Automatic write-off of fines: where is the hype and where is the truth?

Validity period of traffic police fines

Many drivers are interested in the question of whether traffic police fines expire, since over time they may become the basis for a ban on crossing the state border or be expressed in the form of other consequences. This happens after two years, but few people can withstand such a period of limitation, so it is recommended not to delay and pay incoming receipts on time. Algorithm for calculating the period:

1. According to the provisions of the Administrative Code, the period begins to be calculated from the moment the resolution enters into legal force. This happens 10 days after it is issued, since at this time the opportunity to appeal it is lost.
2. In the case of a letter where there is photo or video recording of the violation, the period for appeal begins at the moment of receipt of the notification. Except when a person evades its delivery.
3. The statute of limitations for a fine begins two months after the appeal period expires. For example, Petrov V.V. received a citation for illegal parking on October 5, 2021. He could express his disagreement within 10 days, that is, until the 15th. After two years, namely on October 15, 2021, the unfulfilled fine will be canceled.
4. Problems begin 80 days after the document is drawn up. This period is not random and includes 10 days for an appeal, 60 days for payment, and 10 days for bailiffs to make a decision regarding the violator.

But one should not be deceived by such simplicity of calculation, and think that if traffic police fines expire after 2 years, then there is no need to pay them. Executive authorities have certain instruments of influence for the forced collection of debts. Therefore, deliberately brushing aside incoming receipts from the traffic police is not the best solution. Legal deadlines can only be increased if the citizen formalizes a deferment or installment payment plan. It is usually provided on the basis of an application for a period of 1 to 3 months.

How long does it take for traffic police fines to expire?

The statute of limitations for traffic police fines is exactly 2 years from the moment the decision to impose it comes into force (that is, after 10 days from the date of issuance, which are given to file a complaint). This norm is fixed in Article 31.9 of the Code of Administrative Offences.

However, due to some features of administrative proceedings, almost all traffic police fines are de facto indefinite. The explanation is as follows:

• Traffic police fines can be paid either voluntarily or forcibly.
• The voluntary method looks simple - a person transfers a sum of money to a special government account. Transfer methods can be different - it can be payment using a bank, using special electronic terminals, visiting a traffic police department, and so on.
• The compulsory method looks like this: the court or an authorized person submits a delinquency order to the bailiffs, and FSSP employees confiscate money or property to pay off the debt. However, forced collection is not considered the actual transfer of money or property in favor of the FSSP, but the very fact of transferring the decision to the bailiffs. At the same time, the statute of limitations in an administrative case does not apply to the FSSP, therefore such a debt is unlimited.
• Theoretically, a situation is possible in which FSSP employees do not receive a decision on late fines - in this case, after the expiration of the statute of limitations (2 years), the person will actually be released from punishment. However, in practice, the probability of such an event is almost zero (for example, a letter with a decree on delay was lost in the mail, and the judge forgot to resend the letter).

To consolidate the material, we will consider two main scenarios:

Installment and deferment

In some situations, the official or judge may additionally grant the offender an installment plan or deferment. Main cases:

More on the topic: Fine for tinting in 2021

What is “enforcement”

Despite the fact that after some time the traffic police fine is canceled, if it is not paid, the case is transferred to the Federal Executive Service. In this case, forced collection of funds is assumed. Proceedings begin at the end of the two months allotted by law. In general, the whole process is divided into two stages:

1. Transfer of the resolution to the Federal Executive Service.
2. Forced seizure and subsequent sale of property belonging to the defaulter.

There is no need to clarify how long it takes for traffic police fines to be written off if the debt was transferred to the FSSP for execution, since the period of 2 years does not apply to it. There is no statute of limitations at all for penalties that a person deliberately evades.

Automatic write-off of fines: where is the hype and where is the truth?

An ambiguous bill is being prepared in the State Duma. Officials want to simplify the collection of small fines, or rather, start writing them off automatically. What is actually injected?

What kind of bill is this?

A system of simplified collection of small fines may be introduced in Russia. For this purpose, amendments are being introduced to the law “On Enforcement Proceedings”, which are being prepared for the second reading. These amendments have been discussed since June. At the moment, the document is about to be approved in the second reading, Kommersant writes about this.

The fine will be collected from the bank account in an accelerated manner without initiating enforcement proceedings, with possible notification of the debtor through the government services website or via SMS. Along with the fine, the bailiffs will also withhold an enforcement fee, the minimum amount of which is 1 thousand rubles. writes the publication.

The new changes concern fines of up to 3 thousand rubles issued using cameras. On November 12, the director of the Federal Bailiff Service of Russia, Dmitry Aristov, asked the State Duma to accept them this year.

The innovation will affect millions of car owners, but is the devil as scary as our media paints him. What will actually change?

Fines will supposedly be written off immediately

In the understanding of readers, all this sounds as if fines would be collected from the violator immediately, immediately after the camera recorded the violation. And many media outlets actually write as if this is so.

However, something else is meant. Under a simplified procedure, only those fines whose payment deadline has long expired will be written off. By law, this is 70 days.

Car owners pay off most fines on their own and meet the deadlines. Moreover, there is a 50% discount on paying the fine if you pay it within twenty days.

What changes then?

The point is that amendments are being made to the law “On Enforcement Proceedings”, i.e. when all fines have already been transferred to the bailiffs.

Now, in order to write off money from the account, it is necessary to open enforcement proceedings. This happens in paper form and requires resources, paper, warehouses to store all archives. Then it is necessary for the bailiff to manually confirm the write-off.

