A brief presentation of the essay on the subsidiary liability of shareholders and directors by comparing the approach adopted by the Russian Courts – as recently confirmed by the Supreme Courts – with those of other legal systems, the Italian one in particular, to the debated topic of the identification of the circumstances the occurrence of which make it possible to pierce the corporate veil, a topic that would deserve further attention by the Italian legislators, too. 

The existence of a legal entity can be compared with human life, i.e. establishment (birth), activities (human life) and liquidation (death). However, in each of the comparable phenomena above, from the point of view of law, there are significant differences. In the framework of this article, we focus on the consideration of the legal ‘death’ (liquidation) of legal entities, and study this issue in relation to certain types of corporations (business entities).

Президиум Верховного Суда РФ утвердил Обзор судебной практики разрешения споров, связанных с установлением в процедурах банкротства требований лиц, контролирующих должника и аффилированных с ним лиц.

В Обзоре даны важные разъяснения относительно специфики участия в делах о банкротстве лиц, аффилированных с должником и (или) контролирующих его деятельность.

On December 21, 2017, the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation adopted the resolution regarding the liability of the controlling persons in the event of company bankruptcy. The resolution clarified the application of the new law No. 266-FZ dated July 29, 2017 that introduced amendments to the Russian Law on Bankruptcy, including the new chapter III.2 “Liability of the debtor’s executive and other persons in a bankruptcy case.”

Second stage of the tax amnesty in Russia

A Law extending the tax amnesty of capital and the tax-free liquidation of foreign companies entered into force in Russia on 1 March 2018. The tax amnesty has been extended until the end of February 2019.

General context

The statutory regulation of cryptocurrency in Russia is yet to be made compatible with the current dynamics of digital assets.

On March 23 2017 the Federal Tax Service issued a notification entitled On Identifying the Circumstances of an Unjustified Tax Benefit (ED-5-9/547@), which summarises the law enforcement practice associated with assessing the validity of a tax benefit in disputes relating to bad-faith contracting parties.

This review concerns a number of amendments to Federal Law "On insolvency"1 (the "Law") introduced by federal laws No. 222-FZ2 and No. 488-FZ3, and the interpretation of the amendments in the Review of Court Practice on Matters Related to Participation of State Authorities in Insolvency Proceedings and Procedures Applicable in these Proceedings, approved by the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on 20 December 2016 (the "Review").

This review covers the following most important amendments:

On July 31, 2017, the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York recognized a Russian insolvency proceeding as a foreign main proceeding under chapter 15 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code (“Code”), concluding that (i) a retainer deposited with the debtor’s attorneys in the U.S. was sufficient property within the United States to establish jurisdiction over a debtor under section 109(a) of the Code and (ii) the Russian insolvency proceeding was not “manifestly contrary to public policy of the United States.”

Russia's bankruptcy law (the Law) has been amended to expand the list of persons who may be held vicariously liable for a bankrupt's debts and clarify the grounds for such liability.1

Definition of controlling person clarified