The business association “Opora Rossii” proposed that the Federal Tax Service develop clear criteria for the dissolution of a company in order to implement its tax amnesty. The order to apply a tax amnesty was previously given by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Irina Egorova, head of the corporate and tax practice at the Intercession law firm, considers it unlikely that clear criteria for business division will be established in the tax code.
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“In my opinion, it is unlikely that clear criteria for the division of businesses will be established, but if such a thing is discussed, then, of course, this will greatly limit the capabilities of the tax authority, since the schemes change and do not They are identical for different taxpayers and in different sectors of the economy,” Egorova points out.
He explained that the initiative will expand opportunities for taxpayers, who “will be able to circumvent these regulations to create new, more complex and sophisticated business fragmentation schemes.”
Opora Rossii sees other difficulties. In a letter from the Federal Tax Service, cited by RBC, the business association indicated that the implementation of the tax amnesty for business fragmentation is complicated by the lack of clear criteria for fragmentation and the motivation of companies to subsequently whitewash.
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Egorova believes that the main criterion for breaking up a company can only be one: the deliberate reduction of taxpayers in their tax liability. “That is, when it is established that the taxpayer understands that he is “moving away” from the simplified tax regime, and artificially creates a business structure that will allow him to maintain this regime,” says the expert.
At the same time, Egorova sees the difficulty of getting the taxpayer to admit the successful use of a yet-to-be-identified tax optimization plan.
“Currently, in the Tax Code there is a provision according to which, if a taxpayer declares his arrears on his own, no fines will be applied (but he will have to pay the arrears). A simplified business pays a minimum tax, while under the basic tax regime 20% income tax and 20% VAT are paid. And the delays due to business fragmentation are colossal, they can reach 40% or more,” says the expert.
At the same time, the representative of Intercession noted that one cannot speak of the complete absence of legal regulation of the issue of business division: “There is article 54.1 in the Tax Code, which was introduced in 2017. Paragraph 1 says that “A taxpayer cannot reduce the tax base as a result of a distortion of information about the facts of economic life.”
The problem of business fragmentation is one of the most important and complex issues in the field of tax administration, Opora Rossii previously reported. From 2018 to 2023, the total amount of additional tax burdens in cases of fragmentation amounted to 56 billion rubles; The courts considered 643 such cases.
Author:
Anastasia Marina
Source: RB
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