We are drawing up a letter to remove the block from the current account

In the course of commercial activities of a legal entity or individual entrepreneur, such an unpleasant event often occurs as the suspension of account transactions or, in simpler terms, the blocking of a current account. This event, one might say, paralyzes the activities of the Company or the Entrepreneur. If an account is blocked, then you cannot carry out debit transactions on it: for example, you cannot transfer funds from it in favor of a counterparty or withdraw cash using a checkbook.

In simple words about unlocking

The seizure of non-cash funds means that the company will not be able to make payments until the sanctions are lifted. The movement of money either stops completely or extends to a certain amount. In the second case, the organization will only be able to spend money in excess of the blocked amount. Seizure of funds does not apply to the following payments:

• according to executive documents;
• on wages;
• current payments, debts on taxes, fees, insurance premiums.

The company will be able to carry out such expense transactions even if the current account is blocked.

How to withdraw money from a blocked current account

You can make a request to transfer funds to another account, and the bank may request its own commission on such a transaction in the amount of 5-20%. But the problem is that banks are extremely reluctant to serve entrepreneurs whose accounts have been blocked. Consider a backup account at another bank in advance. You can also get money under a writ of execution if your counterparty or employee sues you. Most often, such manipulations are carried out by friendly counterparties, which the regulatory authorities, of course, know about.

You can also pay taxes for other people, and thus withdraw some of the funds from the blocked account. In addition to paying taxes, you can also pay for third parties “pension” contributions, compulsory medical insurance contributions, contributions for illness and maternity. The bank will be obliged to carry out all of the above operations.

In what cases are funds blocked?

Suspension of the movement of non-cash funds of an organization is actively used by the Federal Tax Service as one of the methods of ensuring the fulfillment of taxpayer obligations. Before writing a letter to the tax office about canceling the blocking of an account, it is necessary to determine the reason for what happened. All reasons for the seizure of non-cash money are listed in Article 76 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation:

• taxes, fees, penalties, fines have not been paid upon request;
• the tax return has not been submitted;
• the receipt of the request or notification from the Federal Tax Service has not been submitted.

Read more: Why the tax office blocks an account

When a company account is frozen

The law gives the right to suspend non-cash payments of legal entities to several government agencies and financial institutions. Each case is governed by federal law and requires compliance with procedural rules. In 2021, blocking may be due to the following circumstances:

1. Tax sanctions. The territorial inspectorate has the right to freeze transactions on the account in case of delay in declarations and reports, evasion of repayment of arrears on taxes, fines, insurance premiums or penalties (Article 76 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). The Federal Tax Service may seize funds based on the results of an on-site inspection. An interim measure is applied to prevent the concealment of capital by unscrupulous managers or owners of the company (101 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).
2. Forced collection. A bailiff in whose proceedings there is an outstanding writ of execution has the right to block a current account. Article 81 of Law No. 229-FZ allows the seizure of company funds within the amount of debt. If there is not enough money, the bank freezes spending transactions. All proceeds received into the account are used for repayment.
3. Securing a claim. Freezing a company's bank account may result from legal proceedings. Participants in the process have the right to apply for the imposition of restrictions under Art. 140 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation and Art. 91 Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation.
4. Violation of law 115-FZ. If the bank has doubts about the legality of transactions, a suspension is introduced. This right is granted to financial institutions by Art. 7 of the federal act. In addition, when the company carries out a number of transactions, the account is blocked for routine verification. The list of such cases is given in Art. 6 of Law 115-FZ.

In addition, law enforcement officers can freeze an organization’s account as part of a criminal case (for example, a tax crime). The investigator/inquiry officer has the right to petition for seizure by virtue of Art. 115 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation.

What need to do

If the decision is made lawfully, eliminate its reasons, that is:

• list your tax debt;
• submit a declaration;
• send a receipt for the demand (notification) and the response to it.

