Translated material
I want to know everything
Russians began to more actively correspond with the Federal Tax Service
Communication with tax officials, it seems, is beginning, if not to give Russians pleasure, then at least to become a habit. Over the past year, the central office of the Federal Tax Service received a third more requests from citizens than before. As stated in the official statement of the Federal Tax Service, “citizens expressed concern about the existing reality in their appeals about “black wages.”Such letters make up 5% of the total number. In them, citizens spoke about the abuses of the heads of organizations paying employees salaries “in envelopes.” And as a consequence, non-payment of income tax to the budget. They wrote about concealment of income by organizations, about violations of the law when using cash register equipment in specific retail outlets. There were also 63 proposals for tax reform.
In general, last year tax officials reviewed 6,893 requests from citizens, which is 31% more than the previous year, 2004. The main volume of requests concerned the issuance of a certificate of absence of tax debt. More than one and a half thousand citizens (22% of the total) addressed the Federal Tax Service with a similar request. Russians are actively interested in their “personal” tax obligations. 17% of applicants asked for clarification about paying income tax. Most of the requests concerned the receipt of social and property deductions, and often the authors raised the issue of untimely provision of deductions. Recently, the number of requests about the procedure for providing standard deductions for citizens with children has increased. Letters continue to arrive regarding the application of benefits in the form of tax exemption for benefits and compensation.
Issues related to the assignment of a TIN are gradually fading into the background. Most of the requests concerned the assignment of a TIN to persons who do not have registration at their place of residence in Russia or violation of the deadlines for assigning an identification number.
Next in terms of the number of people who contacted tax authorities is the topic of registration and accounting of legal entities and individuals. 10% of citizens asked such questions. These are questions about the registration of individuals as individual entrepreneurs (including in connection with the loss of the status of an individual entrepreneur for those who missed the re-registration deadline), about the composition of documents for registration, about the examination of submitted documents, about refusal to register a company. There were also questions about violations of the law during registration. In particular, regarding the registration of commercial organizations using invalid passports: cases are still being recorded when citizens who have lost their passports suddenly find themselves as “general directors” of companies involved in fraudulent transactions.
Many questions were asked last year regarding the provision of information contained in registers of legal entities and individuals. When establishing companies, many citizens were interested in the legality of using identical names and using the words “Russia”, “Russian Federation”, “federal” in the name of a legal entity.
Almost a third of requests last year were complaints from taxpayers regarding decisions made to impose tax liability. The majority of citizens who filed such complaints raised the issue of canceling decisions taken by tax authorities to collect taxes, penalties and fines. At the same time, the official statistics of tax authorities do not contain information on how many such complaints are satisfied.
As before, the acuteness of the problem associated with the taxation of small businesses does not go away. The appeals concerned the single tax on imputed income, the use of a simplified taxation system by taxpayers, and the payment of tax on the gambling business. In 2005, 406 letters (6% of the total), including collective letters, were received from entrepreneurs regarding small business tax issues.
As before, a significant number of citizens seek clarification on the payment of state duties, transport and land taxes. No less pressing are the problems that arise when paying property tax for individuals and tax on property transferred by inheritance or gift. The main part of the requests concerned the issues of providing benefits to pensioners, disabled people, veterans and other categories of citizens, as well as issues relating to the determination of rates for these taxes. 355 applicants (5% of the total number) addressed similar questions to the Federal Tax Service.