A law came into force, according to which, from January 1, 2014, a mandatory pre-trial procedure for appealing ANY non-normative acts of tax authorities, actions or inaction of their officials is applied (clause 2 of article 138 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, clause 3 of article 3 of the Federal Law of 02.07. 2013 N 153-FZ).
At the same time, the new edition provides for exceptions from the specified procedure for appeal.
Normative acts adopted following the consideration of complaints, including appeals, can be appealed both in a higher authority and in court (paragraph 3, clause 2, article 138 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).
Normative acts of the Federal Tax Service of Russia and the actions (inaction) of its officials can be appealed only in court (paragraph 4, clause 2, article 138 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).
These changes were made to the Tax Code of the Russian Federation by the Federal Law of 02.07.2013 N 153-FZ as early as 03 August 2013. At the same time, until 01 January 2014, the rule on a mandatory pre-trial appeal procedure was valid only in relation to decisions on attracting (on refusal to attract ) to responsibility, taken on the basis of Article 101 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
It is necessary to indicate that according to paragraph 2 of clause 2 of article 138 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the pre-trial procedure is considered to be complied with by the taxpayer also if the specified person applies to the court challenging a non-normative act (actions or inaction of officials), in respect of which there was a decision was made on the complaint (appeal) within the prescribed period.