To speed up the unblocking, send a letter to the tax office about unblocking non-cash transfers - address it to the Federal Tax Service at the place of registration and attach documents confirming the elimination of the violation.

Example of a letter about blocking removal

Results

Thus, the application to unblock the account is drawn up in free form. To contact the Federal Tax Service with a request to remove the blocking, you can use the proposed sample application, adapting its text to a specific situation.

Sources:

• Tax Code of the Russian Federation
• Law “On Enforcement Proceedings” dated October 2, 2007 No. 229-FZ
• Law “On Banks and Banking Activities” dated December 2, 1990 No. 395-1

You can find more complete information on the topic in ConsultantPlus. Free trial access to the system for 2 days.

What to do if cash flow is stopped illegally

Unfortunately, situations of illegal suspension of the movement of money by the Federal Tax Service are not uncommon. In this case, only a complaint to the Federal Tax Service to block the current account will help, because there is no violation on the part of the taxpayer, and, accordingly, there is nothing to eliminate. This is possible if payments were incorrectly recorded in the Federal Tax Service system by mistake or the submission of reports was not reflected due to a software error. Objections are drawn up in any form and sent by letter.

Example of an objection letter

If the inspectorate does not respond to objections when receiving a complaint to the tax office about blocking the account or responds negatively and does not unblock the money, the taxpayer remains to appeal the actions of the tax authorities to a higher organization. The actions of the Federal Tax Service can be appealed to the Office of the Federal Tax Service in your region.

Example of a letter of complaint about the actions of the Federal Tax Service

How to pay taxes

You can pay taxes through a legal or authorized representative in accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 26 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. Legal representatives are CEOs, presidents and other individuals or legal entities authorized by the organization itself to represent its interests based on a power of attorney.

When paying tax, field 24 “Purpose of payment” must contain complete information about the company for which the tax is paid (this scheme is also used when withdrawing funds from a blocked account). You can also pay not only your taxes through a legal representative, but also pay taxes for third parties. The Tax Code of the Russian Federation does not establish any restrictions in relation to another person; accordingly, such a person can be a legal or natural person with or without any relation to the taxpayer, that is, any third party (Letter of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated May 11, 2017 No. GD-4-8 / [email protected] ).

What to do if the blocking is initiated by the servicing bank

In addition to the tax office, in some cases the credit institution in which it is opened has the right to block money in a current account. To unblock the account, you will need to send an objection to the bank to block the account, because the company will not be able to use the money while the money is “frozen.” Banks are guided by the methodological recommendations of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (18-MR dated July 21, 2017).

The credit institution suspends transactions if they seem suspicious to it. At the same time, absolutely ordinary operations are sometimes regarded as suspicious. For example, an organization transfers personal income tax and insurance premiums through one bank, but does not transfer salaries through this bank, because its salary project is open in another credit institution.

To remove the block in this case, you will need to send a letter to the bank when blocking the account. In the letter, provide reasoned arguments for the legality of the transactions with funds.

Example of a letter to a credit institution

If necessary, attach supporting documents to your application: payment orders from other credit institutions, loan agreements, etc. to quickly remove all blocks.

Attach the following documents to the letter:

• copy of the passport;
• copies of documents submitted to the bank for carrying out a transaction or opening a bank account;
• a copy of the bank’s refusal message (decision) (if available);
• copies of documents submitted to the bank to eliminate the grounds on which the decision to refuse was made;
• a copy of the bank’s message about the impossibility of eliminating such grounds;
• a copy of the power of attorney or other document on the basis of which an individual acts as a representative of your company (if there is a representative);
• documents that, in your opinion, indicate that there are no grounds for refusing to carry out a transaction or conclude a bank account agreement;
• bank statements of your company as of the date of application for two years;
• balance sheet for two years;
• income statement for two years;
• balance sheets for balance sheet accounts (and their breakdown) as of the date of application for two years;
• copies of contracts with major counterparties;
• tax returns;
• copies of premises rental agreements.