Журнал ЗАКОН

This article examines issues arising in judicial and administrative practice concerning the possibility of classifying movable property as an integral part of immovable property for the purposes of taxation (in particular, for recognising such property as a single taxable object and subsequently accounting for it when calculating corporate property tax). The article analyses the development of the approaches taken by the Federal Tax Service of Russia (FTS) and judicial practice in this regard. It assesses whether the prevailing law enforcement practice aligns with the intent of the legislature (as expressed in preparatory materials to draft legislation), with legal doctrine, and with the fundamental principles of taxation. At the turn of 2024–2025, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation developed significant legal positions regarding the taxation of composite objects and began to curb the tax authorities’ attempts to use civil law instruments and methods of expansive interpretation in such tax disputes. In this category of tax cases, the courts have concluded that priority must be given to the logic of tax and accounting regulations, as required by the literal interpretation of tax legislation.

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Keywords: interpretation of tax law provisions, expansive interpretation, teleological interpretation, corporate property tax, taxation of real estate, concept of „immovable property“, complex objects, judicial practice

The norms of Article 54.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation are perceived as norms of substantive law that establish mandatory requirements for taxpayers. Meanwhile, there is reason to argue that they should be replaced by an array of procedural rules governing the procedure of tax investigation conducted by tax authorities.

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Keywords: tax optimisation, tax abuses, procedural rules, tax investigations

The article explores the reasons for the lack of a unified approach to understanding the legal nature of the beneficial ownership concept in international and domestic tax law. The author analyses the history of the concept, its evolution in OECD documents and national legislation, and existing doctrinal views on its essence. It is argued that the methodological reason for the current crisis of understanding is the conflation of three different functions related to beneficial ownership: attributing income to a taxpayer, limiting the application of international tax treaties, and combating tax avoidance. A solution to the problem of understanding legal nature of income beneficial ownership is proposed through a clear conceptual separation of these functions.

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Keywords: beneficial ownership, beneficial owner, international tax law, tax treaties, attribution of income, OECD

As of today the enhancement of international taxation is predominantly guided by OECD initiatives that cover the most pressing issues of aggressive tax planning as well as contain solutions aimed at combining the efforts of world community in order to protect fiscal interests of governments. For this purpose, the OECD Multilateral Instrument (MLI) had been released. Being a convention, it is designed to update the network of bilateral double tax treaties (tax agreements) in a fast and efficient manner and, therefore, supposed to become a global consensus platform, а core of supranational regulation. These expectations are being tested in the article relying on the analysis and systematisation of the fragile, weak points of this convention.

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Keywords: aggressive tax planning, BEPS, convention, double nontaxation, double taxation, international taxation, Multilateral Instrument, OECD, tax treaty, treaty shopping

The article analyses the rules of international taxation proposed by international organisations — the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations (UN). It is noted that the main conflict between the OECD and the UN regulation lies in the fact that the OECD Two-pillar approach is designed in the interests of developed countries, redistributing the right to tax profits of large international groups of companies in favor of market countries. Progress in the work of the United Nations is noted, as well as the work on the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation is highlighted. At the same time, the work of the OECD is facing great difficulties due to the disagreements of the OECD member states, as well as the position of developing countries that express their commitment to the UN rules. The Russian regulation aimed at protecting the national legal tax base was also considered, in particular, the draft law developed in order to implement the principles underlying the rules of minimum taxation. It seems that this bill is aimed at responding to such a new challenge to Russia’s tax security as the development of new rules for international taxation, including digital companies.

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Keywords: tax security, tax law, new challenges, international taxation, taxation of digital economy, income tax, global minimum tax

The article examines the significance of legislative establishment of reduced tax rates on indirect taxes. The author analyses the issue of the effectiveness of such rates and the problems of their actual impact on the cost of goods (works, services) sold by entrepreneurs.

