Article 31. The Rights of the Tax Bodies

1. The tax bodies shall have the right;

1) to demand from a taxpayer or a tax agent documents in the forms established by state bodies and local self-government bodies to serve as grounds for the calculation and payment (deductions and transfers) of taxes, and also explanations and documents confirming the correctness of calculation and timeliness of payment (deduction and transfer) of taxes;

2) to carry on tax inspections in the order prescribed by this Code;

3) to make a seizure of documents, during tax inspections of a taxpayer or a tax agent, testifying to the commission of tax offences in cases when there are sufficient grounds to believe that these documents will be destroyed, concealed, changed or replaced;

4) to summon to tax bodies taxpayers, payers of dues or tax agents to give pertinent explanations by means of written notices in connection with the payment (deduction or transfer) of taxes by them or in connection with a tax inspection, and also in other cases associated with the execution by them of the legislation on taxes and dues;

5) to suspend transactions in the accounts of taxpayers, payers of dues and tax agents in banks and to distrain the property of taxpayers, payers of dues and tax agents in the order prescribed by this Code;

6) to examine (inspect) workrooms, depots, trading and other premises and areas used by taxpayers to derive income or connected with the maintenance of the objects of taxation, regardless of their place of location, to draw up an inventory of the property belonging to taxpayers. The procedure for drawing up an inventory of the taxpayer's property during a tax inspection shall be endorsed by the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Taxes and Dues of the Russian Federation;

7) to determine the sums of taxes to be paid by taxpayers to the budget or to the extra-budgetary Hinds and calculated on the basis of available information about a taxpayer, and also of the data on other similar taxpayers in case of the refusal of the taxpayer to admit tax officials to examination (inspection) of workrooms, depots, trading and other premises and areas, used by the taxpayer to derive income or connected with the maintenance of taxation, in case of the refusal to submit to a tax body documents necessary for the calculation of taxes during more than two months, in case of the absence of the record-keeping of incomes and expenses, of the objects of taxation, and in case of keeping a record with the contravention of the established order that has led to the impossibility of computing taxes;

8) to demand that taxpayers, tax agents and their representatives should remove the revealed breaches of the legislation on taxes and dues and to control the fulfilment of said requirements;

9) to recover tax and due arrears, and also penalties in the order established by this Code;

10) to control the compliance of big expenses of natural persons with their incomes;

11) to demand from banks documents confirming the execution of payment orders of taxpayers, payers of dues and tax agents and the fulfilment of collection letters (orders) of tax bodies on the write-off of the amounts of taxes and penalties from the accounts of tax payers, payers of dues and tax agents;

12) to attract specialists, experts and interpreters for tax control;

13) to summon as witnesses persons who may know any circumstances of relevance to tax control;

14) to apply for the cancellation or suspension the validity of licenses issued for the engagement in certain activities to juridical and natural persons;

15) to set up tax posts in the order prescribed by this Code;

16) to bring the following actions in courts of general jurisdiction or in courts of arbitration:

actions of recovery of tax sanctions from persons who breached the legislation on taxes and dues; actions of the recognition as invalid of the state registration of a legal entity or of the state registration of a natural person in the capacity of an individual entrepreneur; actions for the liquidation of an organisation of any organisational structure or legal status on the grounds established by the legislation of the Russian Federation; actions for the early dissolution of a contract of tax credit and a contract of investment tax credit;

actions of the recovery of the indebtedness of taxes duties which correspond to penalties and fines by the budgets or the extra-budgetary funds, if this indebtedness is attributed for more than three months to the organisations, which under the civil legislation of the Russian Federation dependent (affiliate) companies (enterprises, from the corresponding basic (prevalent, participating) companies (partnerships, enterprises), when their bank accounts receive the proceeds from the sold goods (works, services) of (subsidiary) companies or enterprises, and also to the organisations which are under the civil legislation of the Russian Federation basic (prevalent, participating) companies (partnerships, enterprises), and from the dependent (subsidiary) companies or enterprises, when their bank account receive the proceeds from the sold goods (works, services) of the basic (prevalent, participating) companies (partnerships, enterprises); in other cases provided for by this Code.

2. The tax bodies shall also exercise other rights provided for by this Code.

3. In cases stipulated by the legislation on taxes and duties, the Ministry of Taxes and Dues of the Russian Federation shall approve, within its terms of reference, the forms of applications for registration by tax bodies, the forms of calculations of taxes, and the forms of tax declarations, and shall establish the procedure for their completion, all of which shall be binding on the taxpayers.