According to the new amendments, a new procedure “execution of executive documents in a simplified manner” will appear. This will not be done by bailiffs, but by special officials from the central office of the FSSP. Next, a collection notice will be sent to the debtor in electronic or paper form. According to Kommersant's information, we are talking about notifications through the government services portal, as well as via SMS, but on the condition that the citizen has given his consent to this. Within two days, the bailiffs will write off the funds from the debtor’s bank accounts. If this is not possible, then within 20 days, then full-fledged enforcement proceedings will be initiated, including even the seizure of property.

What's good about the law?

The law is being made in order to reduce the burden on bailiffs and relieve them of unnecessary paperwork, especially for small fines of up to 3 thousand rubles. In this case, it is more than impractical and economically unprofitable for the state to create stacks of documents. Another plus is that the violator will not be included in the list of debtors on the FSSP website, this plays a positive role when issuing a loan.

What's wrong with the law?

For the debtors themselves, this law carries more negative aspects. The most important thing is that they will still be debited with a thousand rubles in addition to the fine for enforcement proceedings.

The citizen had 70 days to voluntarily pay, he missed this deadline, he must be held responsible for this, says the author of the amendments, Zarif Bayguskarov.

And secondly, they will have less time to justify the legality of the fine issued. We now have a presumption of the correctness of the camera's readings. But this is far from the case. For example, it is enough to “accidentally” turn the camera at a slightly different angle, and it already begins to overestimate the speed of the vehicle. And this is a very common situation. Previously, queues formed at the FSSP of those who did not agree with the fine. Now it will be useless.

But the most important thing is that in some cases the debtor simply may not know that he has been charged something, he may not receive a notification and may not have time to appeal the fine itself in time. For example, a person lives in one place, but is registered in another - warning letters simply will not reach him. First, it would be worth making a simplified procedure for appealing fines, and only then introducing a simplified collection of them. But alas, our car owner is a priori guilty.

In addition, the operation of departmental information systems is imperfect, which can ultimately lead to erroneous debits of money from bank accounts. Due to the fact that information from databases is not updated for a long time, other people’s fines can spread to new owners. It is also possible to write off money from namesake accounts. But the trick of the new amendments is that it will simply not be profitable for most debtors to find out and prove the truth for the sake of a couple of thousand rubles, so many will let the fines slow down.

In what cases will you still have to pay a fine?

There is no need to find out how long it takes for traffic police fines received after deprivation of rights to expire. This often happens when the driver was detained while intoxicated. The decision in this case is made by the court, and the certificate can be returned only after the debt has been fully repaid.

It is important to know! The statute of limitations also does not apply to fines that were overdue and transferred to the enforcement service. Bailiffs do not even have the concept of “nullification of debt” after a certain time.

Forced collection

If the 60-day period has expired, the FSSP may forcefully collect a fine. Bailiffs can make collections in various ways, but the following scheme is most often implemented:

• After receiving the resolution, the FSSP officer opens enforcement proceedings and sends a letter to the person at his place of residence demanding that he pay the fine within a certain period of time (usually 5-10 days).
• If the period has expired, the FSSP carries out forced confiscation of the property. Confiscation methods can be different - it can be writing off money from bank cards, confiscation of personal objects, withholding part of wages, and so on.
• Let us remind you that cases of forced collection are not subject to the statute of limitations for administrative offenses, and in the event of the death of the violator, the debt will pass to his legal heirs.

More on the topic: Fine for not wearing a seat belt

Responsibility for failure to meet deadlines

Once you find out how long it takes for unpaid traffic fines to expire, you should hurry to fulfill all your obligations. Otherwise, failure to meet deadlines will have unpleasant consequences. Any offense implies liability.

If a citizen has not contributed the money required by the fine to the regional budget, then a more serious punishment is expected:

1. Double the original amount.
2. Deprivation of rights if the amount of collection is more than 1000 rubles.
3. Arrest for 15 days.
4. Involvement in compulsory work for up to 120 hours.
5. Commencement of enforcement proceedings with forced collection.

Before the fine is reset, the violator has a long way to go, which involves receiving many letters demanding repayment of the debt. Bailiffs also use other methods of forced collection permitted by law, for example, confiscation of valuables for the required amount.

Even if you find out after what time traffic police fines are cancelled, you should not avoid the obligation to timely contribute funds to the regional budget. It is almost impossible to last 2 years without being brought to more serious liability. Therefore, to save money, it is most profitable to deposit money in the first 20 days after receiving the receipt - in this case, a discount of 50% is offered.

When does the regulation come into force?

The resolution comes into force 10 calendar days after the traffic police officer issues a fine to the violator or after the person in whose name the fines are issued has signed a notification of receipt of a registered letter with a fine. Fines for violations recorded by photo recording cameras are sent by registered mail, most often to citizens who are not registered on the State Services website.

If you do not accept a registered letter with a resolution, will it come into force? In fact, a registered letter will be considered received 30 days after receipt at the post office, even if the recipient does not come for it. That is, the resolution will become valid 30 days after it was received at the post office at the place of registration of the fined person.

Validity period of the resolution

The offender is given 10 days to appeal the decision in court. If the driver did not have time to appeal the decision within the allotted time, he can file a petition with the court to restore the appeal period.

For 2021, persons who have been issued a fine are given 60 calendar days to pay it off. At the same time, a 50% discount is provided for citizens who pay fines within 20 days after the decision on imposition of punishment comes into force.

If such a penalty is not paid within the established time frame, the violator will be given a new fine twice as large as the original one, or he may be arrested for 15 days or forced to do 120 hours of compulsory labor. However, if this does not happen and 2 years and 10 days have passed since the receipt of the decision on the administrative penalty, the fine is considered canceled and does not need to be paid.