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Keywords: indirect taxation, reduced tax rate, zero tax rate, value added tax, excise taxes

The author analyses the legal basis for the possibility and conditions of accounting in the structure of the customs value of dividends paid by importers to their participants, interconnected with sellers of imported goods. The relevance of this topic is due to the increasing number of legal disputes on this issue in the Russian Federation, massive inspections of Kazakhstani business entities, as well as the submission of this issue to the Technical Committee for Customs Assessment of the World Customs Organisation. The author studies the essence of payments such as dividends and „a portion of income (proceeds) from the subsequent sale, disposal in another way or use of imported goods, which is directly or indirectly owed to a foreign seller“ in the context of cust oms valuation rules. The conducted research, taking into account the constitutional principles of legal certainty, equal taxation, and legitimate expectations, allowed us to draw a number of conclusions defining the conditions under which the qualification of dividends can be changed by customs authorities, and the circumstances to be proved by customs authorities for such retraining.

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Keywords: customs value, dividends, actual economic meaning, related persons, the price influenced by the relationship, manipulation, change of payment qualification, proceeds, subsequent resale that accrues to the seller, unjustified tax benefit

The article is devoted to the analysis of the legal nature of the penalty for tax arrears and the search for an answer to the question of how this circumstance affects the order of satisfaction of the claims of the authorised State body in relation to the claims of creditors under civil obligations (the principle of pari passu). The author, disagreeing with the position of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, emphasises that the penalty is regarded as a measure of liability, despite the direct indication in the law (Art. 75 of the Tax Code) that it is a way to secure an obligation. Based on this, the author comes to the conclusion that the penalty for tax arrears is subject to satisfaction by analogy with moratorium interest or financial sanctions (Аrt. 137 (cl. 3) the Bankruptcy Code).

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Keywords: property taxes, tax claims in bankruptcy, priority of satisfaction, bankruptcy proceeding, Judgment of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation of 9 April 2024 № 16-P

The article addresses practical issues relating to some areas of legal uncertainty in the field of personal income taxation in the Russian Federation. The authors analyze situations in which taxpayers encounter difficulties in determining the existence and amount of personal income tax liability, those may lead, on the one hand, to an understatement of tax liabilities and reductions in budget revenues, and on the other hand, to excessive or double taxation of individuals with respect to certain income. The authors point out advantages of minor changes to the legislation to eliminate existing areas of uncertainty and improve the regulation effectiveness.

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Keywords: personal income tax, place of supply rules, tax residence, tax base of property rights, personal fund, actual value of share participations, expenses relating to contribution in the company’s property

The study of the content and scope of the right to family life in the doctrine, despite the obvious significance of this phenomenon, construction and concept, does not differ in the completeness and consistency of the approach. Along with the classical forms of his existence in the family and legal sphere (marriage, parenthood, family ties based on close kinship, custody, adoption), there are other non-standard ones related to social parenthood, distant kinship, property, and actual upbringing. Among them, variations in the grounds for the emergence of the right to family life are distinguished by significant differences due to the use of assisted reproductive technologies and generating conflicts of interest, gaps in legal regulation, conflicts of legal positions of courts: on the priority status of a surrogate mother; exclusion of a „single man“ from the number of participants in the surrogacy program; post mortem parenthood; etc. Situations of denial of the right to family life are not systematised, among which there are unregulated relationships.

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Keywords: the right to family life, subjects of law, special grounds, legal positions, waiver of the right

In the November „Chronicle“ experts comment on such events important for our legal system as: the agreement on avoidance of double taxation with the UAE, anti-corruption lawsuits by the prosecutor’s office in relation to the so-called the case of judges, the Government’s self-ban on concluding contracts for the provision of mobile radiotelephone services, the rejection of mailings and mass calls, the development of approaches to interpreting contracts in the Supreme Court Review No. 3 (2025), as well as new requirements for bloggers introduced in China as a manifestation of possible new global trends in the requirements for this activities.

