The Federal Tax Service of Russia announced the following measures responding to Covid-19 crisis:
Tax policy measures
Reduced SSCs
Date of announcement 01/04
Reduction of social security contributions total rate up to 15%. This measure applies to SMEs starting from April 2020.
Tax administration measures
Deferral of tax and SSC payments/ tax exemptions
Date of announcement 04/04
SMEs representing industries affected by COVID-19 are granted an extension for paying taxes / making advance tax payments:
- profit tax (corporate income tax), unified agricultural tax, tax paid under the simplified tax system that are due in 2019 are granted a 6 months extension;
- all taxes (except VAT, professional income tax, taxes withheld by the tax agent):
6 months extension if the payment is due in March and 1st quarter of 2020
4 months extension if the payment is due in April - June, 2nd quarter and first 6 months of 2020
- tax paid under the patent tax system if due in 2nd quarter of 2020 is granted a 4 months extension
- personal income tax for individual entrepreneurs if due in 2019 is granted a 3 months extension
- advance payments for property tax, transport tax and land tax:
if due 1st quarter of 2020 – extension until October 30, 2020
if due 2nd quarter of 2020 – extension until December 30, 2020
- security social contributions for microenterprises:
if due March – May 2020 - extended for 6 months
if due June – July 2020 - extended for 4 months.
A tax deferral can also be provided on a stand-alone basis for up to 5-years (subject to several conditions). VAT/ customs duty exemption for import of particular medical goods and pharmaceuticals.
Tax filing extension
Date of announcement 04/04
Deadlines for the filling tax and accounting reporting are extended:
- for 3 months – in case of tax returns (excluding VAT returns and SSC calculations), advance
payments calculations, accounting (financial) reporting to be submitted in the period of March-May 2020
- up to May 15, 2020 – for VAT returns and social security contributions calculations
that are covering 1st quarter 2020.
Audit policies
Date of announcement 04/04
The following compliance activities are suspended until May 31, 2020:
- on-going tax audits (except desk audits) and currency control audits, procedural measures on tax violations
- opening new tax audits (except for desk audit) and currency control audits (except audits that may be subject to expiry due to statute of limitations)
- suspension of bank accounts
Failure to provide documents in March-May 2020 is exempt from penalties.
Compliance policies
Date of announcement 04/04
Deadline for providing documents requested by the tax authorities in March –May 2020 is extended (for 10 to 20 working days).
Deadline for filing CRS reporting in 2020 and applications for horizontal monitoring program for 2021 is extended for 3 months.
Enhancing service delivery
The Federal Tax Service is focusing on informing taxpayers about the advantages of applying existing contactless solutions. The dedicated COVID-19 webpage on the FTS official web portal provides information and links to our online solutions. Our call centres are providing a 24/7 assistance where at the non-working hours it is providing information in an automatic response mode.
Suspending debt recovery
Date of announcement 04/04
Debt recovery has been suspended in relation to SMEs representing industries affected by COVID-19 and companies representing air transportation industry, tourism, physical education and sports, as well as art, culture and cinematography and other similar industries until May 1, 2020.
Companies representing medical industry are exempt from limitations and restrictions on opening and using their bank accounts applied in course of recovery measures in case such accounts are used for the purchase of medical devices and goods. These companies are also subject to suspension of any measures to recover taxes, fees, insurance contributions, interests, fines and late payment charges to the extent it impedes their operations.
Non-tax measures
Suspension of insolvency procedures
Date of announcement 03/04
Companies representing industries most affected by COVID-19 and core enterprises are not subject to any insolvency procedures, charges and enforcement measures. This regime is effective for April-September 2020.
Suspension of payment for bank credits
Payments for bank credits are subject to a 6 months suspension based on application that can be lodged until September 30, 2020. This regime is eligible for Russian citizen and individual entrepreneurs that (a) have lost over 30% of income comparing to the same period of 2019 and (b) are satisfying the following requirements:
- the amount of credit doesn’t exceed the threshold set by the Government
- in case of consumer loans of physical persons – 250 k RUB
- in case of consumer loans of individual entrepreneurs – 300 k RUB
- in case of consumer loans of physical persons with lending limit – 100 k RUB;
- in case of loans for the purchase of cars – 600 k RUB
- in case of real estate mortgages– 2 000 k RUB (4 500 k RUB for Moscow, 3 000 k RUB – for Saint-Petersburg, Moscow region, Far East region)
- at the moment of application, the applicant is not enjoying a similar preferential regime that was set earlier with regard to a real estate mortgage.
The applicant has a discretion to indicate the beginning and ending dates for this exemption. As an alternative individual entrepreneurs instead of a total suspension may apply for a reduction of payments within 6 months.
This regime restricts:
- charging any penalties and interests for failure to execute or improper execution of the loan agreement by the lendee;
- requiring early execution of the loan agreement or enforcing a pledge or collateral as well as making claims to pledger (warrantor).
The similar regime is also applicable for SMEs representing most affected by COVID-19 industries (the list of such industries is set by the Government).
In case you have any document of information which you find worth to share regarding the actions, measures or concrete experiences in countering the crisis, please do not hesitate to upload it to the subpage focusing on Covid-19 Crisis Support on IOTA website in order to share it with other members.