Like Deripaska, Rotenbergs, Tinkov and other Russian businessmen are hiding from luxury tax

Value added tax (VAT) is paid by buyers of coffee and tea, milk and wine, machines and scooters; Do not pay - buyers of drugs, wheelchairs and ... private aircraft. How did the luxurious jets of the oligarchs turn out to be de facto equated with medical products?

... Maine Island is a small state in the Irish Sea with a population of about 85 thousand people. In the ports of the island, as guides write, you will not meet chic yachts, but luxury yachts around the world go under the flags of Man. Private aircraft, on which the most wealthy people of the Earth move, are also often registered under the Mansky numbers.

His air register appeared on the island only in 2007, but since then it has been very popular among private aircraft owners. A loophole in tax legislation and a special tax practice allow Jet owners to bring them to Europe without paying VAT. Therefore, almost the entire top of the Russian Forbes list has acquired companies on the island of Maine for its private aircraft.

The details of this process became known as a result of leakage of documents from Appleby, one of the world's largest firms for the provision of offshore legal services. These documents were received by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, which in turn shared them with the international consortium of journalists-investigators (ICIJ). Dozens of media from all over the world took part in a joint investigation. The only Russian partner of the project was the New Gazeta.

The documents we have studied in details tell how and how much they save on the consumption tax of those who have not saved on consumption for a long time.

Over the past 10 years, a thousand private aircraft have been registered on the island of Men. The authorities of the country, in which there is only one airport, call their register of aircraft 6th in size in the world.

In order not to pay VAT when the jets imports to the EU, the owners of the aircraft draw them up for companies from the islands of Maine, who, in turn, rent aircraft as if to their final owners. This is how it works in practice.

Rotenbergs brothers

The Rotenberg family, who earned most of their condition on the money of state -owned companies and the budget of Russia, registered three aircraft on the island of Menn at once. The older brother Arkady acquired a comfortable Global XRS; It is popular primarily because of a large salon containing up to 16 people.

In a letter to Appleby, representatives of Arkady Rotenberg separately clarify that the aircraft will be used “for the personal needs of the owner”, the owner, his family, friends and subordinates will fly on it. The “chiefs of the owner” are also mentioned as potential passengers of the aircraft. Given that Arkady Rotenberg is the final owner of the business, one can only guess who can be considered his boss.

“The client wants to import a plane from Canada into the European Union and is looking for jurisdiction favorable in terms of VAT,” writes Rotenberg representative.

Appleby employees offer a rather complex corporate scheme, which allows you to not pay value added tax at all.

For this, a whole chain of firms is used:

• The company in the British Virgin Islands is an official owner of the aircraft. This company opens a branch on the island of Men

• The branch on the island of Maine is registered as a taxpayer on the island, he also officially imports the aircraft in the eurozone. But the end user is the third company on the papers

• The company in Cyprus - takes the plane for rent.

Thus, the aircraft officially does not fall into the hands of the real owner, but is used as an asset in a business rental business.

Therefore, the owner of the VAT has the right to compensate for the VAT, even though Rotenberg puts the plane leasing to himself and uses it as personal transport.

When importing his Global XRS, Arkady Rotenberg paid for corporate services near 13.5 thousand pounds (about 650 thousand rubles) plus further annual payments of about 4 thousand pounds (about 200 thousand rubles) to maintain a corporate structure. However, the amount of saved tax on his plane amounted to more than 5.5 million pounds (more than 267 million rubles).

According to the exactly the same scheme, he entered his Bombardier Global 5000 into the European Union and the brother of Arkady - Boris Rotenberg. With a wingspan of 23 meters, this long -range plane is able to fly even from short runways and land in hard -to -reach mountain airports.

People who worked with the Rotenberg family presented Appleby and the family of Oleg Deripaska, who also brought his private plane to Europe on “favorable conditions” in terms of VAT.

"The Devil lies in detail"

Several lawyers and an employee of the tax service, having familiarized themselves with a similar scheme, called it “tax optimization”, but noted that they did not consider it illegal. “This is rather optimization than the evasion scheme,” says the tax service officer, to whom the New Gazeta addressed. “But the devil always lies in the details, you can confidently speak only if you conduct a full tax audit and see all the documentation.”

The state bodies of the Island of Meng should control for what purposes the aircraft is used for personal or for business, corporate trips.

If the aircraft is used at least partially as personal transport, the company cannot claim a complete VAT return, but only to partial. Appleby must collect data on the flights of its customers, but not all customers regularly provide this information.

In addition, not all owners pay rental payments for the aircraft, although this is a necessary condition to apply for a VAT refund.

Magic of the island of Maine

The legislation of the island of Meng in terms of VAT as a whole is the same as in other European countries and in Russia. That is, having built a similar corporate structure, we can avoid tax in other countries. But the island of Maine, in addition to a friendly customs service, has a significant advantage - the speed of the process.

