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- Without trial, but with consequences: millions of Russians will face sudden debt collection
Without trial, but with consequences: millions of Russians will face sudden debt collection
The tax service will be able to collect debts from 4.5 million Russians without trial this year, Izvestia found out. On July 7, the Government Commission approved such an initiative for the second reading of the draft law on simplified procedure. The Federal Tax Service will notify debtors through Gosuslugi or their personal account on the tax website — they will be given a month to file objections. If the person does not respond, the money will be automatically deducted from the accounts, and if there is a shortage, bailiffs will be involved. The new procedure will reduce the burden on the courts and save money for the budget. What risks it carries for citizens, why it has amenities, and how to prepare for changes are described in the Izvestia article.
How will the out-of-court collection of tax debts work?
Currently, the out-of-court procedure for collecting tax debts applies only to businesses. Since November 2025, the authorities want to introduce it for citizens as well. This will affect Russians who declare their obligations on their own, for example, when submitting a declaration or using the self—employment regime. The mechanism will work if the person does not dispute the additional charge.
The Ministry of Finance has prepared such a law on behalf of the president. In March, the State Duma adopted it in the first reading, and on July 7, the government commission on legislative activity approved the initiative with amendments to the second one, a source in the cabinet told Izvestia. The document from the meeting of the management Board is at the disposal of the editorial board.
Now the tax service collects debts from individuals through the court, the decision is made without a meeting and sent to the bailiffs, explained Evgenia Memruk, head of the Union of Accountants and Tax Consultants, founder of BiznesiNalogi. A person receives a notification through federal services. If he does not agree, he can file a short objection and the order will be canceled, but he must act promptly.
— Then the tax service files a claim and almost always wins, but the whole enforcement process takes about a year. During this time, the debt has been growing due to penalties, state duties and performance fees," the lawyer said.
According to the calculations of the Ministry of Finance, the refusal of judicial proceedings against individuals will reduce the costs of citizens: now costs increase debt by an average of 43% — from 30 thousand rubles to 43 thousand. The new procedure will eliminate these additional costs, and at the same time speed up the recovery process, Evgenia Memruk added.
As explained by Yuri Mirzoev, CEO of the Mitra law firm, if the law on extrajudicial recovery is adopted, the scheme will be as follows:
— the tax service will send a notification or a demand for debt payment to the person.;
— if the citizen does not pay and does not file objections, the inspectorate will make a decision on recovery.;
— first, the money will be debited from the bank accounts, and if there are not enough of them, bailiffs will be involved, who will collect at the expense of the property.;
— the decision can be obtained in your personal account on the tax website, through the Gosuslugi portal or by mail.
If a person submits an objection, the tax service, as before, will have to go to court, the lawyer added. It is possible to disagree with the decision based on the document for the meeting of the management board within 30 days.
As the Federal Tax Service told Izvestia, 4.5 million administrative cases on tax collection are considered every year. Evgenia Memruk says: according to statistics, the indisputability and validity of the authorities' demands is confirmed in 99.9% of cases. According to her, this is probably the share that can easily be transferred to an out-of-court order.
— Indeed, up to 85% of cases on collecting tax debts from individuals can be transferred to an out—of-court procedure, since most of them, as a rule, have no objections, - Yuri Mirzoev agreed.
Advantages of debt collection under the new scheme
Notification through the Gosuslugi portal is a legitimate way of informing, Evgenia Memruk appreciated. There is an alternative — a personal account on the portal of the Federal Tax Service. Registered letters will be sent to those who do not use these services. If the letter is sent to the registration address and delivered, it is considered received — even if the person does not live there, she explained.
By the second reading, the Ministry of Finance introduced a number of amendments to the bill. Another one concerns improving the interaction between the tax service and bailiffs. In addition, according to the document, when collecting tax debts, the same guarantees will apply as in the case of a regular compulsory seizure — for example, the preservation of the subsistence minimum and a block on the seizure of certain property.
Such changes will help to better protect the rights of citizens: the procedure for filing objections will be simplified, the time for their registration will be extended, and the new rules will not limit, but, on the contrary, expand the possibilities for appeal, says Evgeny Pantaziy, partner of the Leges Bureau law firm, member of the Russian Bar Association.
In general, there are a number of advantages associated with the introduction of an extrajudicial procedure, the Federal Tax Service notes. They listed them to Izvestia:
— more time will be allocated for objections.;
— simplification of the method of filing objections;
— the disputed amounts will be excluded from the balance of the single tax account, that is, it will be prohibited to repay or collect them until the final court decision. There is no such thing now.
In addition, the burden on the courts will decrease and government spending on tax administration will decrease, added Yuri Mirzoev from Mitra. The new order can save the treasury about 2 billion rubles a year, says Yulia Kovalenko, associate professor at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. In the initial version of the draft, the Ministry of Finance expected that the changes would bring an additional 22.5 billion rubles to the budget system (without specifying whether it was an annual revenue).
It is also possible that automation will make the system more transparent. This will eliminate the risk of abuse of authority in recovery, the expert added.
— In the past, the tax service often mistakenly charged debts to individuals — for example, it demanded payment for stolen or de-registered cars, and was confused in calculating property taxes. There may be fewer such cases now," Anton Stepanov, partner and lawyer at the Kept tax dispute resolution group, agreed.
How to protect yourself from the risks of extrajudicial recovery
At the same time, the risks of errors in an out-of-court procedure are also growing: for example, if the tax service does not take into account the benefit or a citizen does not notice the notification and does not have time to file an objection, Yuri Mirzoev noted.
— Mistakes in the new order are not just possible, they are inevitable. If a person misses the deadline for filing objections, they will have to file an administrative claim with the court themselves and participate in the proceedings, which requires time, effort and legal knowledge," the lawyer added.
In addition, an out—of-court system requires particularly high cybersecurity - a data leak or malfunction can lead to serious mass consequences, says Vladimir Chernov, an analyst at Freedom Finance Global. There is also a risk of "automation indiscriminately" when decisions are made formally, without taking into account individual circumstances.
To protect yourself, you should enable notifications on "Public Services" and regularly check the status of taxes and debts, the expert continued. According to him, it is better to log into the personal account of the Federal Tax Service and the Federal Migration Service once a month, and if there are any doubts, promptly write requests and record requests.
It is also important to keep all payment confirmations, and in case of errors, contact the Ombudsman for Consumer Rights of Financial Services or the prosecutor's office. The legislation already provides for the possibility to challenge the actions of bailiffs and tax officials, but citizens need to be vigilant themselves, concluded Vladimir Chernov.
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