Circumstances mitigating liability for a tax offense

Extenuating circumstances

The list of circumstances that a tax authority or court can take into account as mitigating liability for a tax offense is given in Article 112 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. It is advisable to submit a petition to the tax office to reduce the fine if the following circumstances exist:

committing an offense due to difficult circumstances of a personal or family nature,
violation of the law by a person subjected to threats or coercion using material, official or other dependence,
difficult financial situation of the individual being held accountable,
other circumstances that the Federal Tax Service or the court consider to be a circumstance mitigating liability. For example, if the taxpayer independently discovered and corrected errors in the declaration, reporting this to the tax office, this may be considered a circumstance mitigating his responsibility.

As you can see, this list is not exhaustive; any other circumstance that the court or tax authorities deem worthy of attention to reduce the penalty, they have the right to apply as a mitigation. Therefore, it is advisable to include as many similar circumstances as possible in your petition to the tax office to reduce the amount of the fine.

What other facts can the taxpayer list in his favor:

the offense was committed without intent,
the taxpayer is conscientious, pays taxes on time and submits reports,
bringing to tax liability for the first time,
documented presence of large debts to personnel, creditors, or a state close to bankruptcy,
disproportion between the amount of the fine and the offense committed,
insignificant period of delay in submitting reports,
presence of overpayments on other taxes,
payment of debt before a decision on prosecution is made,
the presence of force majeure (natural disasters, fire, flood, etc.),
Individual entrepreneurs can also point out such circumstances as old age, disability, illness, presence of dependents, etc.

Mitigating circumstances are a chance to reduce the fine

The amount of fines accrued based on the inspection report - in the presence of mitigating circumstances - can be reduced.

Circumstances mitigating liability for committing an offense are the conditions defined in paragraph 1 of Art. 112 Tax Code of the Russian Federation:

Difficult personal or family circumstances.
Threat or coercion; financial, service or other dependence.
Difficult financial situation for individuals. the person held accountable.
Other circumstances that are recognized as such by the court or tax authority considering the case.

Conclusion: the possibility of reducing the size of sanctions is provided for by law. To do this, you need to submit a petition to the tax office to reduce the amount of the fine.

A sample petition to reduce a fine to the tax office can be downloaded at the end of the article.

Deadline for submitting a request to cancel a fine to the tax office

A letter requesting a reduction in tax penalties or their cancellation must be drawn up and sent within the prescribed period. This period is the same, regardless of how the tax offense was detected:

if a tax audit was carried out (desk or on-site), the period is 1 month from the date of receipt of the audit report by the taxpayer (clause 6 of Article 100 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation);
in other cases – 1 month from the date of receipt of the Federal Tax Service Inspectorate’s report on the tax offense (clause 5 of Article 101.4 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

How to initiate a fine reduction

In paragraphs 4 p. 5 art. 101 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation states that during the consideration of the inspection materials, the head of the Federal Tax Service identifies circumstances mitigating liability. But you shouldn’t think that tax authorities themselves will identify these circumstances. It is the company, being an interested party, that must declare the presence of mitigating circumstances and thereby petition for a reduction in the amount of the penalty.

To do this, a statement or petition is written to reduce the amount of the fine. Documents confirming the existence of mitigating circumstances referred to by the company are attached to it.

At what point should an application with documents be sent to the inspectorate? The Tax Code of the Russian Federation does not say this. The tax authorities explain on their website that this must be done within the same period given for filing objections to the audit report, that is, within one month from the date of receipt of the audit report. This approach is understandable, because the inspectorate must have time to receive the petition before a decision is made on the inspection report (if we are talking about a fine imposed for non-payment of tax based on the results of the inspection).

What if the organization did not take care of the application of mitigating circumstances on time and has already received an inspection decision with the amount of accrued sanctions? It's OK. You can apply to reduce the amount of the punishment to the higher Federal Tax Service by appealing the decision. There is also the option of reducing it by going to court.

What should a taxpayer do?

Expert opinion

Kostenko Tamara Pavlovna

Lawyer with 10 years of experience. Author of numerous articles, teacher of Law

It should be noted that the presence of mitigating circumstances is resolved by tax authorities with companies at the stage of reviewing materials from field and (or) desk audits.

First of all, consideration of the possibility of reducing the applicable penalty begins with the taxpayer filing a petition for a reduction in penalties.

