases:

• No connection to legal proceedings. For example, a company entered into a subscription service agreement with a law firm. During the trial, the manager contacted lawyers about something unrelated to the case. Related expenses will not be recognized. In this case, they will be taken into account as part of expenses for legal services on the basis of paragraph 1 of Article 264 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
• The representative did not take part in the proceedings. For example, the company paid for representation services, but the representative did not take part in any meeting.
• The firm is not a party to the proceedings. That is, the subject must be either a plaintiff, or a defendant, or a third party. If the firm is not a party, there will be no basis for recognizing legal costs.
• It is not the company that is involved, but its employee. If a company employee is held accountable, it will be his personal matter. That is, the company does not have to take into account associated costs.

Sometimes the company resorts to pre-trial settlement of the case. Related expenses for lawyers and consultants will also not be recognized. The corresponding decision was given by the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court in Resolution No. 9131/08 of December 9, 2008.

Recognition of state duty

The fee must be included as an expense on the date the claim is filed. The latter is determined on the basis of the court's note on acceptance of the claim. Some do this on the payment due date, but this is not correct. The duty must be included in non-sales services on the basis of paragraph 1 of Article 265 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

The fee may be returned by court decision. The amount received must be included in the structure of non-operating income on the basis of paragraph 3 of Article 250 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. Inclusion is made on the date the decision on the refund of the duty comes into force.

On what date should expenses be taken into account?

Legal costs are considered non-operating, and therefore they will be recognized on these dates on the basis of paragraph 7 of Article 272 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation:

• Settlement date based on the terms of the agreement.
• The date of presentation to the payer of the papers on the basis of which calculations are made.
• The final date of reporting or tax time.

The company has the right to set its own dates for reflecting expenses on the basis of Letter of the Ministry of Finance No. 03-03-04/2/149 dated May 26, 2006. Typically, this is the date the service agreement is signed. For example, a company entered into an agreement with a lawyer. The date of signing the document will be the date of recognition.

Legal expenses reduce taxable income, regardless of whether they are recovered through the court. What does this mean? If the entity wins the case, the person found guilty must pay all of the winning party's legal costs. However, expense recognition is done regardless of wins or losses.

IMPORTANT! The costs of a third-party lawyer are also taken into account when the organization has a full-time lawyer on staff. However, if the work is carried out by a full-time lawyer, the costs are reflected in the structure of labor costs on the basis of Article 255 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. Expenses for your lawyer cannot be recovered from the losing participant in the case.

Documentary confirmation

The largest portion of expenses is legal fees. Related expenses can be verified. The following documents can be used as confirmation:

• Agreement with a specialist.
• Certificate of completed work.
• Payment papers.

The documents must indicate a list of services provided and their cost. It is necessary to record services in such a way that their connection with the proceedings can be traced. It is also recommended to prepare documents for confirmation:

• Power of attorney for a representative.
• Claim.
• Protocol of the proceedings.
• Judgment.

IMPORTANT! The enforcement fee is not taken into account when determining income tax.

How to start the process of reimbursement of legal expenses?

There is no need to submit additional applications or take other actions to initiate compensation for costs associated with litigation. The decision on this issue is made by the judge. The parties need to complete simple tasks:

1. Confirm all expenses with payment receipts.
2. Justify the feasibility of these costs.

If one party is dissatisfied with the final verdict, they can apply to recover legal costs. It can be filed either along with the claim or during the proceedings.

If, for example, the plaintiff wanted to file an application for the collection of costs during the hearing, then it is advisable to do this before the judge goes to make a decision. But such an application can be submitted even after the proceedings are completed.

Sources:

Amounts of state fees for cases considered by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, courts of general jurisdiction, and justices of the peace

Benefits when appealing to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, courts of general jurisdiction, and magistrates

Cost of claim

Costs associated with the consideration of the case

Concept, functions, types of legal costs in civil proceedings

The legislator, within the framework of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, does not define the concept of legal expenses, but only establishes what is included in such expenses. The legal provisions on this institute are contained in Chapter. 7 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation.