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Keywords: functional interpretation, contract, Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, good faith, will of the parties, form of transaction, corruption, anti-corruption lawsuits, self-prohibition, communication services, UAE

This article analyses the issue of the influence of the counterparty’s subjective good faith and his ignorance of the viciousness of the transaction on the possibility of stating its insignificance or effective pairing. The author analyses the main structures of invalidity, known to the Civil Code, and examines the extent to which the relevant structure can work against a good faith counterparty. The article provides current judicial practice, discusses controversial issues and makes proposals for the development of judicial practice.

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Keywords: invalidity, subjective good faith, protection of trust

The article is devoted to the criticism of the traditional notion of money in the civil legislation. Contemporary practice of money settlements, taxation and anti-laundering substantially changes this notion. Money is no longer physical cash. Money has no internal (native) economic value per se. The value of money is supported by the state forsibly. So the both legal characteristics (principles) of money — nominalism and legal tender — work inadequately especially if you regard money only as a physical cash. The value of money changes according to the type of payment, it violates the principle of nominalism, and the ban upon paying physical cash is against the legal tender principle. Legal money is the notion of public law in private law. In order to return to the money its natural economic characteristics we should impose upon the State the legal obligation to compensate reduction of money value to all private persons at the expense of taxes. Specific mechanism of such compensation is being considered in the article.

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Keywords: money, monetary assets, nominalism principle, legal tender, indexation, inflation

In 2025, the Urban Planning Code of the Russian Federation marks its twentieth anniversary — a milestone that provides an opportunity to assess the evolution of the zoning institution and its role within the urban development regulatory system. This theme gains symbolic significance with the adoption of Federal Law No. 295-FZ of July 31, 2025, which definitively separated land and urban planning legislation in the sphere of land use and development. The article examines key transformations of the zoning institution as well as the factors that have hindered its establishment and development as a legal regulator of land use and construction at the local level. An analysis of legislative changes and judicial practice, as well as a study of municipal lawmaking and the application of land use and development rules by authorities exercising municipal powers, indicates that the zoning system in place as of 2025 has undergone a substantial departure from the original 2004 model.

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Keywords: zoning, zoning ordinances, development parameters, architectural and urban appearance, comprehensive development of territories, municipal law-making

In recent years Russian courts have faced the issue of acknowledging the double derivative claim — a lawsuit filed by a participant in the controlling company for the benefit of its subsidiary. The aim of this article is to establish whether there are any sufficient grounds for such a claim being allowed. The author examines the pros and cons of double derivative suits from the standpoint of litigation costs and private benefits of control and concludes that such grounds should not be discretionary. Otherwise, double derivative claims are likely to be abusively misused to force management and controlling participants into a settlement even if they acted without prejudice. The reasoning behind this decision could be their unwillingness to disclose any confidential information to indirect minor shareholders. The author advocates for limitations on double derivative suits. Namely, these could involve the loss of control by a major indirect shareholder or, when it comes to the rights of minor indirect shareholders, a civil claim in criminal proceedings, since in such case the burden of proof will be on the public prosecution.

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Keywords: beneficial owner, double derivative claim, group of companies, private benefits of control, reflective loss

The reform of the legislation on criminal liability for cartels greatly increases the risk of criminal liability for this crime. Increased punishment is intended to motivate a cartel participant to voluntarily denounce this crime. Only the person who managed to report the crime first is exempt from criminal liability for the cartel. The legal fiction is enshrined in law, according to which all revenue from sales in the affected market is recognised as income from restrictment of competition. Such a legislative decision can affect not only the practice of criminal cases, but also the implementation of the powers of the antimonopoly service in the framework of administrative procedures, including when seising income from violations of antimonopoly legislation. The legal fiction in terms of determining income from a cartel can have a negative impact on the doctrinal understanding of causation in criminal law, affecting not only cartels, but also other result crimes.

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Keywords: criminal law, cartel, causation, punishment, leniency