There is no specifically established form for the application. It is submitted in free form and contains circumstances that may mitigate tax liability.

As a rule, the following are taken into account as mitigating liability:

the nature and significance of the taxpayer’s activities (for example, a socially-oriented institution);

no damage to the budget, insignificant delay (one day), no harmful consequences of the offense;

independent correction of the violation before the start of the tax audit, payment of additional tax;

legal uncertainty regarding the provision of benefits that existed at the time the tax offense was committed.

Where can I find a sample petition to reduce the tax penalty in 2021?

On our website you can download the current template for an application to reduce the tax penalty and use it as the basis for your own application:

petitions to reduce the tax penalty (version current for 2019)

Note! If you have any questions or encounter any difficulties in preparing this document, you can always seek free legal advice from the specialists of the CenterSoveta portal. The average waiting time for a response from a lawyer is 15 minutes.

Overview of an example petition

The main goal when drawing up a petition is to reduce penalties against the taxpayer. The tax office's response to such requests will not always be positive. But with proper registration, the chances of a fine reduction increase.

Important! If the request is granted, the amount of the fine is reduced. At the same time, the amount of debt and penalties remains the same.

Information about the addressee (name of the tax office, full name of the head).
Information about the applicant (full name and place of residence of the individual). If the application is from an organization, you must include its full name, TIN, and location.
Name of the form.
Details of the inspection.
List of mitigating circumstances with reference to Article 112 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
Request to take into account mitigating circumstances and reduce the fine.
List of attached documents.
Signature of the author and date of preparation of the document.

Based on a petition to the tax office to reduce the fine, its size can be reduced by half or more. It is better to attach documentation that confirms the reasons for the identified violation. The form must not contain errors or corrections. When writing, it is recommended to focus on the sample.

How much can the fine be reduced?

According to paragraph 3 of Art. 114 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, if there is at least one mitigating circumstance, the punishment must be reduced by at least 2 times compared to the original amount.

At the same time, paragraph 16 of the resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated July 30, 2013 No. 57 states that paragraph 3 of Article 114 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation establishes only the minimum limit for reducing sanctions. Based on the results of an assessment of the circumstances, the court has the right to reduce the amount of the penalty by more than half and even make it below the minimum amount (see letters from the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated May 16, 2012 No. 03-02-08/47, dated January 30, 2012 No. 03-02-08 /7).

However, neither the Federal Tax Service nor the court can reduce the amount of sanctions to zero, since this action will be considered an exemption from liability for the offense committed.

If there are mitigating facts, only the amount of penalties applied can be reduced; the amount of taxes and penalties on these grounds cannot be reduced.

A sample petition to the tax office to reduce the fine, which can be downloaded at the end of the article, is based on the circumstances given in paragraphs. 3 p. 1 art. 112 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

When and where is the application sent?

If, as a result of an audit, a fine is imposed on an organization or entrepreneur, this decision can be appealed in court or to the tax office. The taxpayer independently decides where the application will be sent.

You must contact these authorities within the following time frames:

To the court - within three months from the date the taxpayer learned of the violation of his rights.
To the regional tax office - within a month after receiving the decision to apply penalties. You can contact the Federal Tax Service of Russia within three months from the date of the decision of the inspectorate for the region.

Two copies of the application must be prepared. One of them is transferred to the office, and the applicant will keep the second for himself (after an acceptance mark is placed on it).

You can submit a petition not only during a personal visit to the court or the tax office. It can be sent by mail in a valuable letter with a list of the contents. In addition, the government services website has a special service where you can leave an electronic appeal.

Fines for taxes, fees and charges

In most cases, fines are regulated by Article 122 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. It is valid for the following payments to the budget:

VAT.
Income tax.
UTII.
USN.
Unified Agricultural Sciences.
Excise tax
Water, land, transport and property taxes.
Contributions to the Pension Fund, Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund, Social Insurance Fund (in terms of disability and maternity).
Trade fee.

Moreover, fines are imposed for non-payment of taxes, but not advance payments (clause 3 of Article 58 of the Tax Code). For them you will only have to pay penalties and, possibly, incur administrative penalties.

The penalty is usually 20% of the unpaid tax, fee or contribution. If the base is deliberately underestimated, the calculation is made incorrectly or is not made at all, then the taxpayer will have to part with 40%.

