Exemption for the Bank of Russia to Pay State Duty: Issues of Justification and Application

Abstract

The article studies the special features of the Bank of Russia legal status and the related to it issues of applying exemptions by the Central Bank provided by the Russian Federation Tax Code (hereafter RFTC) to pay state duty in particular relief from it. The issue shows the ambiguity of the Bank of Russia legal status as a legal person and a state body, its attempts to apply the exemptions subject to RFTC for federal state bodies and other persons. The article analyzes judicial practice of arbitration courts, courts of common jurisdiction and the position of the body entitled to clear up RFTC application, which has been settled in recent years. The analysis has shown in particular the actions for which the Russian Federation Central Bank paid the duty and when the bank required to return it. The article examines the cases applied by lawyers for or against the decisions on this issue, shows the ambiguity of their approaches and inconsistency. The author has paid attention to the recent change in the version of an RFTC norm providing the legal cause to exempt the Bank from paying state duty and a conclusion has been made that the decision on the legality of the exemption by the Russian Federation Central Bank is given to the disposal of courts. Finally, the conclusion has been made to amend the law to ensure a single approach to this issue including by fixing a list of cases when the Russian Federation Bank as a legal person acts in its own private interests when it must not be relieved from state duty. The analysis concludes with the fact that the issue of exempting from state duty concerns not only the Russian Federation Bank but other subjects whose legal status combines with the elements of private and public law e.g. state corporations, state companies, which has been illustrated by judicial cases.