Bankruptcy of legal entities: consequences for the director

Bankruptcy of legal entities is a procedure that has been carried out more and more often in our country in recent years. It can happen for various reasons and is considered the best way out of a difficult financial situation. The bankruptcy law was adopted 15 years ago, but has undergone some changes over the years. Let's talk in detail about how the insolvency procedure is carried out in 2020.

Bankruptcy - what is it?

Bankruptcy (insolvency) is the inability of a debtor (individual, legal entity or state) to make payments on his debt obligations. Bankruptcy also means a judicial procedure through which the debtor goes through, during which his financial condition is determined, the circle of persons to whom the debt must be repaid , the possibility of repaying the debt with available funds and the subsequent write-off of all debts.

It is customary to call a bankrupt a specific person or organization that has gone through judicial procedures and is declared insolvent by law.

The term "bankruptcy" comes from the Italian banca rotta ("broken bench"). In ancient times, on the Apennine Peninsula, moneylenders made their transactions on special benches, which were called banks. If a moneylender went bankrupt, he would break the bench, signaling the end of his activities due to his inability to pay his debts.

Approximately the same meaning is attached to the modern concept.

Bankruptcy is the inability to pay debts and satisfy the financial demands of creditors, as well as make mandatory (for example, tax) payments. In this case, debts must last for at least 3 months, and for individuals, the amount of debt must exceed 500,000 rubles.

Only an arbitration court can declare a person or company insolvent (bankrupt) after following a strictly defined procedure, which will be discussed below.

The bankruptcy procedure, its rules and all essential details are described in Federal Law No. 127-FZ “On Insolvency (Bankruptcy)” dated September 27, 2002, with subsequent numerous amendments. For example, it became possible to recognize individuals as insolvent only from the end of 2020.

Bankruptcy of a legal entity

Where to start the bankruptcy procedure for a legal entity? An organization may be declared bankrupt if it is unable to fully pay its obligations. Let’s consider under what conditions and in what order the company’s bankruptcy mechanism should be “launched.”

Signs of bankruptcy

Signs of bankruptcy of a legal entity are the inability of the organization to fully repay accounts payable, pay wages to employees, pay taxes, and make other obligatory payments.

The presence of financial difficulties in itself does not mean that the company will necessarily be declared bankrupt. Russian legislation provides for two main signs of financial insolvency of a legal entity (Articles 3 and 6 of the Law of October 26, 2002 No. 127-FZ “On Insolvency (Bankruptcy)”):

1. The company did not repay monetary obligations to contractors, employees or the tax service for 3 months.
2. The amount of all outstanding debts, including fines and penalties (if any) exceeds 300 thousand rubles.

Some organizations have specific conditions for declaring bankruptcy - different periods of arrears on debts and different from the base amount of debt, for example:

1. Agricultural enterprises – debt in the amount of 500 thousand rubles. within 3 months (clauses 5, 6 of Article 177 of Law No. 127-FZ).
2. Credit organizations - 14 days late in payment or lack of own funds to cover debts (Article 189.8 of Law No. 127-FZ).

Who has the right and who is obliged to start bankruptcy proceedings

An organization cannot declare itself bankrupt: only an arbitration court . If a company has signs of bankruptcy, then they have the right to file an application with the judicial authorities (Articles 7, 8 of Law No. 127-FZ):

1. Employees who have not received wages or other payments for 3 months.
2. Government bodies to which the company may have financial obligations.
3. Creditors for claims confirmed by court decisions.
4. The owners of a legal entity or its director.

Above we talked about the voluntary “launch” of bankruptcy proceedings by creditors or the organization itself. But the law also provides for a number of situations when the manager is obliged to go to court with a statement that the company is insolvent (Clause 1, Article 9 of Law No. 127-FZ):

1. Paying off debts to one or more creditors will deprive the company of funds to cover other obligations.
2. The owners of the legal entity admitted the financial insolvency of the business.
3. Collections against the company's assets make it impossible to continue its activities.
4. There is arrears to employees for wages and other mandatory payments lasting more than 3 months due to a lack of funds.