Penalties for personal income tax are calculated differently: 20% of the amount of tax that was unlawfully not withheld or not transferred, which the tax agent should have withheld and transferred. Moreover, he can be released from liability when three conditions specified in paragraph 2 of Article 123 of the Tax Code are simultaneously met:

Report 6-NDFL was submitted on time.
The calculation fully reflects the tax amount and there are no errors leading to its underestimation.
The tax and penalties were transferred to the budget before the agent learned about the violation from the Federal Tax Service, or before an on-site personal income tax inspection was scheduled.

Individual entrepreneurs who pay for a patent, in case of delay, are not deprived of the right to use it, but are required to transfer the debt. If the tax office has not received payment on time, it will send a demand to the entrepreneur (clause 2.1 of Article 346.51). You will also have to pay off penalties, and penalties are calculated in the standard manner (Article 122).

Delay in payment of environmental fees is subject to administrative punishment under Article 8.41.1 of the Administrative Code: 5-7 thousand for the responsible person, for legal entities - triple the amount of the unpaid amount, and not less than 500 thousand, similarly for individual entrepreneurs, but the minimum limit is lower - 250 thousand rubles .

Finally, fines for contributions to “accident insurance” in the Social Insurance Fund are 20% or 40%, depending on the absence or presence of intent, as well as for other contributions, but this norm is regulated not by the Tax Code, but by Federal Law No. 125-FZ of July 24. 1998 in article 26.29.

Important! In 2021, some taxpayers have postponed the payment of taxes and contributions to new dates.

In what cases is the fine reduced?

Tax legislation allows the fine to be reduced in the presence of mitigating circumstances.

difficult financial situation of the taxpayer;
presence of overpayment of taxes for the current period;
recording the first case of violation;
minor delay in submitting your tax return;
disproportionality of the violation to the sanctions imposed;
payment of the debt before the tax inspectorate makes a decision;
presence of credit obligations.

Expert opinion

Kostenko Tamara Pavlovna

Lawyer with 10 years of experience. Author of numerous articles, teacher of Law

In the case of organizations and entrepreneurs, a justified reason for mitigating sanctions may be technical malfunctions, as a result of which documents were transferred with a delay.

Entrepreneurs and other individuals may indicate the presence of a disability or illness as a mitigating circumstance. Valid reasons for delay include participating in disaster relief efforts or supporting dependents. The holder of state awards may have their fine reduced.

The list of mitigating circumstances indicates the first violation. If such a case is re-registered, the fine will increase significantly.

This is important to know: Sample of concluding a settlement agreement at the stage of enforcement proceedings

Is it possible to lift sanctions?

The Tax Code contains a list of reasons that allow you to completely exclude the payer’s guilt and cancel the fine. These exceptional circumstances include:

Health status. Due to illness at the time of the violation, the citizen could not fully understand the consequences of his decisions and fully control his actions.
Extraordinary circumstances. The cause of the violation was a natural disaster or other incident over which the taxpayer could not influence.

In order to achieve a positive response from the tax authorities or a court decision, in addition to the petition, you must provide documentary evidence of the existence of such circumstances.

Tax penalties can be canceled or mitigated

a combination of difficult personal (family) circumstances (for example, poor health or disability, the presence of children or dependents, difficult financial situation, mortgage debt, etc.);
coercion to commit a crime under threats or under the influence of dependence on a person forcing the commission of an offense (for example, a boss, under threat of dismissal, forces an accountant to falsify data submitted to the INFS);
difficult financial situation of the offender;
other circumstances that the court recognizes as mitigating.

Tax sanctions are applied by the INFS or the court, depending on mitigating or aggravating circumstances. A person subjected to tax collection is subject to sanctions for a year from the date of entry into force of the court decision.

Under what conditions can you submit an application to the tax office?

You can submit a petition to the tax office if individuals and organizations are unlawfully brought to justice, or if there are circumstances that mitigate or exclude guilt.

