Analytics and brochures

The Russian taxation outlook for 2013 may be viewed as having three main strands: transfer pricing, case law, and de-offshorisation.

As 2013 begins, a clear trend has already developed in administrative law regulation: rhetoric proclaiming liberalism and a willingness to listen to business, stands side by side with ever harsher regulation. To this end, new regulatory obligations have been imposed, some going beyond what is standard for business and all increasing the state’s power over business. 

Many taxpayers fail to use legitimate means to cut their tax burden, because they do not know that these means exist, they are afraid of having to prove their point before the tax authorities or are just unwilling to depart from their long-established accounting practice.

Currently, considerable discussion surrounds the so-called ‘Roadmap’ that is being developed by the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS). This document offers a programme of steps to develop competition between 2013 and 2018.  The Roadmap puts forward a range of measures aimed at making the FAS more independent in administrative, functional and financial terms.

The main issue in the Protocol to the DTT with Switzerland is that there are new terms regarding information exchange. These terms cover issues with regard to both the taxes within the scope of the DTT (taxes on income, capital gains, and property) and, moreover, with regard to indirect taxes (VAT and excise duty among them).

Over the past 20 years Russian business has been desperately trying to adopt and apply the best U.S. and European legal tools for corporate governance.