Time limits and procedure for filing a bankruptcy petition

If signs of financial insolvency are detected within 1 month, the owners or head of the legal entity must file a claim with the arbitration court. The application indicates the amount of debt (total and with a list of creditors), the reasons for financial difficulties, information about claims against the bankrupt company from courts of all levels. You must also provide the court with:

• constituent documents;
• list of holders of receivables and payables;
• decision of the owner or board of directors on insolvency;
• accounting reports and property documents;

Within 15 days after filing a claim, the organization must send copies of the application to government agencies, owners, and creditors. At the same time, information about the company declaring itself bankrupt is recorded in the state register.

If a statement of financial insolvency of an organization is filed by its creditors, then evidence of the existence of outstanding debt is attached to it: contracts, invoices, reconciliation reports, etc. In some cases, based on the results of reviewing documents, the court may recognize the claims of certain creditors as unfounded.

For violations within the framework of the procedure for establishing the financial insolvency of a company, Russian legislation provides for civil, administrative and criminal liability.

Civil liability

If the company's management has caused damage to it through their actions, then they are obliged to compensate for it (Article 53.1 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). This is a general rule that applies not only in a “pre-bankruptcy” situation, but also in case of any violations committed in business management.

However, as part of the bankruptcy procedure, the “first persons” may be required not only to compensate for the losses of the organization itself, but also to repay the debt to its creditors.

In this way, the subsidiary liability of persons controlling the debtor (KDL) for the company’s obligations is realized.

The court may oblige the CDL to pay the debts of a bankrupt organization in two main cases (Articles 61.11 and 61.12 of Law No. 127-FZ):

1. If it is proven that the creditors' losses are associated with dishonest actions or inaction of responsible persons.
2. If the action or inaction of the organization’s officials did not allow timely identification of signs of bankruptcy and submission of an application to the court.

Vicarious liability may extend not only to the manager, but also to other persons who determine the activities of the company: for example, the founders of the organization or the chief accountant.

1. The founders may be accused of failing to make a decision on financial insolvency or ignoring information about the deterioration of the situation in the company.
2. The manager is responsible for actions or inactions that led to bankruptcy, as well as for failure to submit a statement of insolvency of the company to the court within the prescribed period.
3. The chief accountant may be found guilty for the lack of financial statements, documentation of property assets and the presence of distortions in these documents.

Important

The resolution of the 9th AAS dated August 30, 2018 in case No. A40-154233/2017 determined the subsidiary liability of the owner and director of Rentservice LLC in the amount of 8 million rubles. due to their failure to submit an application to the court to declare the organization bankrupt. Also, these culprits did not transfer the company’s financial documents to the bankruptcy trustee.

Administrative responsibility

If damage is caused to the interests of creditors, then the perpetrators are not only obliged to compensate for it, but may be brought to administrative liability (Articles 14.12, 14.13 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation). The reasons for such a court decision may be:

• deliberately false declaration of bankruptcy;
• deliberately “driving” a company to financial insolvency;
• concealment of property, including its re-registration to third parties, destruction or alienation;
• distortion of financial statements and destruction of documents;
• obstruction of persons involved in bankruptcy proceedings;
• violation of the procedure for filing an application in court;
• refusal to provide documents to the arbitration manager.

The punishment in this case is expressed in the form of a fine in the amount of up to 100 thousand rubles. or disqualification for up to 3 years.

Criminal liability

For fictitious or deliberate bankruptcy, as well as for violations of its procedure, the perpetrators are also brought to criminal liability (Articles 195 - 197 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The corpus delicti in this case may be:

• concealment, alienation or destruction of large assets;
• forgery of documents;
• failure to take measures to collect accounts receivable;
• obstructing the bankruptcy procedure;
• repayment of the claims of one of the creditors to the detriment of other creditors;
• deliberate and groundless refusal to pay one's obligations.

