The government will introduce a bill to exclude withheld personal income tax from the amount of theft

The Government Commission on Legislative Activities has approved a draft law prepared by the Ministry of Justice on the exclusion of paid personal income tax from the amount that forms the basis of charges in embezzlement cases. This was reported to Vedomosti by two participants in the commission’s meeting held on May 29. Amendments are made to Art. 158 of the Criminal Code (“Theft”). It is proposed to supplement the notes to the article with paragraph 5, according to which, in the case when the subject of theft is income subject to personal income tax, the amount of the specified tax withheld and paid by the tax agent in accordance with the law is not subject to inclusion in the amount of theft.

When preparing the bill, the position of the Constitutional Court (CC) from the decision of December 8, 2022 was taken into account, by virtue of which the unlawful appropriation of property in such an amount that it becomes possible to dispose of it is a mandatory sign of theft, an interlocutor in the government explained to Vedomosti. At the same time, according to him, the perpetrator receives a real opportunity to dispose of the stolen money only in relation to that part of the funds that are actually paid to him, while the amounts of mandatory payments withheld and transferred by the tax agent are not received by the perpetrator and are deprived of the opportunity to dispose of them.