Many learned lawyers from the pre-revolutionary, Soviet and modern periods have studied the institution of legal expenses.

Thus, in the work “Course of Civil Procedure” Vaskovsky E.V. says about legal expenses that “any civil case has a connection with expenses both for the state, which maintains the apparatus of the judiciary at its own expense, and for litigants who finance the services of lawyers and bailiffs, and for persons who contribute to the administration of justice”[ 13], that is, the party that loses the case must bear legal costs. E.V. Vaskovsky additionally admits that “it is wrong to force citizens to purchase the protection of their own actually existing rights at the cost of paying legal costs. In the end, citizens who absolutely do not have the resources to bear the costs of carrying out cases should be exempted from paying the costs by recognizing the right to poverty for them.”[14] T. M. Yablochkov in his work “Textbook of Russian Civil Proceedings” reports that “the prospect of paying legal costs can deter many people from bringing baseless claims” [15], in this case the importance of the preventive purpose of legal costs is indicated. A multilateral study dedicated to the institution of legal costs in civil proceedings was first initiated by M. Kh. Vafin in the work “Litigation costs in civil cases” in 1984, in which the study of the topic under study was carried out under Soviet legislation.

There are different approaches to defining the concept of legal costs. E. M. Shokueva defines legal costs as “state expenses imposed on the federal budget and the budgets of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, and additionally on persons interested in the case regarding the consideration and extension of a civil case to a court of general jurisdiction and magistrates in order to compensate for the costs of justice and prevention of groundless appeals to court”[16]. L. V. Tumanova, P. V. Alexy, N. D. Amaglobeli analyze the term legal costs in the narrow and broad senses; in the broad sense, legal costs “include financial resources that are necessary to perform the functions of the justice system”[17 ]. In a narrow sense, legal expenses are “financial expenses that are associated with the consideration and resolution of a civil case, as well as additionally with the execution of a court decision”[18].

Based on the essence of legal expenses, the provisions of which are contained in the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, the following concept can be given - these are sums of money that are paid to persons specified in the law and related to the implementation of proceedings in a specific civil case.

The state, thanks to the currently established institution of judicial expenses, has the opportunity to reimburse its own expenses associated with life support and maintaining the normal functioning of the judicial system. This institution is assigned, first of all, such functions as, firstly, reimbursement of the monetary costs necessary for the implementation of judicial actions, and secondly, the prevention of citizens going to court who do not have sufficient grounds for this, due to the disciplinary influence on participants in legal relations and the effect of a deterrent factor expressed in the mandatory incurrence of monetary expenses. In other words, the functions of legal expenses are divided into: a) compensatory and b) preventive[19].

The purpose of court costs is expressed in three main provisions:

- the obligation to pay such expenses is necessary in order to protect the judicial system from unjustified appeals of persons to the judicial authorities, or during the judicial process to avoid the abuse of procedural rights and obligations by persons participating in the case;

- legal costs also represent another sanction against a person who refuses to voluntarily fulfill the duties that were assigned to him by law or contract. Therefore, in this case, the court not only makes a decision on the forced fulfillment of such an obligation by him, but also on the recovery of all legal costs incurred from him;

— legal expenses are intended to reimburse the state for some part of the costs of ensuring the functioning of the judicial system.

Legal costs, in general, consist of such basic elements as the court fee paid to the state, as well as the costs associated with the trial.

The judicial authorities (if any of the participants in the process submit a corresponding application) have the right to include in the legal costs any monetary costs that are directly related to the dispute under consideration (for example, the cost of postal mailing of documents, etc.); The provisions of the current legislation provide lists of circumstances related to legal costs, but these lists may be supplemented with new items.

In ch. 25.3 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation discloses the procedure for payment and the amount of state duty in civil cases.

Let's expand on the concept of state duty.

State duty is a fee established by law and valid throughout the country, which must be paid by entities for the performance of legally significant actions or the issuance of documentation included in the list established by law.

Thanks to the payment of this fee, the state is able to partially compensate for its costs of life support and the functioning of the current judicial system.