We can say that administrative and criminal liability for violations in bankruptcy are provided for practically the same acts.

The determining factor here is the amount of damage caused to creditors and other interested parties. If its value is less than 2.25 million rubles. – then the norms of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation are applied, and if this limit is exceeded, the perpetrators may be subject to criminal prosecution.

The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for much more severe punishment for violations during bankruptcy. The fine can reach 500 thousand rubles, and the term of imprisonment can be 6 years.

Conclusion

If a legal entity is experiencing serious financial difficulties, then one of the ways to resolve the situation is bankruptcy.

The bankruptcy procedure can be “launched” either at the initiative of creditors or the company itself, or without fail in cases provided for by law.

Violations related to bankruptcy may result in bringing the “top officials” of the organization to civil, administrative or criminal liability.

Purposes of bankruptcy

For a debtor, bankruptcy is a way to get rid of debts and defer the payment of fines, penalties and interest. At the end of the procedure, both an individual and a legal entity, and an individual entrepreneur are completely released from the obligation to pay debts.

For creditors, the process of declaring a debtor financially insolvent is an opportunity to receive at least something from him in payment of the debt. At the stage of competitive procedures, the debtor’s property is ensured safety, and the lessors are forcibly returned to the property transferred to the bankrupt for temporary use.

The safety of the bankrupt's property and the return of property transferred by the debtor for rent or use to other persons are ensured. If the debtor has property, at the end of the bankruptcy procedure it is sold, and the funds are used to pay off debts.

In the case of bankruptcy of legal entities, the creditor, in addition to (or instead of) cash payments on debt, may gain control over the debtor’s business, the opportunity to purchase the property of a financially insolvent person at a low price at auction, cancel the debtor’s illegal transactions and return the property.

Consequences for the director in case of bankruptcy of legal entities

The consequences of bankruptcy for company personnel are clear - loss of work, but what responsibility do managers bear? You cannot simply declare your company bankrupt in order to free yourself from the burden of debt. This procedure carries with it certain consequences, so they try to resort to it only as a last resort, when all means to save the situation have been exhausted. The exception is cases when a company is deliberately driven to bankruptcy, initially following criminal intent.

Not only the company's managers, but also its creditors or the state tax service can initiate the bankruptcy process.

The financial insolvency of a legal entity carries different responsibilities for the founders. Let's take a closer look at the example of an individual entrepreneur (individual entrepreneur) and a limited liability company (LLC).

To prevent the court from seizing all the family property of the debtor for collection against the debts of an individual entrepreneur, if the debtor is married, his wife must allocate her share from the common property before the completion of the bankruptcy process.

Consequences for founders and directors

The main significant consequence of the bankruptcy of a legal entity for the founders and directors is the liquidation of the company. According to the law, the former owners of the bankrupt are not limited in any way in their rights to further conduct business on Russian territory. Owners of an unprofitable liquidated company can open new organizations, register legal entities and individual entrepreneurs, etc.

Thus, the company's management, through bankruptcy, can get rid of an unprofitable business and start a new profitable project.

As a result of bankruptcy, debts to creditors, as well as tax debts, are written off. This is possible if, after the sale of all the debtor’s property at the stage of bankruptcy proceedings, it was not possible to repay all the claims of the bankruptcy creditors.

After the application for bankruptcy has been accepted by the arbitration court, a number of consequences arise for the debtor, which the founders and management cannot fail to take into account in their work. Thus, actual management passes to a professional manager. If at the stages of monitoring and financial recovery management is limited in its rights, then at the stage of external management and bankruptcy proceedings, managers resign their powers and transfer them to the manager.