Wrongful prosecution

A taxpayer can be held accountable only on the grounds provided for by the code and if the fact of an offense has been established. In this case, it is impossible to attract someone twice for the same tax offense (Clause 2 of Article 108 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Prosecution does not relieve either an individual or an organization from paying taxes (fees or insurance premiums) due under the law. That is, all debts must be paid without waiting for the results of the investigation, which may result in additional punishment.
The presumption of innocence also applies in tax law: a taxpayer cannot be found guilty until his guilt is proven. In this case, the suspect does not have to prove his own innocence. Tax authorities are obliged to collect facts proving a tax crime.
If doubts about the guilt of the person brought to justice are not overcome, this person is considered innocent (Clause 6 of Article 108 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Thus, the basis for filing a petition or complaint against the actions of tax officials may be the unlawful prosecution of a person:

if the protocol on bringing to justice is violated (lack of corpus delicti and guilt of the person);
the person has already been charged with this offense;
The INFS made the decision to find the person guilty without sufficient facts and in the presence of doubts;
upon expiration of the statute of limitations;
if at the time of the offense the person was under 16 years of age;
the offense occurred during transactions with property owned by foreign companies that declared their assets and accounts (Clause 2 of Article 109 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Guilty plea

A person who has committed an offense is found guilty:

intentionally, that is, with awareness of the illegality of one’s actions or the consequences that have occurred;
through negligence, that is, without awareness of guilt and the severity of the consequences.

The organization is found guilty, depending on the form of guilt of the officials (representatives) who committed the criminal act or inaction (Article 110 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

Circumstances excluding guilt in a tax offense

To circumstances excluding guilt, on the basis of Art. 111 NK, include:

Natural disasters and emergency circumstances (force majeure), if they are indisputable, confirmed by the media or other sources of facts. In this case, the person cannot be held accountable (clause 2 of Article 111).
Committing an offense in an uncontrolled state, when one does not give an account of actions and actions, for example, in case of mental disorders, delirium and other painful conditions.
Actions of the taxpayer within the limits of their competence based on a written explanation or motivated opinion of the tax authorities, subject to: the availability of documents confirming the facts of monitoring by the INFS;
the reliability of the information provided by this person to the INFS, on the basis of which written explanations were given by the tax authorities and a reasoned opinion was presented.

Other circumstances excluding the person’s guilt in this offense.

This is interesting: Sample objections to an appeal in a criminal case

Extenuating circumstances

Mitigating circumstances, although they will not relieve the offender from responsibility, will help reduce the guilt and halve the fine if they are stipulated by law, or if they are considered convincing and taken into account by the Federal Tax Service or the court.

Guilt for tax offenses can be mitigated, according to Art. 112 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the following mitigating circumstances:

a combination of difficult personal (family) circumstances (for example, poor health or disability, the presence of children or dependents, difficult financial situation, mortgage debt, etc.);
coercion to commit a crime under threats or under the influence of dependence on a person forcing the commission of an offense (for example, a boss, under threat of dismissal, forces an accountant to falsify data submitted to the INFS);
difficult financial situation of the offender;
other circumstances that the court recognizes as mitigating.

A mitigating circumstance may also be recognized as the voluntary correction by the taxpayer of incorrect information previously submitted to the tax authorities before bringing him to justice.

The presence of a similar offense in the past is considered an aggravating circumstance, which means that the punishment established by law can be increased.

Tax sanctions

According to Art. 114 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the fine can be reduced by half if there is at least one mitigating circumstance.
Conversely, the presence of such an aggravating circumstance as a repeat tax offense is punishable by an increase in the fine by 100%, that is, also doubled.

Statute of limitations for tax offenses

A tax offender cannot be held accountable by law if three years have passed since the offense (Article 113 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

The statute of limitations applies to all offenses except:

gross violation of the rules for accounting for income/expenses: lack of invoices, incorrect accounting of tangible and intangible assets, cash and financial resources (Article 120 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation);
non-payment of tax or underpayment as a result of incorrect calculation or deliberate understatement of the tax base (Article 122 of the Tax Code).

At the same time, non-payment or underpayment of tax is not recognized as an offense for a responsible participant in a consolidated organization if he was provided with incorrect information for the preparation of a tax report.

The statute of limitations for a tax violation may be suspended if the person held accountable obstructed the conduct of audits by the tax authorities. The resumption of the limitation period occurs from the moment the circumstances preventing the inspections disappear.

Statute of limitations for collecting a fine

Fines for payment or incomplete payment of tax within the period established by tax legislation, as well as penalties, are established on the basis of Art. 46, 47 Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
Tax authorities have the right to go to court if the taxpayer does not pay taxes, contributions, fines and penalties within the prescribed period (Article 48 of the Tax Code).