State duty can be classified as a federal fee, and it is paid not only when administering justice, but also, for example, when performing other legally significant actions (registration of acts of civil status, performance of notarial acts, state registration, etc.)[20] .

In civil proceedings, state duty pays for the execution of such legally significant actions as:

- presentation of a statement of claim and a counterclaim, the claim of a third party making independent claims regarding the subject of the dispute is subject to payment; the legal successor who took the position of the plaintiff is obliged to pay the state fee if it was not paid by the legal predecessor;

— submission by a person of an application regarding the cancellation of a decision made by the arbitration tribunal;

— submission by a person of an application regarding the issuance of documents on the forced execution of decisions made by the arbitration body;

— filing a complaint (cassation, appeal, etc.) by a person, etc.

The calculation of the amount of the court fee is carried out in accordance with such circumstances as the cost of the filed claim, the plaintiff’s belonging to a particular category, etc.; The provisions of Chapter 25 of the current Tax Code establish conditions such as the deadline and rules for paying the specified fee[21].

In relation to the amount of the court fee, benefits may be established in accordance with the level of the judicial authorities to which the claim is filed; in addition, for a number of categories of plaintiffs there are certain preferences in this regard, which are enshrined in the provisions of the Tax Code, as well as the Civil Procedure Code. Also, the court fee in certain cases can be paid in installments (Article 90 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, Article 333.41 Part 2 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

To calculate the amount of state duty when filing a claim, you need to determine:

-type of claim;

— the property/non-property nature of the claim, whether it is subject to assessment;

— the cost of the claim for property claims subject to assessment;

- the category to which the plaintiff belongs (individual or legal entity).

If it is problematic to calculate the cost of the claim at the time of filing the application, then the amount of the state duty can be pre-set by the judge, and the missing amount is paid by the plaintiff later on the basis of the cost of the claim determined based on the results of the consideration of the case (subclause 9, clause 1, article 333.20, part 2 of the Tax Code RF).

However, it is not necessary to determine all of the listed parameters in every situation. For example, when filing a claim for divorce, the state fee is fixed (subclause 5, clause 1, article 333.19, part 2 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). In this case, it is enough to know the type of claim[22].

In the same way, fixed amounts are established when filing an application for cases:

— special proceedings (subclause 8, clause 1, article 333.19, part 2 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation);

— on the collection of alimony (subclause 14, clause 1, article 333.19, part 2 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation), etc.

As a general rule, the amount of state duty is:

— for non-property or property, but not subject to assessment, claims is 300 rubles. (according to a citizen’s claim) and 6,000 rubles. (on the claim of a legal entity);

- for property claims, it is calculated based on the price of the claim (for example, market or cadastral valuation of property claimed through vindication) according to the rules of subsection. 1 clause 1 art. 333.19 Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

When filing a statement of claim that includes both property and non-property claims, a state fee must be paid for filing both types of claims (subclause 1, clause 1, article 333.20, part 2 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). For example, to an application for divorce, which simultaneously contains demands for the division of common property, it is necessary to attach a receipt for payment of the state fee for divorce and for the claims of a property nature.

The calculation of the amount of the state duty when filing a counterclaim is made according to the general principle (subclause 4, clause 1, article 333.20, part 2 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

If, after filing a statement of claim with the judicial authority, the price of the claim was changed, then, accordingly, the amount of the fee changes (subclause 10, clause 1, article 333.20, part 2 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation):

if the price of the claim is reduced, the overpaid amount is returned at the request of the plaintiff;

if the cost of the claim increases, the plaintiff will have to pay the missing amount[23].

If the court has separated the claim into separate proceedings, then there is no longer a need to pay the state fee for it in the new process (subparagraph 6, paragraph 1, article 333.20, part 2 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

For some categories of citizens and organizations, tax legislation provides benefits for paying state duty for filing a claim (Article 333.35, Part 2 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

In Art. 333.36 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation provides a list of grounds for exempting the plaintiff from paying the duty.

