| The Ministry of Finance liberalizes taxation of small businesses On the two-year anniversary of the introduction of a special tax regime for small businesses - the so-called “simplified tax regime” - the government is preparing a surprise for small businesses. The Ministry of Finance has sent to the Cabinet of Ministers draft amendments to the Tax Code, granting the right to switch to a simplified taxation system for enterprises with an annual income of up to 14 million rubles, and not 11 million rubles, as now, a source in the Federal Tax Service (FTS) told Vremya Novostey ). That is, if your income does not exceed this threshold, then you can qualify for this tax status. The upper limit of annual income also increases, allowing you not to lose the tax “special regime” if it has already been provided to you. Now, according to the law, “kids” lose the right to “simplified” if during the year their income exceeds 15 million rubles. Now it is expected to increase this amount to 18.5 million rubles.
In addition, the amendments, prepared with the participation of specialists from the Federal Tax Service, recognize the right to use a simplified taxation system for intermediary entrepreneurs (agents distributing various dietary supplements, cosmetics, books, jewelry, etc., as well as realtors, travel agents, insurance agents).
"Simplified" was introduced in 2002 in order to push small businesses to come out of the shadows and start paying at least some taxes. “Simplers” were spared from maintaining cumbersome reporting, and instead of VAT, Unified Social Tax, income tax, profits and property taxes, a single six percent tax on annual income was introduced (or, optionally, a 15 percent tax on net profit). However, it did not turn out quite as the government intended. In practice, today only a small part of entrepreneurs can use the simplified system, since the annual turnover is below 11 million rubles. provides, in fact, not even a small, but a micro-business.
Both entrepreneurs, tax authorities, and officials of the Ministry of Finance admitted that this amount was too small. However, they did not dare to raise the bar due to fears of a sharp reduction in the number of companies operating under the regular tax system, which would lead to a lack of revenue to the regional budgets (this is where taxes from small businesses go). After lengthy calculations, the Ministry of Finance nevertheless made concessions and agreed that it was still possible to increase the “cut-off level” of small businesses. However, this gift is unlikely to greatly please entrepreneurs: the association of small businesses OPORA Russia insists on raising the annual income threshold for small businesses by two to four times.
Intermediary entrepreneurs, those who work under agency agreements from large enterprises, will probably benefit significantly from tax innovations. Six months ago, the Ministry of Finance proposed to abolish the “simplified” system for them. The justification was that small enterprises represent the interests of large ones, which allegedly implement “gray” schemes through agents and intermediaries. Now the financial department has backed down and has so far decided to refrain from transferring intermediaries to the general taxation scheme.
It was previously assumed that amendments to the Tax Code relating to small businesses would come into force in 2005. However, there is very little time left for the bill to pass through the government and the Federal Assembly. Moreover, there are several more “simplified” amendments in the Duma, which the deputies cannot figure out. In particular, an amendment that allows, within the framework of a simplified tax system, to independently decide whether to pay VAT or not. This opportunity allows the “kids” to compete on equal terms with firms that are subject to the general taxation regime. Indeed, now many organizations refuse to purchase goods from “simplified” companies only because they cannot then deduct “input” VAT.
Sergei BORISOV, President of the Association of Small Businesses "OPORA Russia":
-- To define the concept of “small business” we have a kind of flat scale based on two criteria - number and annual income. This is not enough to identify all those who need government support to create their own business.
For microbusinesses, the proposed changes to the Tax Code will, of course, partly simplify relations with the state; more entrepreneurs will be able to use the “simplified system,” but medium-sized businesses, which actually create the bulk of jobs, are still left out of the changes. Irina SKLYAROVA |
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