An application to the court with a request to collect non-payment can be filed within 6 months after the deadline for fulfilling the obligation to pay the fine has expired (Article 115 of the Tax Code).

We are preparing a petition to reduce penalties

If the organization has the status of a budgetary institution or operates in socially significant areas or organizes the supply of food products for the budgetary sector, then these circumstances can also be indicated in the application.

If the taxpayer is sure that the fine imposed by the regulatory authority is unlawful, then it is possible to challenge it. This can also be done pre-trial by writing a petition to the tax office to cancel the fine.

Objections to the tax authority’s act are submitted within the same time frame as the request for mitigation of sanctions. If the objections are not taken into account and the decision to collect a fine is nevertheless made, then the taxpayer has the opportunity to contact the Federal Tax Service with a complaint against the actions of the Federal Tax Service.

Upon review, the Federal Tax Service will make a decision:

How to file a petition to reduce a fine

After receiving a notification from the tax office about the imposition of sanctions, within 10 days an individual or organization may ask (if there are mitigating circumstances) to reduce the fine. To reduce the fine, a petition to reduce the fine in any form is submitted to the Federal Tax Service Inspectorate addressed to the head, which indicates:

name and details of the tax notice of penalty;
tax audit results;
mitigating circumstances and documents confirming them;
please reduce the fine.

The application must be signed, and if submitted by a legal entity, then certified with the seal of the individual entrepreneur (organization).

Sample petition to reduce a fine to the tax office

In the sample below, the individual entrepreneur asks to reduce the penalty for delay by several days in submitting the report.

The following are indicated as mitigating circumstances:

primacy and unintentional nature of the offense;
short period of delay.
the absence of an accountant on staff and being in the hospital, which prevented the report from being submitted on time.

If the first two factors are not included in the list of mitigating circumstances listed in Art. 112, then the third factor can be attributed to extraordinary circumstances excluding guilt. Therefore, the entrepreneur needs to submit a petition not for a reduction, but for a complete cancellation of the fine.

Circumstances mitigating punishment: sample petition to court 2021

When filing a petition for commutation of punishment, it is important to indicate reasoned and clear grounds that will be sufficient for a pardon. The completed application is sent for consideration to the president, who is replaced by a special commission created to resolve such issues.

The petition for mitigation of punishment for an administrative offense is based on the points specified in Article 4.2. Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. For example, a petition may be submitted to the tax office to reduce the fine or to change the decision of the traffic police to deprive of rights to another punishment.

Sample petition to the tax office to mitigate the fine

When drawing up an application, you must indicate:

name of the tax authority;
the person from whom the application is submitted;
the circumstances as a result of which penalties were imposed;
details of the violation detection report;
circumstances on the basis of which a request for a reduction in penalties is made.

Sample petition to the tax office to reduce the fine

Types of offense

The law defines a fairly large list of reasons why an organization may be subject to administrative penalties.

ATTENTION! The imposition of a new fine does not relieve the payment of outstanding fines.

List of the most common and common reasons for imposing a fine:

Failure to comply with the deadlines for filing a declaration provided for in Article 119 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation . In this case, the amount of the fine determines the number of days for which the delivery of the declaration to the tax inspector was delayed. Sometimes delays occur through no fault of the taxpayer. Therefore, when filing a return, you need to take into account some additional time costs.
When calculating and determining the amount of the tax deduction, the responsible person deliberately underestimates the amount of the deduction. Thus, Article 112 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation is violated.
There are no cash registers at points of sale. This means that goods are sold without providing buyers with a receipt, which means that VAT is not deducted to the state budget. With this violation, sales volume and cost of goods do not play any role.
Concealment of information about active and closed bank accounts of the company.

Most often, such violations of current tax legislation are detected during scheduled and unscheduled inspections. Such verification usually lasts 3-5 days.

ATTENTION! For those who violate the law not for the first time, and the violations are systematic, the maximum amount of the fine is assessed.

The legal framework specifies the following exceptional situations:

no penalties were imposed for the primary violation;
The second fine was imposed earlier than the initial one.

A tax return, like any other document, has a validity period. It is defined by law at 6 months. The countdown begins from the moment the violation report is issued.

After the specified period of time, any administrative punishment of an individual or legal entity is illegal.

