The Federal Tax Service is trying to bankrupt the large Moscow business center “White Square”

The tax authorities have claims against the owner of White Square, one of the major Moscow business centers. They are trying to bankrupt the company on whose balance sheet the object is located. A year ago, the owner of the building, judging by court materials, had already paid off the arrears to the budget in the amount of 1.63 billion rubles. Experts do not rule out that this time the owner of office space will be able to avoid introducing a surveillance procedure. But, they warn, some potential tenants, fearing the risks, may still refuse to cooperate.

Inspectorate of the Federal Tax Service (IFTS) No. 10 for Moscow in January 2024 filed a claim with the capital’s Arbitration Court demanding that Kvartal 674-675 LLC be declared bankrupt, Kommersant found in the file of arbitration cases. On the balance sheet of this company, which is part of O1 Properties, there is the White Square business center (76 thousand sq. m of leasable area) near the Belorussky railway station in the center of Moscow, as indicated in SPARK. The amount of demands is not indicated in the claim materials; the next meeting is scheduled for March 12. The Federal Tax Service did not respond to Kommersant’s request. O1 Properties declined to comment.

If the Federal Tax Service proves the existence of a debt exceeding 300 thousand rubles, and the debtor does not repay the payment before the court hearing, then the plaintiff has a high chance of satisfying the application for recognition as insolvent, says Vladimir Khantimirov, managing partner of the Asterisk law office. But in practice, he continues, the Federal Tax Service usually bankrupts a company if the debt is not repaid within six months, and the amount of unfulfilled obligations exceeds tens of millions of rubles.

The Federal Tax Service No. 10 has already attempted to bankrupt Kvartal 674-675 LLC. At the end of 2022, the service filed a similar claim, citing an outstanding debt of 1.63 billion rubles. In February 2023, the Moscow Arbitration Court rejected the claim, finding no grounds for introducing surveillance. The case file states that this debt was repaid. A Kommersant source close to the company says that the next lawsuit from the Federal Tax Service concerns a new debt, the amount of which he did not specify.

Zoya Galeeva, managing partner of the Center for Problem Assets, says that the Federal Tax Service is one of the most frequent applicants in bankruptcy cases. She does not rule out that now the debtor can, as before, repay the debt before considering the bankruptcy petition. Remain CEO Dmitry Klapsha is confident that the situation “is technical” and the owner of the property will quickly resolve it.

However, even in this case, this may carry reputational risks. The current financial status of the landlord is always studied by the tenants, and last time, when filing a similar claim with the Federal Tax Service, there were many questions from tenants of the business center regarding the financial stability of the company, says Natalya Nikitina, head of the office real estate department at CMWP. Some companies’ security services are critical of issues that may cause additional risks or costs when moving to a new office, explains Praedium managing partner Alexander Oshurko. Therefore, this could scare off a number of large potential tenants, he agrees.

There are no risks for the existing tenants of White Square, since even if the company goes bankrupt, the lease agreement will continue to be valid, notes Mr. Oshurko. But sooner or later their contracts will expire, and this situation may affect their decision to move, the expert believes.

However, now there is not such a large selection of premises on the office real estate market. According to CORE.XP estimates, the share of vacant space in Moscow business centers is only 6.8%. This is the minimum value over the past 15 years, consultants note. There are especially few properties with large blocks, and “White Square” is one of the few buildings where you can rent a large space, but at a high rate, notes Alexander Oshurko. After Western companies left the Russian Federation, vacancy in this business center reached a record 33%.

Daria Andrianova