In Russia, the company will pay a plane tax on imports and will be able to apply for VAT reimbursement only at the end of the tax period. “At the same time, tax services are very reluctant to approve of refunds,” says Alexander Orlov, managing partner in the Orlov and Sizov consulting company. - Very rarely this happens in an out -of -court order, most often it is necessary to sue with the tax. Before reimbursement, the tax service will conduct a desk audit and it may have big questions to the whole structure. The same company in other European countries. ”

On the island of Maine, payment and tax reimbursement pass through the papers at one point.

“This is the peculiar magic of Maine Island. This is a tax optimization scheme, and all the parties involved in the process understand this ",

- Says anonymity, an aircraft lawyer who is well familiar with the procedure for registering private jets on the island. - For the government of the island, this is an opportunity to attract aircraft owners, create an industry for registration of aircraft, and support related services. In this regard, the island of Meng is a typical offshore jurisdiction that attracts capital to a promise not to tax their taxes. ”

Employees of the Customs of the Island of Man, for example, are ready to meet with representatives of wealthy businessmen before the import of aircraft and discuss with them the details of leasing contracts and other aspects of the corporate structure.

In addition, on the island of Maine, unlike Russia, there are no taxes on property and profit of companies, which allows you to save additional.

Who saves?

Novaya Gazeta managed to find 17 aircraft that were registered on the island of Maine by order of Russian clients. Among them, in addition to the Brothers of the Reterebergs and Oleg Deripaska, ex-Senators Vadim Moshkovich, Vitaliy Malkin and former deputy Alexander Skorobotko, the mysterious Russian Railways contractor Yuri Korotchenko, businessman Alexander Ponomarenko, the owner of the estate near Gelendzhik, more known as the Putin Palace.

The total cost of aircraft registered by Russian businessmen is about 25 billion rubles. If all these business jets are used as personal transport, the total amount of VAT that the owners in Russia would pay is about 4.5 billion rubles.

However, all these are quite approximate calculations. “If the plane is used for corporate purposes-for example, for transporting top management between working facilities or for business trips, the company really should not pay VAT,” Orlov notes.

It is not always clear from the Appleby correspondence with customers whether the aircraft will be used exclusively for personal purposes or the aircraft is necessary for the business.

Among Appleby customers are not only Russian citizens. The aircraft on the island of Maine was also designed by the Formula-1 pilot Lewis Hamilton, the British businessman of Israeli descent Idan Ofer, the Lebanese banker Adnan Cassar and other regulars of the list of richest businessmen Forbes from around the world.

Arkady Rotenberg

businessman

• Bombardier Global XRS (M-RRJ)

• Price (rub): 1.4 billion

Russian businessman with a fortune of $ 2.6 billion, according to Forbes magazine. Friend of childhood and sparring partner in judo President of Russia Vladimir Putin. Almost the entire business of the Rotenberg family is closely related to the state order. Stroygazmontazh, which belongs to Arkady by 100%, is the largest pipe supplier for Gazprom; The company Mostotrest, which was controlled by the son of Arkady Igor Rotenberg until 2015, was the largest road builder in Russia.

Arkady acquired the Global XRS aircraft at the end of 2011, and in February 2012 he registered it on the island of Maine. This is a superdalmistral aircraft that can fly from New York to Tokyo without refueling. Representatives of the buyer in their letters said that the plane will be used for the personal needs of Rotenberg. At the disposal of Novaya Gazeta there are information about flights for 2012. In addition to frequent trips from Moscow to St. Petersburg, the plane repeatedly flew to Nice, to Phuket, Dubai and Papua in Indonesia.

Boris Rotenberg

businessman

• Bombardier Global 5000 (M-Brrb)

• Price (rub): 1.2 billion

Boris is the younger brother of Arkady Rotenberg. Forbes magazine estimates his personal condition at $ 1 billion.

The Bombardier Global 5000 aircraft, which he purchased in the spring of 2013, was developed on the basis of the Global XRS model, on which his brother flies, only 81 cm and the maximum flight range is 2 thousand km shorter. Boris Rotenberg took a loan at the Swiss bank Credit Suisse.

The plane was imported into the European Union in May 2013. Despite the repeated reminders from Appleby, not a single leasing payment was made. Although, under the terms of the contract, payments should have arrived every 3 months. This actually means that the company did not fulfill the conditions under which it could apply for a VAT refund.

Oleg Deripaska

businessman

• Gulfstream G550 (M-Sawo)

• Price (rub): 870 million

For his flights, the aluminum magnate chose Gulfstream-550. The aircraft manufacturer calls it the most economically effective business jet. The salon can accommodate up to 19 passengers, some configuration options provide up to 8 beds.

