Russian government starts to implement measures to support business

On the basis of the powers vested in the Government of the Russian Federation by Federal Law No. 102-FZ of April 1, 2020, on April 2, 2020 it issued Decision No. 409 “On measures to ensure the sustainable development of the economy”, which provides for the implementation of measures to support enterprises in facing the crisis.

It should be noted that most support measures will affect small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as enterprises working in industries affected by the crisis. The list of industries was approved by the Government of the Russian Federation by Resolution No. 434 dated April 3, 2020 (hereinafter – the List of industries). At the same time, support will be provided on the basis of information on the main activities by codes QUED 2, which is contained in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities as of March 1, 2020.

For the SMEs included as of March 1, 2020 in the Register of SMEs from the List of Industries, the following measures are envisaged:

• The term of payment of corporate income tax, STS, and UST for 2019 has been extended by 6 months
• The deadline for paying taxes (except for value added tax, professional income tax, and taxes paid as a tax agent) and advance payments for the 1st quarter of 2020 has been extended by 6 months and for the 2nd quarter (half-year) of 2020 by 4 months
• The deadlines have been set for the payment of advance payments on transport tax, property tax, and land tax. For the first quarter of 2020 the deadline is no later than October 30, 2020,  and for the second quarter of 2020 – no later than December 30, 2020.

For microenterprises included as of March 1, 2020 in the Register of SMEs from the List of Industries, the following measures are provided:

• The deadlines for the payment of insurance premiums and insurance premiums for compulsory social insurance against industrial accidents and occupational hazards calculated from March to May 2020 have been extended for 6 months, and for June to July 2020, for 4 months.

The following measures are envisaged for all taxpayers:

• The term for submission of tax returns by taxpayers, tax agents (except for tax returns on value added tax), tax calculations on the amounts of income paid to foreign organizations and withheld taxes, calculations of the amounts of personal income tax calculated and withheld by tax agents, calculations of advance payments, the submission term of which falls on March – May 2020, has been extended for 3 months
• The deadline for submission of tax returns on value added tax and settlements of insurance premiums for the first quarter of 2020 has been extended until May 15, 2020.

Below in the table we outline new time terms for tax reports submission

More info is available here.

This not entail the extension of the terms of payment of taxes (advance payments for taxes), including in cases where the term of payment of tax (advance payment for the tax) is established no later than the date of submission of tax returns (calculations). Thus, the organization’s taxes will have to be paid in the terms established by law. Since the days from March 30, 2020 till May 5, 2020 are announced as non-working time terms for tax payments for 2019 and 1st quarter 2020 are shifted to May 6, 2020.

• The deadline for providing explanations on the request for the submission of documents (information) upon receipt of such requirements from March 1 to May 31, 2020 inclusive has been extended by 20 working days
• The deadline for submission of documents (information), explanations on the request for the submission of documents (information), explanations to be sent as part of desk audits of tax returns on value added tax, upon receipt of such requirements from March 1 to May 31, 2020 inclusive, has been extended by 10 working days
• The period for organizations to submit applications for tax monitoring for 2021 has been extended by 3 months
• The deadline for organizations to submit applications for tax monitoring for 2021 was extended by 3 months and is suspended until May 31, 2020 inclusive
  • making decisions on on-site (repeated on-site) tax audits, audits of completeness of calculation and payment of taxes on TCO transactions
  • the period of time for drawing up the audit report, for objecting to the audit report and for issuing decisions on the audit report regarding the abovementioned audits
  • initiation by tax authorities of compliance audits for foreign currency legislation of the Russian Federation. The initiated audits are also suspended, except for the cases when the statute of limitations for administrative liability expires before June 1, 2020.
  • making decisions by the tax authorities to suspend the operations of the taxpayer organizations on their bank accounts and transfers of their electronic funds.

It has been established that no tax sanctions will be applied for the failure to submit documents (Article 126 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation) in time from March 1, 2020 to June 1, 2020.

It has also been established that the deadlines for sending a claim for the payment of taxes, fees, insurance premiums, fines, interest and the decision on the collection of taxes, fees, insurance premiums, penalties and interest are increased by 6 months.

The following measures are envisaged for all organizations from the List of industries

• Rules for granting deferred or installments for payment of taxes, advance tax payments, and insurance premiums were approved
• The rules apply to taxes, advance payments on taxes, and insurance premiums, which are due in 2020 (except for excise taxes and mineral extraction tax).
• A company may receive an advance or an installment payment if it has at least one of the following indicators:
  • A decline in income by more than 10 per cent
  • a decrease in income from the sale of goods (work, services) by more than 10 per cent
  • a decrease in income from the sale of goods (work, services) under operations subject to value added tax at the rate of 0 per cent or more than 10 per cent
  • Receiving a loss according to corporate income tax returns for the reporting periods of 2020, provided that there was no loss for 2019

The application shall be considered if it is submitted before December 1, 2020.

In general, we have come to the following conclusions based on the results of the analysis of the Resolution:

• The main support measures are provided for SMEs and for organizations from the List of industries.
• To decide whether an organization can benefit from a measure, the data from the SME Register and the information on the main activities by codes QUED 2 contained in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities as of March 1, 2020 are used.
• For ordinary organizations, the deadlines for submission of reports are postponed, while the deadlines for payment of taxes remain the same. Therefore, if an organization does not pay the tax in full according to the term of tax payment, which will become clear only on the date of submission of the tax return, the organization should pay the unpaid amount of tax and penalties simultaneously with the submission of the tax return in order to avoid penalties.