In Russia, 30% of companies in the simplified tax system show signs of business fragmentation

This number includes companies that pay the simplified tax system, which have so-called related organizations or individual entrepreneurs (with the same manager or founders) with the same or similar type of activity, the experts clarified.

According to them, the share of legal entities with signs of fragmentation represented 30% of all companies in the simplified tax system. If we consider this share of all taxpayers using the simplified tax system (that is, taking into account individual entrepreneurs), then it is estimated at approximately 10%, Andrei Shubin, CEO of Opora Rossii, told Vedomosti, commenting on the results. of the study. According to the Federal Tax Service, as of January 1, 2024, there were 4.4 million taxpayers in Russia using the simplified tax system, including 1.4 million legal entities and 3 million individual entrepreneurs.

Most often, “divided” companies are engaged in real estate transactions and leasing (18.5% of all legal entities in the simplified tax system), retail trade (12%), wholesale trade (10%) , catering services (5%), as well as construction (5%), according to the study.

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In fact, fragmentation is common in the real estate sector, commerce and public catering, but this business cannot be said to be unscrupulous, says Vadim Zaripov, partner at MEF Legal. In his opinion, this can be explained by a statistical feature, since a significant part of all simplified taxpayers can be concentrated in these areas.

The results of the Aktion Accounting study can be considered approximate, since the methodology does not take into account all indirect signs of fragmentation, a representative of the Federal Tax Service told Vedomosti. The service did not reveal its own calculations and “any estimate without studying specific circumstances cannot be considered the final value,” the regulator explained.

In July, an amnesty mechanism for business fragmentation began to operate in Russia. In September, the Federal Tax Service announced that it would provide clarifications on how the amnesty works, and in October the regulator responded to frequently asked questions about it.