Marat Safiullin: ‘Due to the lack of transparency of trades, a small group of people receives bankrupt assets for next to nothing’

The head of the Federal Tax Service of the Republic of Tatarstan on the first results of the marketplace for the sale of debtors' property

Marat Safiullin: ‘Due to the lack of transparency of trades, a small group of people receives bankrupt assets for next to nothing’
Photo: предоставлено пресс-службой раиса Татарстана

Tatarstan became a pilot region where the Bankruptcy Property Showcase marketplace was launched last spring. With the help of the platform, the republic wants to increase the efficiency and achieve transparency in the sale of debtors' property, increasing the circle of potential buyers. Head of the Federal Tax Service of Russia for the Republic of Tatarstan Marat Safiullin told Realnoe Vremya more about the project and the first results of the marketplace.

“The number of insolvency procedures has increased more than 4.5 times”

Mr Safiullin, how did the idea to launch a new service for the sale of bankrupt property come about? Is it really necessary for insolvency procedures?

For over 20 years, the tax service, in addition to its main functions, has represented the interests of the Russian Federation in bankruptcy cases and procedures. If at the beginning there were about 500 procedures, now there are already about 11,000. Over the past five years, the number of insolvency procedures has increased more than 4.5 times, mainly, of course, due to the bankruptcy of individuals — they account for 91% of the procedures. Such figures indicate an increasing demand for the institution.

Practice shows that all procedures that should work for different types of insolvency: observation, external management, financial recovery, sale of property and restructuring of debt of individuals, ultimately come down to a liquidation focus. And this means that the debtor is obliged to sell all his property to settle accounts with creditors. And not just sell, but at electronic auctions of one or more of more than 40 trading platforms. The new project is designed to combine information on the sales of all objects in Russia in one place.

For over 20 years, the tax service, in addition to its main functions, has represented the interests of the Russian Federation in bankruptcy cases and procedures. Анастасия Фартыгина / realnoevremya.ru

Since the tax authorities have been a permanent creditor in bankruptcy procedures for quite a long time, this allows us to see bottlenecks and make this area, which remains frightening for many, more open, understandable and as marketable as possible. It is the opacity of bankruptcy auctions that leads to certain groups of people receiving assets for next to nothing, while creditors and debtors suffer economic losses. As a result, buyers who purchase property from “resellers” can no longer “regulate” the price.

In anticipation of changes in the existing legislation, the Federal Tax Service, together with the developer, created the Bankrupt Property Showcase marketplace. The Federal Tax Service of Russia for the Republic of Tatarstan first became the ideological inspirer, coordinator and controller of the new resource, and eventually the discoverer. Messages about the sale of assets of bankrupts registered in Tatarstan have been posted on this showcase since March 2024.

Bankruptcy property sold for half a billion rubles

Is this like a site with ads for the sale of real estate or cars? What kind of property can you buy here?

The marketplace contains ads for the sale of real estate, land and transport, which can be of interest to anyone. There is also equipment, accounts receivable of the business community, a ready-made business — assets for both investment and for developing your own business.

On the showcase, the entire bankruptcy estate — the so-called property of bankrupts — is presented in an intuitive form. Exactly the same way as goods are sold on popular sites. Data with photographs, user characteristics, “hints” and links to official sources: the Russian Register, State Traffic Inspectorate, Unified Federal Register of Bankruptcy Information, Yandex Maps. The resource is maximally automated, which also eliminates errors associated with the human factor. We advocate the purity and transparency of data. The service is designed for a wide range of consumers. Access to data is free and without registration. The most popular lots were accounts receivable — claims against 50 debtors were sold.

To what extent did this project meet expectations for the sale of bankrupt property?

During the pilot period, the number of advertisements for the sale of various property of bankrupts of the republic doubled, now it is 455 advertisements. In 2024, more than 180 objects were sold for about 500 million rubles. The most popular lots were land and real estate — 62 objects were sold, accounts receivable — claims against 49 debtors were sold, as well as cars — 44 vehicles found new owners. Sales data reflect the peculiarity of purchasing goods through auctions: the price can “play,” or rather, it is regulated by potential buyers. Thus, the total price of 181 objects was 53% of the starting price. Moreover, if we consider each auction, we will see that when selling 43 objects, the initial price increased by 43%. If we talk about the results for the budget, then from the proceeds of the bankrupts it was possible to pay off their debt on taxes, fees and insurance premiums in the amount of more than 200 million rubles.

44 vehicles that belonged to debtors were sold from the marketplace. Максим Платонов / realnoevremya.ru

For the convenience of users of the resource, filters are provided: by territory (region of the debtor or the region where the property is sold), type of auction, status of the property, price and time of sale. In each type of property, a separate category can be distinguished, for example:

  • by type of real estate (residential, non-residential, land plots);
  • by vehicles (cars, trucks, public, trailers, special equipment, agricultural machinery, water transport, air transport, motor transport, railway transport, other);
  • by equipment (expensive, industrial, medical, agricultural, measuring, electronic, lifting, office, other).

Moreover, real estate, transport and accounts receivable have additional filtering. For example, for vehicles, it is possible to set parameters such as year of manufacture, model, mileage, body type, etc. You can filter ads and send links in messengers.

“In the future, data will be opened for other regions of Russia”

Property is sold on trading platforms, of which there are quite a lot today. The main ones are METS (Interregional Electronic Trading System), the Russian Auction House, the Center for Remote Trading, etc. And our marketplace is a free guide between the bankrupt seller and the buyer. It helps them find each other quickly and easily.

Each ad contains information about the sale price, the status of the auction (the period of the auction) and where it is held. The link in the ad takes you to the trading platform where the sale of the property is taking place. The result of cooperation with the largest trading platform METS was the ability to follow the link directly to the lot for sale. For the rest, when going to the website of the trading platform, you can find the auction for the selected product through the TIN of the bankrupt seller, which is also contained in the ad card.

In each type of property, you can highlight a separate category, for example, by type of real estate: residential, non-residential, land. Максим Платонов / realnoevremya.ru

The ad has a “contact” button. You can leave information about yourself in this tab. Communication with the arbitration manager — the seller of the bankrupt property will be organized. Each ad contains detailed instructions on how to purchase the product yourself. For those who do not want to delve into the topic of the auction, the marketplace provides the services of three agents to choose from, who will do everything for the buyer — organize the transaction, as they say, “turnkey.”

What are the plans for the pilot project for this year?

In the future, we have a gradual opening of data for other regions of Russia. I believe that over time, all arbitration managers will become active users of the resource. They are primarily interested in quickly and effectively selling the bankruptcy estate. Thirty-five arbitration managers working in the republic are already participating in the pilot project and publishing sales announcements on the platform. We hope that it will become a familiar and recognizable marketplace for citizens and businesses.

Realnoe Vremya online newspaper

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