Supreme Court of Russia prohibited to block personal accounts of individual entrepreneurs

Supreme Court of Russia prohibited to block personal accounts of individual entrepreneurs

Supreme Court of Russia prohibited to block personal accounts of individual entrepreneurs
The Supreme Court issued a ruling in the case of holding a bank accountable for a refusal to block the personal account of an individual entrepreneur. At the same time, the lower courts satisfied the tax authorities' claim, but the economic board considered such measures illegal.

The legal situation revolved around the debt that an individual entrepreneur had pay to the budget. Tax authorities applied to the bank with a demand to block the accounts of an individual, but the bank refused to block those of them that were not related to entrepreneurial activity. Then the tax authorities demanded that the credit institution be held accountable and won the action, but only in the first three instances.

The legal justification of the judges was that according to the law, an individual entrepreneur is responsible for his debts with all his property, which means that when a debt is formed, all his accounts, including personal ones, can be blocked.

However, the Supreme Court of Russia approached the issue from the other side, recalling that extrajudicial collection of tax arrears is possible only from legal entities and individual entrepreneurs, while a judicial procedure is envisaged for collection from individuals.

Thus, if the tax inspectorate wants to replenish the treasury from the debts of the individual entrepreneur, but there are no funds on his bank accounts, it should search for his personal accounts only through the court (decision ¹ 307-ES21-6593 in case No. A52- 1072/2020 dated 23 August 2021).


02.09.2021