In accordance with the provisions of Art. 333.40 part 2 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, if the total amount of the court fee paid by a participant in the process exceeds the amount established by law, the deposited funds can be returned or offset against other costs. Participants in legal proceedings have the right to pay this type of budget fees in cash or by bank transfer.

Thanks to the payment of this fee, the state is able to partially compensate for its costs of life support and the functioning of the current judicial system, which is the main function of the institution of court fees.

However, not in every legal proceeding the legislation provides for the payment of an appropriate fee; Thus, if arbitration bodies consider cases related to bringing a person to administrative responsibility, the fee is not paid.

In accordance with the provisions of Article 136 of the Civil Procedure Code, consideration of any claim is possible only if the specified fee is paid in full.

Legal costs also include the so-called. legal costs, which mean certain amounts of money spent by participants in the process for the following purposes:

- remuneration for labor and time spent by private individuals who contribute, through the implementation of certain actions, to the administration of justice (experts, witnesses, etc.);

— compensation for those monetary costs incurred by the court that were associated with the implementation of actions and procedures provided for by current legislation within the framework of the trial

The list of legal costs is given in the provisions of the current Civil Procedure Code. The main difference between such costs and the above-described budget fee (i.e. court fee) is that their amount corresponds to the monetary costs incurred by the participants in the trial directly related to certain judicial actions and procedures[24], while the amount of the fee is calculated in in accordance with the procedure established by law. In addition, legal costs may be associated with payments of funds to various persons, and the court fee is paid exclusively in favor of the budget (state or municipal).

In addition to the costs provided for by the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated January 21, 2016 No. 1 “On some issues of application of legislation on compensation of costs associated with the consideration of a case”[25] also prescribes that the following should be included in legal costs:

— costs associated with issuing a power of attorney for a representative to participate in court or a specific case;

- expenses incurred by the applicant or plaintiff associated with the collection of the necessary evidence required before filing an application, but subject to the requirements of admissibility and relevance in relation to this evidence;

— expenses incurred aimed at pre-trial settlement of the dispute.

Defined by Art. 94 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the list of legal costs is not considered closed. The court, taking as a basis the circumstances of a particular case, has the opportunity to award compensation for other expenses. Thus, the costs associated with accompanying a person with disabilities during the trial and payment by this person for relevant services[26], where the basis was the presentation of a corresponding medical report by the citizen, were considered justified.

The amount of legal expenses in terms of costs is calculated on the basis of certain documentation attached to the case under consideration. The declared amount of legal costs can be confirmed in the judicial authorities by presenting documents such as: certificates provided by investigative authorities; travel documents; payment documents; contracts for the provision of certain services, etc.

Documents submitted to the court to confirm actual legal costs must include information that can specifically indicate their relevance to a particular case. For example, when it is necessary to compensate the costs of postal items by the court, then an inventory of the attachments for these items should also be attached to the receipts[27].

When establishing reasonable limits for legal costs to be recovered, courts operate on the circumstances of a particular case. Thus, paying for a taxi to travel within a city where there is a developed public transport infrastructure will most likely not be recognized as a legal cost. However, if a person, due to health reasons or other circumstances, was not able to use another type of transport, then such expenses may be accepted by the court for reimbursement[28].

All legal costs, including state fees, are recovered from the defendant if the claims are satisfied in favor of the plaintiff. The rules for calculating the amounts of funds spent on certain legal actions in civil proceedings depend on specific circumstances; Thus, monetary expenses incurred in connection with the implementation of court decisions, as well as with the examination of the subject of the trial (if it is material) and the corresponding material evidence, must be fully compensated. In turn, the amount of payment for the services of an expert or specialist depends on the complexity of the actions performed by this expert and his time costs (and these services are paid within the framework of the legal process only in cases where their provision is not included in the official duties of the invited specialist).

