THE SUPREME COURT WILL CONSIDER THE LEGALITY OF PAYING OFF TAX OBLIGATIONS BY ISSUING A LOAN

A complaint on the dispute on the recognition of the loan agreement as invalid (case no. A40-274335/19) has been submitted to the Judicial Board for Economic Disputes. The essence of the case lies in the fact that the manager appealed to the court with an application to challenge the loan agreement concluded between the debtor and his former manager, pointing to the imaginary nature of this transaction.

The disputed contract was concluded to repay tax obligations. A criminal case was initiated against the defendant on the fact of non-payment of taxes. He provided a loan to the company (debtor) controlled by him, and the funds received by the legal entity were used to pay taxes, as a result of which the criminal case was terminated.

The courts of three instances refused to challenge the transaction, citing the fact that at the time of the transaction the debtor did not meet the criteria of insolvency, as well as the fact that the disputed loan was targeted and aimed at paying off tax obligations.

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, in its ruling on the transfer, pointed out that the courts had not investigated the arguments of the manager about the imaginary nature of the disputed contract.

It should be noted that earlier in the same case, the Supreme Court had already considered a complaint on a related dispute on invalidation of payments made under loan legal relations, and canceled judicial acts of lower courts.

Apparently, the supreme court intends to put an end to the issue of unfair compensatory financing of an insolvent company and prohibit the use of borrowed structures to repay the tax obligations of corporate beneficiaries.

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