Tax law and tax disputes

Overview of tax events for September 2020

Overview of tax events for August 2020 In the issue: The Republic of Cyprus and Malta has agreed with Russia on amendments to the double taxation agreements; the special conditions for being recognised as a tax resident in 2020, etc.

Overview of tax events for July 2020

The Russian President has signed the following laws: easing sanctions for breaching foreign currency legislation; on implementing a tax manoeuvre in IT industry: starting from 2021, corporate profit tax will be reduced from 20% to 3%, while the rate of insurance contributions will be cut from 14% to 7.6%; on establishing a preferential regime in the Arctic for companies that intend to implement new projects there.

Overview of tax events for June 2020
The Russian Government has included in the submitted Recovery Plan for the Russian Economy measures to make currency legislation more liberal. In particular, it is planned to give up total control over foreign trade transactions and not to impose fines for the non-repatriation of proceeds in foreign currency next year.

Overview of tax events for May 2020 A law has been passed on a unified register of information about the population of Russia. The Russian Federal Tax Service will be the register’s operator.

Overview of tax events for April 2020 The Russian President has signed the law on protecting and encouraging investments for which investors have been waiting for two years.

Overview of tax events for March 2020 Russia has ratified a protocol of the annual automatic exchange of financial information between the CIS countries.

Overview of Tax events for January 2020

Starting from 1 January 2020, it has become possible to adjust tax obligations for transactions with foreign persons further to a mutual agreement procedure. 

Overview of Tax events for December 2019

Russia has joined the new OECD procedure that allows potential disputes with multinational corporations to be settled at the pre-trial stage (International Compliance Assurance Programme (ICAP) 2.0).

Overview of Tax events for November 2019

The Russian Finance Ministry and the Federal Tax Service consider as insufficiently effective their cooperation with experts from the World Bank with respect to the tax section of the Doing Business (DB) ranking. 

Overview of Tax events for October 2019 Russia was ranked 28th in 'Doing Business', the World Bank's updated ratings, moving up by three positions in comparison with last year. Russian Government officials do not agree with such a low assessment.

Overview of Tax events for September 2019 The programme of the integration of Russia and Belarus implies the partial consolidation of the economic systems of both countries starting from January 2021, including transition to a unified Tax Code, setting up a “single regulator” of the energy market and unification of customs policy. The Presidents of both countries may approve the programme by 8 December. 

Overview of Tax events for August 2019
The Russian Ministry of Finance is proposing to change the use of tax benefits in cross-border transactions in the draft of ‘Principle lines of budget, tax, and customs and tariffs policy for 2020 - 2022’.

Overview of Tax events for July 2019

The Russian Ministry of Finance is planning to include grapes used for the production of wine in the list of excisable products in 2020. 

Overview of Tax events for June 2019

The Head of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade has announced that the tax free system can be extended to cover all Russian regions by the end of 2019.

Overview of Tax events for May 2019

The Russian Ministry of Economic Development has suggested the concept of adigital special economic zone for the IT sector featuring many benefits, including tax benefits.

Overview of Tax Events for April 2019

An agreement on the labelling of products in the Eurasian Economic Union (the “EAEU”) has come into force. This agreement was signed a year ago by the heads of governments of the member states. The document grants the right to each member state of the EAEU to propose the implementation of the labelling of products in all five countries.

Overview of Tax Events for March 2019

On 15 March, a public consultation started concerning amendments to the Russian Tax Code that were drafted by the Russian Finance Ministry and are aimed at settling disputes under international transactions and many other issues.

Overview of Tax Events for February 2019

The State Duma has adopted a law to ratify a protocol to the Convention between the governments of Russia and Sweden on the avoidance of double taxation with respect to taxes on income.

Overview of Tax Events for January 2019 The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the business community have fiercely criticized the new version of the draft law by the Russian Ministry of Economic Development that regulates greenhouse gas emissions.