Analytics and brochures

As we advised in our migration alert of 1 March 2011, Federal Law No. 385-FZ “On amending certain laws of the Russian Federation” entered into force on 15 February 2011. The law introduced amendments to the procedure for the registration of foreign citizens for migration purposes. We also noted that the State Duma was considering a draft law that would restore some of the previous procedures of migration registration, albeit modified to some extent.

Pepeliaev Group advises that according to Russian Ministry of Finance, exchange losses on foreign currency interest are not deductible fr om taxable profit wh ere such interest has been classified as dividends under clause 4 of article 269 of the Russian Tax Code (Letter No. 03-03-06/1/91 dated 11 February 2011).

Pepeliaev Group advises that the Russian Supreme Arbitration Court’s Decision No. VAS-16558/10 dated 24 January 2011 has held that clause 1.15 of the Requirements for Compiling a Tax Audit Report is invalid to the extent that it allows a tax inspectorate not to annex to the copy of a tax audit report given to the taxpayer being audited the documents which confirm breaches of tax legislation revealed during the audit.

2 March 2011 saw the publication on the official website of Russia’s Federal Financial Markets Service (the “FFMS”) of the FFMS’s Order “On approving the Regulations on the procedure and timeframes for a joint stock company to keep documents”, which stipulates changes to the list of documents which must be kept and the time periods for which they must be kept.

Pepeliaev Group advises that 22 February 2011 saw the publication on the website of the Federal Service for Supervision over Telecommunications, Information Technology and Mass Media (“Roskomnadzor”) of its Order No. 048 dated 31 December 2010 On temporary rules for administrative procedures performed by the Federal Service for Supervision over Telecommunications, Information Technology and Mass Media to grant, renew, extend and cancel licences at the licensee’s request, to issue additional copies of licences, and to provide information contained in the licence register on specific licensees while rendering the state service of licensing radio and television broadcasting.

On 26 January 2011, the Russian State Duma passed the first reading of the Draft Law “On amending article 19 of the Federal Law ‘On telecommunications’”. The Draft Law clarifies the procedural requirements for connecting communications networks and for them to cooperate with an operator which occupies a significant position in a general use telecommunications network.