The Ministry of Digital Development and the Federal Tax Service began discussing tax incentives for pentest companies – Kommersant

Now domestic IT companies included in the registry of the Ministry of Digital Development can receive tax benefits and other industrial benefits. Until July 2024, IT companies maintained a zero income tax rate; In June, the government approved it at 5% until 2030.

The Federal Tax Service “categorically refuses to classify pentest services as IT activities,” Sergei Makhno, head of the tax practice at the law firm Gareev, Makhno and Kasyan, told the publication.

The tax service, according to him, sees no reason to make profits if the contracts for the provision of services do not contain the words “adaptation” (software), “modification” and “testing”. Pentest does not always involve changing the code or software under study, but only identifying vulnerabilities, explains the expert.

The Ministry of Digital Development believes that any domestic IT company that “meets the necessary criteria” can receive tax benefits. One of them is the need to receive at least 70% of your income from IT activities.

Omar Ganiev, CEO of the independent pentest company DeteAct, believes that the expanded wording of Art. 284 Tax Code of the Russian Federation. In their opinion, it is necessary to stipulate that consulting services for vulnerability analysis relate to IT activities and the income can be included in the calculation of profit criteria.

RB.RU talked about who the white hackers are and what non-standard methods of cybersecurity verification are currently used. Pentesters are specialists in legal hacking. Its methods allow the system to be tested without the company’s employees realizing it.