Attitude towards self-employed workers in Russia will harden in 2025

According to the data delivery platform of the Federal Tax Service (FTS), at the end of December, the number of self-employed workers in Russia reached an all-time high of almost 12.2 million people, while in December 2023 there were only 9, 3 million taxpayers. Professional income tax (IRP).

• In December, the largest number of self-employed workers worked in Moscow: 1.9 million; According to data from the Federal Tax Service, the capital continues to be a center of attraction for immigrant entrepreneurs. In second place in terms of population is the Moscow region – 844.87 thousand people, and in third place is St. Petersburg, where this business status is still relevant for 800.5 thousand inhabitants. At the end of 2024, self-employed workers mainly specialized in repair work, sectors related to road transport and IT, according to data from the Federal Tax Service.
• The income of the self-employed in December 2024 amounted to 250.3 billion rubles, while in December 2023, professional taxpayers issued checks worth 186 billion rubles (an increase of 34%). In December 2024, self-employed workers paid taxes worth 11 billion rubles, while in December 2023, 8.8 billion rubles, an increase of almost 25%.

“The state received the expected effect of the growth in the number of self-employed people: many companies came out of the shadows, the budget began to be replenished with taxes from the private practice of individuals,” explains RB.RU. Kontur.Focus expert in economic security of companies Anton Yakovlev. In addition, the individuals themselves appreciated the simplicity and convenience of working as a freelancer: it is easy for them to register and deregister, go to the tax office and pay taxes. But in the near future, the expert believes, the existence of self-employed workers may become more difficult.

The emerging trend of strengthening state control over these specialists is evidenced by the fact that freelancers were going to be required to submit reports to Rosstat, says Yakovlev. And although this innovation was not subsequently consolidated (Rosstat collects statistics through the Federal Tax Service), the additional burden could push the self-employed back into the “gray zone”.

The expert described the expansion of the list of labeled products as toughening, which caused a reduction in the number of goods that self-employed workers can sell. Thanks to this innovation, according to Yakovlev’s forecast, in 2025, with a high degree of probability, some of the self-employed will be reoriented towards the sale of goods that are not subject to labeling, or will become individual entrepreneurs if the sale of products covered by labeling was the basis of their income.

Lawyer, founder of the Kostromin legal boutique ContractCreation Evgeniy Kostromin He also believes that the legislator’s vector of thought regarding the self-employed is changing towards tightening requirements and greater control over income. In addition, one of the trends in 2025 will be control over the employment of freelancers instead of full-time employees.

“In practice, the number of cases in which the Federal Tax Service manages to reclassify a contract with a self-employed worker into an employment contract is constantly increasing, with the consequent accumulation of arrears, sanctions and fines, including tax debt. on personal income and insurance premiums, which amount to millions of rubles. The interesting thing is that more and more the courts agree with the tax authorities in the replacement of labor relations,” said the lawyer.

Another trend is the tightening of requirements for markets working with freelancers and even a complete ban on hiring such specialists. The development of this not yet published bill was confirmed by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, says the lawyer.

The hardening of the attitude towards freelancers is also evidenced by the fact that they were banned from mining cryptocurrencies and any transactions with digital currency. In addition, from March 1, 2025, the self-employed will be under the control of the FAS, and from March 1, a new wave of labeling of new product groups is expected, the lawyer added.

At the same time, a positive trend in 2025 could be the decision to gradually increase the maximum income limit from 2025 to 2028 from 2.4 million rubles to 4.2 million rubles. In addition, starting in 2025, if you lose your status, you will be able to be taxed under the PSN (patent taxation system) or AUSN (automated simplified system), instead of being deregistered with a transition to a simplified or tax system. agricultural.

As the head of the Russian Association of Self-Employed Workers Igor Zhmakin explained to RB.RUThe year 2025 for NPA taxpayers begins with a number of small changes: for example, from January 1, the number of options for choosing tax regimes has increased for former self-employed people, and in July it is planned to simplify the rules for transition. from other self-employment tax regimes. But larger-scale changes are coming, such as the Ministry of Labor’s bill on voluntary social insurance for the self-employed. According to Zhmakin, the Russian Association of Self-Employed Workers has already proposed including in the issue of social guarantees not only the possibility of receiving temporary disability benefits, but also maternity benefits.

At the end of 2024, the association approached the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Labor with its proposals to adjust the draft law on the platform economy. According to the expert, each digital platform must create its own artists’ associations, so that, in case of questions about social and labor guarantees, PAN payers can turn to a public association and not to a platform, for example a market. This redistribution of rights and responsibilities will allow significant advances in the social security model for self-employed workers.

Another trend for 2025 will be changes in legislation related to taxis. This spring, amendments to the relevant law will be submitted to the State Duma for consideration.

“Transport legislation must be adapted to the self-employed. Taxis are now the only area in which the law equates self-employed workers with personal cars and transport companies. Yandex and Maxim services are trying to launch an experimental legal regime to find adequate regulation of the taxi industry. The main subjects of this experiment will be the self-employed,” Zhmakin explained.

According to Zhmakin, self-employment, which was conceived by the state as a way to bring private traders out of the shadows, has already become an important sector of the economy. And in 2025, the number of NPA taxpayers will continue to grow and the State will have to think more and more about social guarantees for them.

“12 million self-employed people is far from the limit. If we create feasible and adequate conditions for legalization, we can safely add another 1.5 million taxi drivers, for whom it will be profitable to register as self-employed. With the increase in the number of PAN contributors, the tendency to include these citizens in a certain framework will also intensify. Both in terms of legislation and in terms of social guarantees. But it is difficult for the State to reach an agreement with such a large number of autonomous citizens who will come to the fore to dialogue,” added the expert.