Enforced Collection of Debt from Individual Taxpayers: Judicial and Extrajudicial Procedure

The paper analyzes a draft law under consideration by the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. It provides for transformation of the judicial procedure for collecting debts from individual taxpayers other than individual entrepreneurs to pass on to the extrajudicial collection. The author analyzes the reasons for the scheduled change in the procedure for the enforcement of tax liabilities of individuals. The study shows that debts of individual taxpayers are expected to be classified into two types, namely disputed and undisputed debts. Disputed debts of individual taxpayers will continue to be collected by court (an administrative claim). It is expected that undisputed debts will be collected extrajudicially. A study of the draft law showed that the proposed classification of disputed and undisputed debts of individual taxpayers has certain defects that should be eliminated. The authors of the draft law suggest that the current collection procedure under Articles 46 and 47 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation in relation to corporate taxpayers and individual entrepreneurs shall also be applied to individuals who are not individual entrepreneurs. The author highlights certain defects of this proposal and proposes options for eliminating them.