As for invited (if necessary) translators, as well as witnesses in the case, they, in accordance with the provisions of the current legislation, must be compensated for travel expenses, as well as expenses associated with temporary residence in the region where the trial is being held and monetary losses, due to lack of earnings for a given period. Enshrined in the provisions of Art. 99, the liability of the Code of Civil Procedure can be classified as compensatory, since a sum of money is recovered from a person determined by the court not in favor of the state, but in favor of the other party, whose interests and rights were satisfied by the court when making a decision[29]. Responsibilities for reimbursement of costs are assigned by the court exclusively to that participant in the process who, in fact, is responsible for the time and monetary costs incurred by other participants, as a result of his unreasonable appeal to the judicial authorities or his own dishonest actions that led to the appeal to the court of another person, whose rights and legitimate interests were violated. Calculation of the amount of monetary compensation for time costs is carried out in accordance with the following criteria:

— the time actually necessary to eliminate difficulties in considering a given case;

- the systematic nature of the violations committed by the responsible person (to include this criterion, it seems sufficient to identify 2 or more similar violations, not counting the filing of a claim without legal grounds);

- the means used to overcome the unfair delay of one of the parties to the trial, as well as the time required to achieve this goal.

The monetary costs of a person participating in this process related to the trial must be compensated by the party that requested the participation of the specified person; in the case of such a petition filed by both parties to the proceedings, the obligation to compensate the costs of this person in equal shares rests with both parties to the dispute.

The court, as mentioned above, has the right to recognize legal costs as unreasonable - due to their unreasonably large size or due to unreasonable spending. Similar difficulties arise, as a rule, when deciding the issue of remuneration for the legal representative of one of the parties (lawyer); In such a case, only that part of the costs that the court considers reasonable and justified is reimbursed.

When resolving any issues related to compensation for legal costs, it should be taken into account that each of such costs, regardless of which party bears them, must be justified by presenting the relevant documents (service agreements, payment documents, travel documents, etc.)[30].

The following are general conclusions from the content of this section of the study.

The analyzed concept itself cannot currently be called fully developed in the domestic theory of law, since, although the current Civil Procedure Code provides a list of these costs, neither in legislation nor in law enforcement practice legal costs have a clearly formulated definition. At the same time, based on the civil procedural provisions and the very nature of the category under study, we can come to the conclusion that legal costs, in a general sense, mean certain amounts of money to be recovered in connection with civil proceedings in favor of certain persons provided for by the current legislation.

Such expenses include, in particular, the monetary costs of a participant in the trial for attorney fees; judicial authorities make a decision on repayment of these costs based on their justification and reasonable amount.

The importance of the institution of legal expenses is determined by the importance of the issues it resolves. These include:

— ensuring accessibility of justice;

— prevention of the presentation of clearly unfounded demands;

- exemption of the right party from the costs incurred by the proceedings;

— proportional distribution of legal costs between the parties involved in the case;

— suppression of abuse of procedural rights[31].

Summarizing the above, the significance of the analyzed category for the current judicial system can be determined as follows:

1) legal costs serve to prevent citizens and organizations from appealing to judicial authorities without sufficient grounds, as well as possible abuses by participants in the trial;

2) in relation to a person who dishonestly fulfills the obligations assumed by him under a particular agreement or who violates the rights and legitimate interests of the opposite party, legal costs constitute an additional sanction;

3) the state, thanks to the institution of judicial expenses, gets the opportunity to partially compensate for the financial costs necessary for the life support and normal functioning of the judicial authorities.

The functions of legal expenses are thus divided into two categories:

— compensating functions;

— preventive functions.

The type of monetary costs under consideration includes such elements as court fees, i.e. a fee paid to the state budget, as well as legal costs.

[1] The Constitution of the Russian Federation was adopted by popular vote on December 12, 1993 (taking into account the amendments introduced by the Laws of the Russian Federation on amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation of December 30, 2008 No. 6—FKZ of December 30, 2008 No. 7—FKZ of February 5, 2014 No. 2 -FKZ, dated July 21, 2014 No. 11-FZ) // Russian newspaper. – 1993. – No. 237.

[2] Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation: Federal Law of November 14, 2002 N 138-FZ (as amended on July 31, 2020) // Collection of Legislation of the Russian Federation. 2002. No. 46. Art. 4532.

