Legal address

The current legislation of Russia does not contain a definition of the concept (phrase) “legal address”, however, this term has been strengthened in business speech and is even sometimes present in official documents.

The doubtfulness of the term "legal address" follows from at least two reasons:

• Any person, as a subject of law, cannot have an address; an address may have only an object of law , and only such an object of law as real estate .

In everyday life ( colloquial language ), not only the “address of the legal entity” is often mentioned, but also the “address of the individual ”. This is an equally absurd use of the term “address”. An individual, like a legal entity, does not have an address. It has a place of residence (stay, location), which may already have an address.

• A legal entity, by virtue of its abstract being, generally cannot have such a location that would have an address. It exists in unlimited space. A legal entity may have specific property, which may have a specific address (real estate), or be located at a specific point in time at a specific address. However, being a subject, and not an object of law, it not only cannot have an address, but cannot even have the address of its location.

Civil legislation of the Russian Federation introduces a conditional concept of the location of a legal entity. According to Article 54 of the Civil Code of Russia, such a location is the place of state registration of a legal entity. At the same time, state registration of a legal entity is carried out at the location of the permanent executive body of this person, and in the absence of a permanent executive body - another body or person authorized to act on behalf of the legal entity without a power of attorney ^[1] . The term “ address ” is not used. The legislator intentionally introduces a conditional concept of the location of a legal entity , conditionally determined only by the place of its state registration, but not associated with a specific address ^[2] .

The term "Actual address", also often used in everyday life, along with the term "legal address", is not a legal term. A legal entity cannot have an address, let alone two: an “legal” and an “actual” one. In the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (Unified State Register of Legal Entities) there is an entry about the address of the location of the permanent executive body of the legal entity (for example, director ), through which a contact is made with him. No other “addresses” exist in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities ^[3] .

Meanwhile, according to the Federal Law of August 8, 2001 N 129-ФЗ “On State Registration of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs”, in case of changes in information about the legal entity included in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities , such person is obliged to inform the registrar about this within three working days authority in the prescribed manner to make appropriate changes to the register. This, in particular, applies to information about the address of the location of the permanent executive body of a legal entity. Thus, even if the legal address is the address of the location of the permanent executive body of a legal entity, the discrepancy between such an address and the actual address of the location of this body cannot last more than three business days. Violation of this order entails prosecution provided for in Article 14.25 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation ^[4]

To register a legal entity in the territorial tax, it is necessary to present a lease agreement with the provided legal address.

In turn, the tax will verify the address to the mass registration address . You can check the address for mass use the service on the website of the Federal Tax Service ^[5] .

Many banks do mass address verification.

In some regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation the term “legal address” is present, in particular this term, without defining its essence is contained in the following Russian federal laws:

• Federal Constitutional Law of June 28, 2004 No. 5-FKZ “On the Referendum of the Russian Federation” (Clause 2, Article 64)
• “Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses” dated December 30, 2001 No. 195-FZ (para. 1 part 1 of article 5.12)
• Federal Law of August 15, 1996 No. 114-ФЗ “On the Procedure for Departure from the Russian Federation and Entry into the Russian Federation” (Article 16)
• Federal Law of 02.10.2007 No. 229-ФЗ “On Enforcement Proceedings” (subparagraph 5, paragraph 3, article 6.1, paragraphs 3, paragraph 2, article 8, paragraphs 3, paragraph 2, article 9, paragraph 1.1 of article 27, paragraph 2 of article 33)
• Federal Law of May 18, 2005 No. 51-ФЗ “On the Election of Deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation” (subparagraph 2, paragraph 9, article 54, paragraph 4 of article 61)
• Federal Law of 10.01.2003 No. 19-ФЗ “On the Election of the President of the Russian Federation” (subparagraph 2, paragraph 9, article 48, paragraph 2 of article 55, note 10 to Appendix No. 3 to the Federal Law “On the election of the President of the Russian Federation” Federation ")
• Federal Law dated 12.06.2002 No. 67-ФЗ “On Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights and the Right to Participate in the Referendum of Citizens of the Russian Federation” (subparagraph “b”, paragraph 8, article 47, paragraph 2, article 54)
• Federal Law of 23.11.1995 No. 174-ФЗ “On Environmental Expertise” (Clause 3, Article 23) (uses two concepts simultaneously and “legal address” and “address (location)” of public organizations (associations))
• Federal Law of 15.11.1997 No. 143-ФЗ “On acts of civil status” (paragraph 7, paragraph 1 of article 22, paragraph 5 paragraph 1 of article 67)
• Federal Law of November 22, 1995 No. 171-ФЗ “On State Regulation of the Production and Turnover of Ethyl Alcohol, Alcohol and Alcohol-Containing Products, and on the Limitation of the Consumption (Drinking) of Alcoholic Products” (para. 4 p. 3, article 11)
• Federal Law dated 09.07.1999 No. 160-ФЗ “On Foreign Investments in the Russian Federation” (Clause 2, Article 22) (this federal law uses the term “legal address” as applied to foreign legal entities)
• Federal Law of 11.08.1995 No. 135-ФЗ “On Charitable Activities and Charitable Organizations” (Clause 2, Article 9) (regulating particular issues of state registration of charitable organizations and using the term “legal address”, this federal law does not actually use the terminology of legislation Russian Federation on state registration of legal entities)
• Federal Law of 12.06.2008 No. 88-ФЗ “Technical Regulations for Milk and Dairy Products” (subparagraph 2, paragraph 3, article 36)
• Federal Law of October 26, 2002 No. 127-ФЗ “On Insolvency (Bankruptcy)” (Paragraph 2, Clause 2, Article 22.1)
• Federal Law of July 24, 2002 No. 111-ФЗ “On Investing Funds for Financing the funded part of the labor pension in the Russian Federation” (para. 3, 7 pp. 2 paragraph 5 of article 19)
• Federal Law dated 10.12.2003 No. 173-ФЗ “On Currency Regulation and Currency Control” (subparagraph 1, paragraph 9, article 23).

• Mass Registration Address