Not a sealed case

The Board of the Higher Court of Arbitration (HCA) ruled that the state authorities’ formal approach, when the demand that foreign companies provide details that they don’t have, is unlawful. AeroTradeService duty free operator, who failed to supply the TIN of its German contractor, lost the alcohol license and a shop at an airport due to this.

The legal entity seal, which the Federal Tax Service (FTS) demands for tax refunds, is the leader among the details that are not obligatorily required from foreign companies. Meanwhile Russia may soon discard seals altogether as an anachronism.

Advocate Evgeny Zhilin, Managing Partner of the Law Firm "YUST", explains that the seal is not an obligatory detail in most countries. Mr. Zhilin specifies: “The signature, which expresses the legal entity’s will through its representative, is what has the decisive significance. The public authorities should take into consideration that the companies are foreign and subject to provisions of their national laws”.