The imposed penalty in the form of a fine may be revised downwards or completely cancelled.

The maximum reduction that is possible in accordance with the presence of mitigating factors is a reduction of the fine by 50%.

How to cancel an administrative penalty

Legal entities and commercial organizations can count on complete relief from administrative punishment in the form of a fine. Article 111 of the Tax Code contains a complete list of reasons for exemption from penalties:

The taxpayer has a serious illness.
Circumstances that the penalty officer cannot cope with (natural disasters, fires, etc.).
The taxpayer followed the instructions of other government bodies, as a result of which he violated the requirements of the tax code.
Other factors that are recognized as grounds for mitigation of punishment in court.

This is important to know: Dismissal at will: article of the Labor Code

Penalties are a fairly common result of tax audits. All taxpayers should know how to protect themselves from excessive penalties. The Tax Code provides a list of circumstances that are considered as mitigating factors.

The Tax and Duties Service administers the timeliness and correctness of calculation of tax liabilities to the budget of the Russian Federation, submission of reports and required documentation. The Federal Tax Service has the right to punish an organization or private entrepreneur for violating fiscal legislation on many grounds, but we will focus on the most widespread:

violation of reporting deadlines;
violation of deadlines for transferring payments to the budget system of the Russian Federation;
erroneous determination of the tax base when calculating liabilities;
failure to provide required documentation;
concealment of information about current accounts, changes in management, etc.

The Tax Code provides for separate articles regulating the amount of penalties. But not many people know that the amount specified in the request for payment of a fine can be reduced several times. To do this, you will need to submit a petition to the tax office to reduce the amount of the fine.

How to cancel a fine

The organization also has the right to claim a complete abolition of punishment. To do this, you need to send a request to cancel the fine to the tax office.

The circumstances under which a fine can be canceled are established in Art. 111 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, namely:

natural disaster, emergency or force majeure;
the person who committed the unlawful act was in a sick condition;
implementation of official written explanations from authorized bodies regarding the identified offense;
other circumstances that may be recognized by the Federal Tax Service or the court as mitigating.

Procedure for compilation

Let's figure out how to draw up a sample petition to the tax office to reduce the fine.

From the date of receipt of the payment request, the organization has 10 days to ask the Federal Tax Service to mitigate the punishment. It takes tax authorities no more than 10 days to consider the application if there is no need to verify the information. If there is such a need, the review will last up to 30 days (1 calendar month), in special cases - 2 months.

Expert opinion

Kostenko Tamara Pavlovna

Lawyer with 10 years of experience. Author of numerous articles, teacher of Law

The document should be drawn up according to general requirements, regardless of the taxpayer’s status. An incorrectly drawn up document will be considered void, even if the citizen or institution had legal grounds for reducing the fine.

There is no unified form, so we draw up a request to reduce the tax penalty in any form. Don't forget to provide the required information:

Full name of the head of the tax office.
Information about your organization: name, INN/KPP, address, telephone.
Name, number and date of the document establishing the tax penalty.
A detailed description of the results of the inspection performed.
Indication of mitigating factors.
Request for mitigation of punishment.
List of attached supporting documents.
Date and signature of the responsible person (manager or chief accountant).
Institutional seal, if available.

What do the law and judicial practice say? Under what circumstances can the fine be reduced?

Mitigating circumstances will help . Art.

114 of the Tax Code established that if there is at least one mitigating circumstance, then the fine must be reduced by at least half. But what circumstances are considered mitigating in relation to companies - there is not a word about this in the Tax Code.

Article 112 of the Tax Code speaks of mitigating circumstances, but in relation to individuals, not companies.

Therefore, mitigating circumstances for companies have been developed through practice. Currently the following circumstances are considered:

the insignificance of late tax payment (it is clear that if there was an on-site tax audit that discovered an underpayment, then this item will not apply);
admission of guilt and elimination of errors (for example, if the company itself paid the tax before the inspection made a decision);
the company's charitable activities;
social orientation of the taxpayer’s activities (company - agricultural producer, city-forming enterprise, etc.);
difficult financial situation of the company (liquidation, bankruptcy proceedings, seasonal nature of work, etc.);
disproportionality of the act to the severity of the punishment.

What needs to be done in practice to reduce the fine? Submit the appropriate petition. This can be done both at the stage of considering objections to the on-site inspection report and in court.