Among the consequences of the introduction of bankruptcy proceedings for management are:

1. Possibility of claims by creditors only within the framework of insolvency proceedings (directly – prohibited).
2. Removal of arrests and enforcement proceedings from the company.
3. Prohibition on reorganization activities by management.
4. Ban on opening branches.
5. A direct ban on the issuance of dividends and distribution of profits.
6. Prohibition on concluding transactions in the amount of 5% of the value of assets.
7. Some transactions are permitted only after obtaining the prior consent of the manager.
8. Penalties, interest and penalties on unfulfilled obligations are terminated.
9. Information about the financial position of the debtor ceases to be a subject of trade secret and is placed in the public domain.
10. At the stage of bankruptcy proceedings, all the property of a legal entity is sold at open auction , and the proceeds are used to pay off debt obligations.

What is bankruptcy, its types

Let us highlight bankruptcy for those entities that the courts recognize as financially insolvent.

Types of bankruptcy:

1. Real bankruptcy. It occurs when a person is unable to pay off his debts and under no circumstances will be able to normalize his financial situation. Most often, this point is obvious to the debtor from the very beginning, but the law requires that all formalities be observed, and a decision on real bankruptcy is made only after going through the procedures provided for by law. As a result of such bankruptcy, the debtor’s property is sold, the legal entity ceases to exist, and the individual is released from debt with a certain loss of rights.
2. Technical bankruptcy. The second type of bankruptcy is “temporary”. The debtor is unable to repay debts in a specific period due to external reasons not related to his own problems. This usually happens due to the fact that someone has not repaid the debts to the potential bankrupt himself, but the possibility of receiving them later remains. Or a large order falls through, but another one comes through. At the same time, the enterprise’s activities continue as usual, no crisis phenomena are observed.
3. Intentional (intentional) bankruptcy. In this case, debts are built up purposefully, and the person initially does not intend to repay them. Assets are withdrawn or transferred to other persons. If we are talking about legal entities. face, then a type of intentional bankruptcy is fictitious bankruptcy, when financial statements are falsified, in which expenses are inflated and income is understated in order to create the appearance of insolvency. This type of bankruptcy is criminally punishable under Article 196 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

The following may go bankrupt:

• individuals;
• individual entrepreneurs;
• legal entities.

Bankruptcy of an individual

Bankruptcy of an individual means a person’s inability to pay debts totaling more than 500,000 rubles for three or more months. This amount may include loans, interest on them, mandatory payments to government agencies and other debt. The bankruptcy procedure is initiated only if it is obvious that even after selling his property, a citizen will not be able to pay off his debts.

Bankruptcy proceedings for an individual can be initiated by his creditors, the Federal Tax Service, or the person himself, who feels that he is no longer able to pay the debt, and that there is no hope in the future. The procedure lasts from 7 months to several years.

Personal bankruptcy is not a cheap matter. In 2020, in the capital of the Russian Federation, a full range of bankruptcy services for an individual cost the debtor 100-120 thousand rubles, but the maximum depends on the appetites of various intermediary law firms whose services you can use.

There are also unpleasant consequences of the procedure. For example, within 5 years, each application for a loan will have to indicate the fact of bankruptcy. For three years it will be impossible to manage a legal entity. persons. There are other, less tangible consequences.

Bankruptcy of a legal entity

This is a classic bankruptcy: the organization cannot pay debts to creditors, counterparties and the state. The minimum period for initiating bankruptcy proceedings is 3 months. The total debt to counterparties must exceed 300,000 rubles. There must also be a delay in payment of wages of at least 1 month.

Bankruptcy can be initiated by the management or owners of the company based on the results of an audit, creditors, the Social Insurance Fund and the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, as well as the prosecutor's office.

The law provides for a rather lengthy bankruptcy procedure for an organization. All stages of this process, their timing, cost for the debtor, as well as the procedure for selling property are described in this article: Bankruptcy of a legal entity - main stages, signs of legal insolvency. faces + step-by-step instructions.

