The expansion of the thresholds for applying the simplified tax system (STS) in 2025 and the parallel introduction of the obligation to pay value-added tax (VAT) for some entrepreneurs may make tax optimization schemes more popular through the migration of companies to regions with low income rates, RBC writes, citing experts.
Author:
https://rb.ru/author/ntihonov/
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Among these regions, Mordovia and Kalmykia stand out. In fact, this is an analogue of the Russian “internal offshores” that existed in the 1990s, incidentally, in the same regions, and this trend is likely to intensify now.
The Federal Tax Service reminds that if the tax migration turns out to be fictitious and there will be no or almost no activity in the new registration region, the courts will side with the tax authorities.
In 2025, companies with a revenue of no more than 337.5 million rubles for 9 months will be able to use the simplified tax system. And you can stay on it with revenues of up to 450 million rubles per year and the residual value of fixed assets up to 200 million rubles. Currently, these thresholds are much lower. Raising the thresholds will prevent more entrepreneurs from using the special regime. By the end of 2023, there were 4.48 million companies and individual entrepreneurs on the simplified market in Russia, of which 3.26 million showed non-zero income.
The regions themselves can set reduced rates for the simplified tax system: up to 1% for income and up to 5% for income minus expenses. In fact, the benefits of the simplified tax system are available in almost all regions (depending on the area). But it all really depends on the specific entity of the Russian Federation.
The lower “simplified” regional rates remain the reason for the transfer of activities to the “preferential” region.
“In addition, there are a large number of consulting, accounting and registration companies that actively promote business registration in regions where reduced tax rates are offered,” says Boris Fedosimov, Chairman of the Moscow City Tax and Arbitration Bar Association “Business People.”
Many people consider Kalmykia, Kurgan region, Mordovia, Udmurtia and Chechnya to be the most suitable for these purposes. Income from trade operations under the simplified tax system is fully allocated to regional budgets. For many regions, this is a significant part of revenues. For example, at the end of last year in Kalmykia this figure reached 17% of all tax revenues of the republic, in Mordovia – 7% and in Udmurtia – 9%.
“There is tax competition between regions” and it cannot be ruled out that with the increase in the thresholds of the simplified tax system, migration to regions with low rates will become more common,” said Anton Zykov, partner in the tax and legal department of DRT.
In just ten months of 2023, the registration rate of individual entrepreneurs in Kalmykia has increased by 60.7% since the beginning of the year, and in Russia the number of individual entrepreneurs has increased by only 8.3%. The number of new entrepreneurs also grew rapidly in Ingushetia (19.8%), Chechnya (19.6%), Dagestan (17.4%), Tuva (16%) and Mordovia (16%).
Individual entrepreneurs engaged in the catering business, working on the simplified taxation system and with a turnover of more than 60 million rubles, will continue to pay zero VAT after the tax reform comes into force on January 1, 2025.
Author:
Nikolai Tikhonov
Source: RB
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