THE TAX AUTHORITIES OF THE RUSIAN FEDERATION

The first part of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation states that Tax Authorities (Tax Bodies) in the Russian Federation are the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation and its territorial divisions in the Russian Federation (article 30).

According to article 31 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;

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 ortransfer) 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 ofdues 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 Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation;

7) to determine the sums of taxes to be paid by taxpayers to the budget or to the extra-budgetary funds 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 for the purpose of taxation 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 fulfillment 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 entities and individuals.