At all stages of recognizing the financial insolvency of a legal entity, a specialized institute of managers is used: bankruptcy, external and administrative. Their work is paid by the debtor. Due to the fact that in Russia managers have little interest in returning legal entities. individuals to normal activities, only a small percentage of procedures result in the restoration of the organizations’ work. Most often, property goes under the hammer, creditors return a tiny part of their investments, and bankrupt founders get away with it even in situations bordering on fraudulent actions.

If an existing enterprise is declared insolvent, the main feature becomes the need to respect the rights of the workforce. We are talking about both the payment of arrears on mandatory payments (taxes and contributions to social funds) and wage arrears. Once the debt reaches 100,000 rubles within 3 or more months, bankruptcy proceedings can be initiated for the reasons mentioned (as well as for debt to counterparties).

State-owned enterprises are in a slightly different legal position than all others: their debts are paid by the state, and such a company can become bankrupt only if there is a corresponding clause in the charter.

Since an enterprise is also a legal entity. person, the procedure for bankruptcy is the same as for any other organization.

The usual procedure for declaring the financial insolvency of an enterprise can last up to a year and a half or more, but there is also a simplified 6-month algorithm, when the court is initially clear that the debtor is insolvent and it is necessary to quickly begin selling his property.

Bankruptcy of individual entrepreneurs

The bankruptcy of an individual entrepreneur carries signs of both recognition of the financial insolvency of an organization and a similar process for an individual. It also has its own characteristics. For example, individual entrepreneurs can go bankrupt with three months of debt only if the debt is at least 40% higher than the value of the individual entrepreneur’s property (both personal and used for business). Debts on credits and loans (taken specifically for business purposes, not personal) must be more than 10,000 for each creditor and more than 500,000 rubles in total. If the debt is in kind, the individual entrepreneur bankruptcy procedure cannot be carried out.

The same entities can initiate recognition of an individual entrepreneur as financially insolvent as in the case of organizations.

Read the procedure, necessary documents and other details of individual entrepreneur bankruptcy in this article: Bankruptcy of an individual entrepreneur: procedure, consequences and nuances.

The cost of bankruptcy of an individual entrepreneur turns out to be even higher than that of an organization, and on average exceeds 200,000 rubles. The minimum required to carry out all the necessary procedures using the most truncated algorithm is 45,000 rubles.

After an entrepreneur is declared financially insolvent, he is deprived of registration as an individual entrepreneur and will not be able to repeat his business activity earlier than in 5 years.

Vicarious liability

If, during an inspection of the activities of a legal entity, the arbitration manager discovers various violations, creditors may petition to bring the management or management to subsidiary liability. Moreover, the evidence must be significant for the court to grant such a request.

In this case, the liability of the LLC founder in bankruptcy will imply that the missing amount of debt to creditors will be raised through the sale of the personal property of the manager or founders. In fact, the board of the company has equal rights with individuals - the property will be sold at auction at its estimated value.

Proof of guilt in this case must take place in four stages:

1. First, you need to prove that the manager or founder had rights with which he could influence the activities of the organization in the pre-bankruptcy period (no later than two years before the company was declared insolvent to fulfill its obligations).
2. Next, it is necessary to prove that the person brought to subsidiary liability exercised his rights.
3. The third stage is finding a connection between the actions of the founder or manager and the deterioration in the performance of the legal entity (it could be caused by other factors).
4. Liability can be held only if the debtor's property is not enough to cover the debt to creditors for all claims.

The process of proving the guilt of the founder or management is quite complex, therefore, in most cases, when bankruptcy of a legal entity is filed, the director is not liable. If his interests are protected by experienced lawyers, it is almost impossible to prove guilt. The exception is cases when the interests of the state are affected. In such a situation, the management or founders of the organization will not be able to escape responsibility.

