April 1 is the last day car owners can pay vehicle tax without penalties. After that, late fees and a 20 percent fine are charged. In Irkutsk Region, over 500 thousand vehicles are on the tax office list, and drivers debt has reached 600 million rubles. The article explains why tax collection among individuals is falling and how tax officials and traffic police are trying to recover debts for the budget.

April 1 is the last day on which you can pay the transport tax without penalties. New deadlines have been in effect since 2007. Previously, a car owner could make an advance payment by September 15, and then transfer the remaining amount during the following year. Now, however, he is required to pay once a year and no later than April 1. After the established deadline, late fees are charged for each day of delay and penalties are applied — 20% of the amount of unpaid tax.
The database of the Federal Tax Service Administration for the Irkutsk Region contains more than 500,000 transport units (land, water, air). Most of them belong to individuals.
The most active among motorists are legal entities. The most problematic taxpayers are individuals. If the collection rate among legal entities is consistently around 95%, among “individuals” this figure decreases every year. However, according to tax officials, the reason here is not only dishonesty. Payment notices do not always reach the addressees. In addition, collection is declining because a large number of registered self-propelled machines and mechanisms are not used. It would seem that there is no need to pay transport tax for them, but the Federal Tax Service cannot remove this transport from registration on its own. This is done only at the owner’s request.
The debt of car owners in the Angara region over the past several years is 600 million rubles. In order to replenish the budget with tax revenues in a timely and full amount, specialists from the Federal Tax Service and traffic police officers conduct joint campaigns. For example, they stop drivers for inspection and check the database to see whether the motorist is listed among debtors.
Each category of vehicle owners pays in its own way. The transport tax rate depends on the engine power and the age of the vehicle.