Tax law and tax disputes

The procedure is being changed for gaining access to a company’s information systems in the event of tax monitoring On 13 March 2023 the Russian Federal Tax Service signed Order No. ED-7-23/163@, which regulates the procedure for information systems of companies applying tax monitoring to integrate with the Nalog-3 Automated Information System.

Numerous amendments to tax legislation have been adopted Numerous amendments to tax legislation have been adopted, including those related to the special military operation.

Measures of support have been adopted for mobilised individuals and companies that they own The Russian Government has extended deadlines for making mandatory payments and for submitting tax reports and has established other measures of support for mobilised individuals and companies that they own.

New tax benefits for IT companies: the state continues to stimulate the domestic information technology industry On 14 July 2022, a law  came into force that introduced new measures to stimulate the domestic information technology industry. In particular, the conditions for obtaining tax benefits have been simplified, and the corporate profit tax rate has been reduced to zero for 2022-2024.

The unified tax account and aggregate tax obligation are introduced From 2023 all tax obligations will be booked in the aggregate on a unified account. The procedure is changing for taxes to be paid, for overpayments to be reimbursed and for debts to be recovered.

The Tax Code has been supplemented with chapter 3.6, which establishes taxation specifics of implementing an APECI Pepeliaev Group advises that on 28 June 2022, two federal laws were adopted that amend the Tax Code and Federal Law “On protecting and encouraging capital investments in the Russian Federation” and that are aimed at improving the mechanism of APECIs.

The deadlines for the payment of insurance premiums have been extended by a year for a number of categories of payers

The Government’s Decree No. 776 dated 29 April 2022.

The Russian Government has extended the deadlines for the payment of insurance premiums by a year for a number of categories of payers.

The Government put before the State Duma a draft law on the taxation of digital rights On 14 April 2022 the Government put before the State Duma a draft law on the taxation of digital rights (transactions with digital financial assets).

The Russian Federal Tax Service has confirmed that it is legal to separate IT units into individual legal entities in order to receive tax benefits Pepeliaev Group advises that, according to the position of the Russian Federal Tax Service, the reorganisation of a legal entity as a result of which a standalone IT company is created cannot be considered by tax authorities to be a distortion of facts of economic life and qualify as the application of a tax evasion scheme.

The deadline has been extended for profit tax to be paid in advance in March Pepeliaev Group advises that the Russian Government has extended by a month, until 28 April, the deadline for profit tax to be paid in advance. It was due to expire on 28 March.

Amendments to the special administrative region (SAR) regime. Part I: new benefits and new requirements The regulation of the activities of the SAR residents have been amended. A new law has been published that extends the list of tax benefits for international holding companies (“IHCs”) (Federal Law No. 66-FZ dated 26 March 2022). In addition, on 25 March 2022, Federal Law No. 18-FZ dated 25 February 2022 comes into force, which introduces additional requirements to apply tax benefits and provides for the possibility of obtaining the status of an ICH for Russian companies as well. We have considered the amendments proposed by these laws in aggregate and as completely interdependent.

The law has been passed on measures of tax support for business Pepeliaev Group advises that, on 22 March 2022, the State Duma (the lower house of Russia’s parliament) passed the law containing a package of tax measures to support business.