Who can be declared bankrupt

Not every debtor has the right to declare himself insolvent. A person can file such an application in court if he meets certain criteria listed in Art. 213.3 Federal Law “On Insolvency”. Firstly, a citizen’s total debt must reach 500 thousand rubles, the number of creditors and the amount of debt to each of them does not matter, and secondly, loan obligations must not be fulfilled for at least three months.

Important! You can declare yourself bankrupt even if you have a debt of less than 500 thousand rubles, if a person proves his insolvency.

A citizen is presumed to be insolvent when at least one of the circumstances listed in Art. 213.6 of the above-mentioned law:

• the person stopped paying creditors;
• over 10% of credit obligations by the debtor have not been fulfilled for more than one month;
• a citizen’s debt is higher than the value of his property;
• there is a resolution to terminate enforcement proceedings due to the person’s lack of property that can be seized.

It is worth considering that a debtor is not declared insolvent if there is reason to believe that he is able to repay the debt within a short period using his income.

Features of bankruptcy of individuals

The bankruptcy procedure for citizens cannot yet be called perfect, since too little time has passed since the introduction of new rules. At the same time, every person who decides to take such a step must understand what bankruptcy is and what consequences it brings. The process of declaring an individual insolvent has many nuances and features.

Bankruptcy procedure for an individual

The court, having considered the received application for bankruptcy, recognizes it as either justified or unfounded. In the second case, the opened case is terminated for one of the following reasons:

• the debtor does not meet the criteria of bankruptcy;
• the person’s insolvency has not been proven;
• the creditors' claims are not justified or have already been satisfied at the date of the meeting;
• There is a dispute about the right between the creditor and the debtor, which is resolved within the framework of legal proceedings.

If the bankruptcy application is recognized as justified, the court issues a ruling either on the restructuring of the citizen’s debt or on the sale of his property.

Important! At any stage of the trial, the parties have the right to enter into a settlement agreement. In this case, the proceedings are terminated.

Consequences of declaring an enterprise bankrupt

According to paragraph 1 of Art. 27 of the Law “On Insolvency (Bankruptcy)” dated October 26, 2002 No. 127-FZ (hereinafter referred to as the Law), when declaring a legal entity bankrupt, 5 procedures are applied in the order established by the court.

Thus, after completing the first procedure, observation, the debtor may be declared bankrupt by the court (Clause 1 of Article 75 of the Law) and the following may begin:

• bankruptcy proceedings;
• approval of the settlement agreement;
• termination of proceedings in this case.

If creditors have not made a decision

To make a determination, the court needs a decision from the first meeting of creditors. If at this meeting no decision is made on the application of one of the procedures, the court, in accordance with paragraph 2 of Art. 75 of the Law, interrupts the consideration of a bankruptcy case for a period not exceeding the maximum established for this category of cases (7 months under Article 51 of the Law), and obliges creditors to make a decision by the appointed deadline.

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If the court no longer has the opportunity to postpone the consideration of the case because the deadline is expiring, it, if there are grounds (petitions of the debtor's owners), introduces financial recovery, subject to the fulfillment of the security requirement. If there are no sufficient grounds to begin the above procedure, then external control is introduced. However, in this case, the court must have information that the debtor can restore its solvency, otherwise the arbitration court will declare the debtor bankrupt and open bankruptcy proceedings.

Significant Consequences

Starting from the moment the court declares the debtor company bankrupt and opens bankruptcy proceedings, the deadline for fulfilling the monetary obligations that have arisen up to this point in settlements with creditors and payment of mandatory payments begins (clause 1 of Article 126 of the Law). In addition, the accrual of all interest and penalties resulting from the debtor’s failure to timely fulfill his monetary obligations is stopped.

From this moment on, information about the debtor’s financial status ceases to be a commercial secret. All enforcement proceedings opened earlier are stopped, and all documents available in the case are transferred by the bailiffs to the bankruptcy trustee. Seizures that were previously imposed on property are lifted and the imposition of new ones is not allowed in the future.

