The difference between a penalty and a fine.

The legislation of the Russian Federation provides for the application of such types of sanctions as penalties and fines in various legal relations. What is their specificity?

What is the default interest?

Under penalty interest, the legislation of the Russian Federation prescribes to mean a sanction involving payment by an obliged subject - under an agreement or by virtue of established rules of law - an amount that is charged for each day relative to the moment the corresponding subject fails to fulfill its obligations in the established term. For example, actions related to the payment of taxes, the supply of goods or the provision of services.

The usual practice of calculating penalties in the Russian Federation is an increase in the amount payable by the obligated party based on the refinancing rate of the Central Bank, which is set as a percentage per annum. If, for example, an organization must transfer a payment to the budget for 2015 in the amount of 140,000 rubles and does not fulfill this obligation within 3 months of 2016, then the penalty for this payment will be 11% per annum (the rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation established at the end of April 2016) calculated for 300 days (according to the rules of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation) and calculated for the corresponding period of time.

How to calculate it?

First, we calculate the daily penalty by dividing 11% of 140,000 by 300. It turns out, if rounded up a little, 51.33 rubles. Then we multiply this figure by 91 - the number of days in January, February and March 2016. It turns out 4,671.03 rubles. This is the tax penalty.

What is a fine?

Under a fine, the legislation of the Russian Federation prescribes to understand, again, a sanction for failure to comply with the terms of the contract or the requirements of the legislation within a specified period - but calculated in a fixed amount. As a rule, as a percentage of the amount of obligations of one person to a partner or the state.

For example, if a company fails to pay tax in the amount of 100,000 rubles on time, it will be obliged to pay a fixed fine to the state. In accordance with the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, it can be 20-40% of the amount owed to the budget of the Russian Federation.

It can be noted that in civil contracts concluded between individuals, a sanction similar in legal nature to a fine is most often referred to as a forfeit. But it would not be a mistake to use the concept of a penalty in the contract. The term "forfeit", in turn, is practically not used in legal relations in the tax area and other areas regulated by the norms of administrative law.

Comparison

The main difference between a penalty and a fine is that the first sanction presupposes a daily increase in the payment obligations of the subject of legal relations who violated the terms of the contract or the norms of the law - until this subject pays duty. A fine is a fixed sanction that does not increase over time, but is also subject to mandatory payment - even if the obligated party has paid off the principal.

Having determined what is the difference between a penalty and a fine, let us fix the conclusions in the table.

Table

Penalty Penalty
What do they have in common?
Penalty and fine are sanctions involving an increase in the amount of debt of the subject of legal relations under a contract or under the law due to a violation of his obligations
What is the difference between them? ​​
Assumes a daily increase in the amount of debt from the moment of delay in its payment (for example, in accordance with the refinancing rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation)Assumes an increase in the amount of debt in the moment of delay in its payment by a fixed amount
.