| Tax authorities are liquidating a million enterprises The Tax Department proposes to introduce a simplified system for liquidating shell companies. As Sergei Dukanov, head of the department of state registration and accounting of legal entities and individuals of the Ministry of Taxes, told reporters yesterday, in the whole country there are over 1 million “ghost” organizations that actually do not carry out activities and do not submit any tax reports. Potentially, these are the very organizations through which criminal and tax fraud is carried out.
Russia began to fight against fly-by-night companies, which had proliferated since perestroika, in the late 90s. However, the struggle went on with varying degrees of success. The fact is that they can only be liquidated as absent debtors in bankruptcy. And in order to deal with them, observing all the procedural requirements for liquidation, it would take 13 years and more than 20 billion rubles. from the budget.
Until last year, no one knew the exact number of such companies. Only in 2003, when all legal entities were required to undergo re-registration, it turned out that among all legal entities registered in the country, almost a third were ghost companies. “When conducting on-site inspections, such organizations cannot be detected, i.e. they don’t physically exist,” explained Mr. Dukanov.
According to him, the first stage of the liquidation procedure will be the publication of an announcement about the intention of government bodies to liquidate “dead” companies in a specialized printed publication of the Ministry of Taxation. If within six months from the date of publication there is no movement either from the creditors of this organization or from other legal entities and individuals, then the tax authorities adopt an administrative act to close the organization. Since the liquidation procedure is carried out publicly, Mr. Dukanov noted, “there can be no talk of a violation of the rights of creditors.”
According to tax experts, there will be no serious counterarguments against the introduction of simplified liquidation in the government. In this matter, the Ministry of Taxes and Taxes has already received the support of the judiciary, and now, together with the Supreme Arbitration Court, it is preparing to submit proposals to the government on the introduction of a simplified liquidation procedure. Irina SKLYAROVA |
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