The powers of the head of the bankrupt company are terminated, in accordance with clause 2 of Art. 126 of the Law. In this case, within three days from the date of adoption of the above court decision, the director transfers all accounting/financial documentation, seals, and property values ​​of the bankrupt to the appointed bankruptcy trustee.

Stage of completion of bankruptcy proceedings

At the end of its activities, the bankruptcy trustee draws up a report, on the basis of which the court makes a decision to complete the bankruptcy proceedings. The corresponding definition in the allotted according to paragraph 2 of Art. 149 of the Law, the deadline is sent to the territorial branch of the Federal Tax Service at the place of registration of the bankrupt.

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The court's ruling on the completion of bankruptcy proceedings serves as the basis for entering information into the Unified State Register of Legal Entities on the liquidation of the bankrupt. Making an entry in the state register about the liquidation of a legal entity is the final stage in bankruptcy proceedings (clause 4 of article 149 of the Law).

Bankruptcy of individual entrepreneurs

An individual entrepreneur is also an individual, therefore their bankruptcy procedures are identical.

In addition to all the above documents, the individual entrepreneur must provide a certificate of state registration as an individual entrepreneur, an extract from the register and a certificate of payment of taxes.

Many enterprises, banks, organizations, firms could not cope with financial crisis situations in economic policy, and as a result went bankrupt. Typically, entrepreneurs know how to declare an individual entrepreneur bankrupt, since they have lawyers on their staff.

The following cannot declare themselves bankrupt:

• government agencies;
• religious organizations;
• political parties.

The remaining entities need to go through the Arbitration Court, which will release them from loans. The initiator of filing an application for recognition of bankruptcy can be either the debtor organization or its creditors.

The reasons for filing an individual entrepreneur application are:

• accumulated debt of at least 300 thousand rubles;
• the period of arrears in payments is three months;
• salary payment was delayed.

During the bankruptcy procedure for an individual entrepreneur, a financial manager is appointed by the court, just as in the case of bankruptcy of individuals. He is a key figure in the trial. Negotiates a settlement, regulates a restructuring plan, and attends court hearings with other participants.

His responsibility is to identify the objective reasons for the company’s financial decline:

• management does not have sufficient professional level;
• an incompetent team was selected;
• errors in pricing policy;
• weak competitiveness.

Consequences of bankruptcy

For legal entities

A bankrupt legal entity ceases operations and cannot reopen. Its founders are not liable, except in cases where bankruptcy is considered intentional. In such a situation, the owners of a bankrupt company bear subsidiary liability with all their property.

If the damage from deliberate bankruptcy is significant, the founder pays a fine of 500 to 800 minimum wages, and may be imprisoned for up to 6 years. For less serious guilt (concealment and withdrawal of assets, destruction of accounting documents), the punishment will be administrative, the fine will be from 40 to 50 minimum wages, and disqualification for up to 3 years is possible.

Fictitious and deliberate bankruptcy: what is it and who needs it

The debtor is declared bankrupt if the total value of his assets, movable and immovable property is less than the total amount of debt. Only an arbitration court can make such a decision regarding a company. Despite the complexity of the situation, entrepreneurs resort to a whole range of measures aimed at simulating bankruptcy.

Legislation

Important!

Any measures aimed at simulating bankruptcy are punishable by law. In Art. 14.12. The Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation provides for administrative and criminal liability, depending on the amount of damage.

Deliberate bankruptcy is a set of measures aimed at wasting the assets of an enterprise. As a result of deliberate, unjustified investment of funds, the company becomes unable to pay off its debts. Responsibility for illegal actions of this kind is enshrined in Art. 196 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Fictitious bankruptcy is considered to be false notification of creditors, partners or commission members about the fact of bankruptcy of the company. For example, to postpone the payment of debt, an entrepreneur submits an application to the arbitration court, where he indicates false financial characteristics. Punishment for fictitious bankruptcy Art. 197 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation can be both administrative and criminal.