[3] Arbitration Procedural Code of the Russian Federation: Federal Law of July 24, 2002 N 95-FZ (as amended on June 8, 2020) // Collection of Legislation of the Russian Federation. 2002. No. 30. Art. 3012.

[4] Shokueva E.M. Institute of Litigation Costs

in Russian civil proceedings: dis. ...cand. legal Sciences // Shokueva E.M. Saratov, 2005. pp. 26-37.

[5] Shankin D. A. History of the development of the institution of legal costs in Russian civil procedural law // Bulletin of the Buryat State University. 2014. No. 2. P. 174.

[6] Pobedonostsev K.P. Judicial guidance. M., 2004. P. 389.

[7] Resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of July 10, 1923 (as amended on January 31, 1958) “On the implementation of the Civil Procedure Code of the RSFSR” // The document was not published. SPS "ConsultantPlus". 2021.

[8] Shokueva E. M. Institute of Legal Expenses

in Russian civil proceedings: dis. ...cand. legal Sciences / Shokueva E. M. Saratov, 2005. P. 29.

[9] Pobedonostsev K.P. Judicial guidance. M., 2004. P. 390.

[10] Resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated September 19, 2000 No. 4144/00 in case No. A40-20272/99-12-303 // Bulletin of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation. 2000. No. 12.

[11] Determination of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation dated February 20, 2002 No. 22-O “On the complaint of the open joint-stock company “Bolshevik” about the violation of constitutional rights and freedoms by the provisions of Articles 15, 16 and 1069 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation” // Economics and Life. No. 16. 2002.

[12] Zavaleeva N.V. History of the development of the institution of legal fees in Russian civil procedural law // Science, education, society: current issues and development prospects Collection of scientific papers based on the materials of the International Scientific and Practical Conference: in 4 parts. AR-Consult LLC. 2015. P. 135.

[13] Vaskovsky E.V. Civil procedure course: Subjects and objects of the process, procedural relations and actions. M.: Statute, 2016. pp. 436–437.

[14] Vaskovsky E.V. Decree. op. pp. 439–440

[15] Yablochkov T.M. Textbook of Russian civil proceedings. Yaroslavl: Book publishing house Gassanov I.K., 1912. P. 144.

[16] Shokueva E. M. Institute of judicial expenses in Russian civil proceedings [Electronic resource] // Scientific electronic library of dissertations and abstracts. 2005. Access mode: https://www.dissercat.com / (access date: 03/25/2020).

[17] Tumanova L.V., Alexy P.V., Amaglobeli N.D. Civil procedural law of Russia: textbook. M.: Unity-Dana, 2015. P. 138.

[18] Ibid. P. 139.

[19] Ibid. P. 140.

[20] Ibid. – P. 141.

[21] Ibid. – P. 142.

[22] Ibid. – P. 143.

[23] Ibid. – P. 144.

[24] Zaikov D.E. Legal expenses: new approaches and new problems // Court administrator. 2021. No. 2. -. 29.

[25] Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated January 21, 2016 No. 1 “On some issues of application of legislation on reimbursement of costs associated with the consideration of a case” // Economy and Life (Accounting Appendix). No. 7. 02/26/2016.

[26] Determination of the Moscow City Court dated August 24, 2010 No. 33-26166 // ATP “Garant”.

[27] Appeal ruling of the Lipetsk Regional Court dated November 23, 2015 in case No. 33-3306/2015 // ATP “Garant”.

[28] Appeal ruling of the Investigative Committee in civil cases of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra court dated September 26, 2014 in case No. 33-4243/2014 // ATP “Garant”.

[29] Commentary on the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation / Ed. V.M. Zhuikova and M.K. Treushnikova. M., 2021. P. 126.

[30] Sapozhnikov S.A., Barmina O.N. Representation and legal costs of third parties: analysis of the nearest changes in the arbitration and civil process // Arbitration and civil process. 2021. No. 6. P. 14.

[31] Ibid. P. 15.