Deripaska acquired the plane back in 2004 for a company, which formally belongs to his mother Valentina Deripaska. The director of this company, at least until 2013, was a State Duma deputy from United Russia Alexei Ezubov - according to media reports, brother of Valentina Deripaska. At the same time, as a deputy Ezubov did not have the right to lead any commercial companies, including those that are registered in Bermuda.

The plane was purchased using a loan at Credit Suisse Bank and was registered on Bermuda until 2013, and was used mainly in Russia. In 2013, Deripaska for some reason changed the credit organization to Raiffeisen, which required European registration. Representatives of Deripaska in Appleby letters emphasized that the main question that excites them is zero VAT. They were offered a standard leasing scheme, which the Rotenbergs brothers have been successfully used before.

However, after Appleby built a leasing scheme that allows not to pay VAT, Derpska employees stopped responding to letters from a registration agent. Until 2015, not a single leasing payment was transferred.

Alexander Skorobotko and Alexander Ponomarenko

Businessmen

• Gulfstream G550 (M-ATPS)

• Price (rub): 1.4 billion

Alexander Ponomarenko and Alexander Skorobotko - long -standing partners. Together they started business in the 90s in the Crimea, moved together to Moscow. They were engaged in banking business, owned a port in Novorossiysk, in 2010 they sold it favorably and engaged in real estate. In the same year, Ponomarenko became the owner of a luxurious palazzo at Cape Idokopos near Gelendzhik, who was famous as the Putin's Palace.

Since 2003, Alexander Skorobotko was elected State Duma as a deputy. In 2016, only two months after the next election won Skorobotko voluntarily resigned his deputy powers to return to the business.

Businessmen bought a private plane in 2011, it was recorded on a common family trust. They fly on the same Gulfstream as that of Deripaska, only their plane is much younger.

Oleg Tinkov

businessman

• Falcon 7x (M-Tink), before that-Falcon 2000lx, Falcon 900LX

• Price (rub): 3.6 billion

The creator of one of the most technological mobile banks businessman Oleg Tinkov prefers Dassault Aviation aircraft and does not like to fly on one plane for a long time. From 2013 to 2016, he changed three Falcon jets, all of them were registered on the island of Men. The first two aircraft - Falcon 2000lx and Falcon 900LX - are similar in their characteristics. These are relatively light jet aircraft with a flight range without refueling about 7 thousand km.

Falcon 7x is heavier, with a large scale of the wing, can fly already by 12 thousand km.

Judging by the letters of Appleby, Oleg Tinkov himself participated in negotiations with the manufacturer, discussed the interior decoration and “filling” of his Jet.

Not only taxes

However, the experts with whom the New Gazeta spoke separately emphasizes that the “favorable” tax regime is not the only reason why large business does not register aircraft in Russia.

“In Russia, there is no adequate system for maintaining flight fitness,” says Sergey Schwal, a representative of the public organization of pilots and owners of aircraft of Russia AOP. - Therefore, when registering in Russia, the plane immediately loses up to 30% of the cost. No one trusts the Russian control system. If the plane is bought for borrowed funds, any European bank or leasing company will require registration in the European Union or other convenient jurisdiction, for example, on Bermuda Islands. Where the vast majority of aircraft of the same Aeroflot are registered.

There, in the Wild West, there is a clear system that protects the rights of the owner and/or pilot, but at the same time establishing strict rules. A system that allows you to operate, maintain a aircraft, control its condition. No one wants to face the horrors of the rulemaking of our legislators. ”

However, for large businessmen, tax reasons are still important. “I know a lot of patriotic Russian businessmen who would be ready to register their plane in Russia, despite all the concomitant difficulties,” says Dart Blum, lawyer Aviation Legal Group, who worked with clients from Russia for many years. - Nevertheless, they are not ready to pay several million dollars in the form of VAT, when they have the opportunity to avoid these expenses on the island of Maine. They would not be rich if they were ready to pay taxes so simply. Perhaps Russia should have thought about tax benefits for those who register aircraft in Russia, this could become an impetus for the development of the entire industry. ”

In October, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia made a proposal to cancel VAT for buyers of business jets when importing and registering them in Russia.

If this proposal of the ministry will be accepted, then buyers of luxurious aircraft will be more successful in the fight against consumption tax than, for example, the movement of women for the abolition of VAT with hygiene funds (laying and tampons).

In response to the request of the ICIJ and Media Partners, the Maine Island government noted that leasing structures are used not only in their jurisdiction, but also in Cyprus, Malta, the UK and the Netherlands: “Probably, no government can guarantee that there are no cases of tax evasion or the use of“ gray ”schemes on its territory. Nevertheless, we do everything in our power to prevent it. ”

Nevertheless, the Prime Minister of the island held a special press conference, at which he stated that the government has begun a large-scale verification of the process of importing private aircraft to Europe through Man. And pay special attention to taxation of leasing structures.