“He can complicate his life simply out of greed.” The Federal Tax Service confirmed Khabib’s debts – we asked the lawyer 8 questions

Federal Tax Service seized accounts Khabib Nurmagomedova due to a debt of 297 million rubles. On July 1, the Federal Tax Service officially confirmed this in a message from .

“The basis of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s debt was non-payment of taxes, penalties and fines. This is confirmed by a decision that came into force based on the results of an on-site tax audit, completed in 2023. The decision on the on-site inspection was made on December 22, 2023. The additional amount accrued within the framework of the on-site tax audit was due to non-payment of taxes on income received from abroad for the tax period 2019 to 2021. The taxpayer was given enough time to pay his obligations. On April 23, 2024, the decision came into force. In this regard, the amount is recovered in accordance with the procedure established by law in case of non-payment upon demand,” the department said in a statement. We asked lawyer Alexander Karabanov to decipher part of the text and suggest what happened, based on the statement of the Federal Tax Service, current events and highlights of Khabib’s career.

Let’s be more specific about Khabib’s career: in April 2018, Khabib became the UFC champion, in October of the same year he had a box-office fight with Conor McGregor, and in 2019 and 2020 he defended the belt twice in Abu Dhabi in fights with Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje. In January 2020, the UFC president, answering a question about the money of the fighters of his league, estimated Khabib’s fortune at more than $ 50 million.

— What do you see, as a lawyer, in the text published yesterday by the Federal Tax Service? — question to Alexander Karabanov.

— The wording is quite clear and transparent. The tax service made it clear that an audit was conducted, Khabib Nurmagomedov owes money, and if he does not pay it, then everything will end with the initiation of a criminal case under Article 199 (tax evasion. – ), and, most likely, like our bloggers, I can assume that there will be Article 174 (money laundering. – ) … Khabib is a citizen of the Russian Federation. Based on this, he must respect and comply with the laws of the Russian Federation and is obliged to pay taxes. He probably felt that he did not know the mechanism. But he has enough money to hire a tax lawyer to join his team and consult. I consider this a lack of respect for both society and the state. Because the money from taxes paid goes to social programs, which also affects the amount of pensions, scholarships and free health insurance.

— What is an on-site inspection?

— There are two forms of verification. The first is a preliminary, documentary verification. As part of this examination, a decision is made as to whether or not to continue verifications to see if there are indications of unpaid taxes. And also at the stage of a documentary audit, the citizen receives information that he is, at the very least, wrong about something. He has the opportunity to terminate his obligations to the tax authorities.

If a person does not agree to this, the conclusion of the documentary check is transferred to the field inspection service, where tax officials have more powers and also have the right to call police officers and other government services for help, if necessary. It can be said that this stage leads to the initiation of criminal proceedings if the citizen does not pay taxes after the act is drawn up.

— What could happen next and how will the situation evolve over time?

— According to the procedure provided for in the Tax Code, a citizen has the right to appeal this decision, to make his own corrections, and he can even try to appeal the decision in court. Theoretically, from the moment the decision is made until the initiation of criminal proceedings, it can take about a year with all the appeal procedures.

— What other measures can the executive authorities take?

— The mechanism is simple and has already been tested on thousands of people. The tax inspectorate prepares the material and sends it to the investigation committee to decide whether to open a criminal case. And a criminal case will be opened here, because Article No. 199 clearly states that unpaid taxes are grounds for initiating criminal proceedings. And the fact of unpaid taxes is the conclusion of a tax audit.

— Could the arrest of the accounts lead to the fact that the necessary amount will be written off from these accounts, and then the tax office and Khabib will no longer have claims against each other?

– Yes, perhaps. As in the cases involving bloggers, any property can be seized. At the same time, as we know, Elena Blinovskaya’s husband was recently put on the federal wanted list precisely for tax evasion. So Khabib here can make her life much more difficult simply because of greed. And the state has nothing to do with it. So you should not pretend to be a victim of the regime and say how bad the situation is in Russia. He is a citizen of the Russian Federation. If everyone pays taxes, why shouldn’t he pay them?

— What does “seizure of accounts” mean? Is it when I do not have access to all the accounts linked to my Russian passport?

“I can assume that he has foreign accounts, but in general, the seizure of an account means that a person does not have the right to dispose of his property. I think that Khabib should strive to make all tax payments as quickly as possible, because penalties and fines are constantly increasing, and the amount of debt can increase several times. We can say that he is financially interested in solving his tax problem as quickly as possible.

— In 2019 and 2020, Khabib fought two fights in Abu Dhabi. Let’s say he earned $10 million. How should he, from a tax point of view, declare this money, given that he earns it in the American company UFC?

— There is an international practice. If a US citizen receives money in the Russian Federation, he files a tax return in the United States. If a Russian citizen earns money in another country, he pays money where he is a tax resident. Accordingly, Habib is obliged to submit a declaration in the reporting period, indicate where and how much he earned, and pay taxes in Russia.

The tax office divides taxpayers into residents and non-residents. Residents are those who live in Russia at least 183 calendar days a year. Citizenship does not matter. And here, a 13% tax is provided on almost all income, for example, from salaries or the sale of real estate, as well as deposits and bond coupons. True, Russia has a fairly low tax compared to the international tax system.

It is worth noting that so far the Russian Finance Ministry has only proposed introducing a five-stage progressive scale for personal income tax.

— Is it possible, in theory, to be sentenced to prison for tax evasion?

— Yes, of course, a simple example: Elena Blinovskaya is currently in custody. Now restaurateurs, bloggers, and builders are being held accountable. We have represented the interests of several people. A large number of lawsuits are currently being filed regarding taxes. The state has prioritized tax collection, but at the same time the payment system is made as transparent as possible and it is almost impossible to pay taxes without the state seeing it.

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