Having lost several cases in arbitration courts
Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2025 7:24 am
Yesterday, April 23, a court hearing was held, as a result of which PJSC VimpelCom (brand Beeline) received satisfaction of the petition. Judge of the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal of the City of Moscow Sergey Zakharov overturned the latest decision of February 7, 2024 of the Moscow Arbitration Court to completely reject VimpelCom's filed claim, and the decision of the Federal Tax Service (FTS) of Russia dated December 29, 2020 to appoint a tax audit together with its results in relation to PJSC VimpelCom was declared illegal.
On December 29, 2020, the greece whatsapp resource Federal Tax Service ordered an audit of VimpelCom, as a result of which it assessed an additional RUB 179 million in income tax on the transaction with VWS, recording a deviation of prices from market prices, which served as a precedent for further legal proceedings.
, VimpelCom appealed to the Constitutional Court in early 2023, and in its ruling No. 41-P of July 14, 2023, it agreed that the approach to opening an audit should not be formal. "If all the significant information about the transaction was already contained in the initial notification, then the period for auditing this transaction should be counted from this notification, and not from subsequent ones. The court also wrote that the appointment of an audit beyond the usual period must be motivated: in the decision, the Federal Tax Service must explain the reasons why it considers this possible. At the same time, the court recognized the norm of the Tax Code, on which the courts relied, as unconstitutional and ordered a review of the VimpelCom case based on the positions set out in the ruling," said Rustem Akhmetshin, senior partner of the Pepeliaev Group law firm, who is participating in the hearing.
On February 7, 2024, the Moscow Arbitration Court again rejected VimpelCom. This time, the reason was the Federal Tax Service's argument, which was first voiced at a hearing in November 2023: the Federal Tax Service stated that a new transaction (with VEON) appeared in the amended notification, which, in terms of the volume of services, overlaps with the transaction being verified with VWS. "This means that the amended notification contained new information that is important for verifying this transaction, the period should be counted from the amended notification, as the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation said," noted Rustem Akhmetshin.
Rustem Akhmetshin told a ComNews correspondent: "The legislator in Article 105.17 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation prescribed a deadline for appointing any tax audit. With regard to such a specific audit as TCO (transfer pricing audit for a transaction), until last year the audit period was two years from the date of filing a notification of controlled transactions by the taxpayer. Such notifications are filed in the year following the transactions in order to inform the tax authority about these transactions and give it the opportunity to take a closer look and, if necessary, appoint a tax audit of a particular transaction," explained Rustem Akhmetshin.
On December 29, 2020, the greece whatsapp resource Federal Tax Service ordered an audit of VimpelCom, as a result of which it assessed an additional RUB 179 million in income tax on the transaction with VWS, recording a deviation of prices from market prices, which served as a precedent for further legal proceedings.
, VimpelCom appealed to the Constitutional Court in early 2023, and in its ruling No. 41-P of July 14, 2023, it agreed that the approach to opening an audit should not be formal. "If all the significant information about the transaction was already contained in the initial notification, then the period for auditing this transaction should be counted from this notification, and not from subsequent ones. The court also wrote that the appointment of an audit beyond the usual period must be motivated: in the decision, the Federal Tax Service must explain the reasons why it considers this possible. At the same time, the court recognized the norm of the Tax Code, on which the courts relied, as unconstitutional and ordered a review of the VimpelCom case based on the positions set out in the ruling," said Rustem Akhmetshin, senior partner of the Pepeliaev Group law firm, who is participating in the hearing.
On February 7, 2024, the Moscow Arbitration Court again rejected VimpelCom. This time, the reason was the Federal Tax Service's argument, which was first voiced at a hearing in November 2023: the Federal Tax Service stated that a new transaction (with VEON) appeared in the amended notification, which, in terms of the volume of services, overlaps with the transaction being verified with VWS. "This means that the amended notification contained new information that is important for verifying this transaction, the period should be counted from the amended notification, as the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation said," noted Rustem Akhmetshin.
Rustem Akhmetshin told a ComNews correspondent: "The legislator in Article 105.17 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation prescribed a deadline for appointing any tax audit. With regard to such a specific audit as TCO (transfer pricing audit for a transaction), until last year the audit period was two years from the date of filing a notification of controlled transactions by the taxpayer. Such notifications are filed in the year following the transactions in order to inform the tax authority about these transactions and give it the opportunity to take a closer look and, if necessary, appoint a tax audit of a particular transaction," explained Rustem Akhmetshin.