On February 17, 2021, Federal Law No. 6-FZ "On Amending Part One of the Russian Federation Tax Code" was passed, which came into force on March 17 this year.

Entrepreneurs are advised to study practical recommendations about the new law in order to learn about the new opportunities and avoid liability.

1. LONGER RECORDS STORAGE TIME

Taxpayers and tax agents will now be required to keep accounting and other documentation necessary to calculate and pay taxes for 5 years.

The same deadline is set for documents confirming the payment of tax. Now this term is 4 years. The period begins from the time of drawing up a corresponding document.

2. REGULATION OF ISSUES RELATED TO THE PARTICIPATION IN FOREIGN COMPANIES

Taxpayers are obliged to inform tax authorities about ownership of more than 10% of shares in foreign legal entities, about establishment of organizations abroad that do not have characteristics of a legal entity, as well as to provide a list of foreign companies controlled by them.

In this case, the rule applies that it is necessary to submit a notification only if the taxpayer's participation interest changes by more than one hundredth of a percent. Thus, if there is an insignificant change in the amount of a person's interest, there is no need to submit a notification.

3. EXPANDING THE POWERS OF TAX AUTHORITIES

The state is consistently expanding the scope of control over the timeliness and completeness of tax payments, especially on the part of the actual beneficiaries of companies.

The list of persons from whom the tax authorities have the right to demand information and documents during tax audits has been updated. Now such requests may be addressed to current and former registrars of shares of the audited taxpayer.

Banks are required to provide the following documents and information at the request of the tax authorities:

- Copies of passports of persons who have the right to withdraw funds from accounts;

- copies of powers of attorney for disposition of funds in bank accounts;

- documents related to opening, maintaining and closing of accounts;

- cards with specimen signatures and stamps;

- any information, held by the bank, on beneficiaries, beneficiaries of organizations and their representatives.

4. TAXATION OF FOREIGN TRADE ACTIVITIES

Increased attention is paid to transactions concluded by interdependent persons, i.e., subjects related to each other, which by the nature of their relationship may act in concert to obtain an unjustified tax benefit.

The largest taxpayers could conclude an agreement with the authorized state body on the procedure of price formation, which determined the mechanisms of price formation and application of pricing methods in specific transactions.

Previously, even if parties to foreign trade transactions in relation to which the above agreement was concluded were foreign entities, the methods of tax control specified in the Russian Federation Tax Code were applied. Now it is allowed to use similar methods provided for in foreign legislation, but provided that the obtained tax results are comparable.

Now taxpayers are obliged to keep all accounting and other documentation for the abovementioned transactions for 10 years.

With regard to pricing agreements, the legislator clarified the procedure for providing additional documents to the authorized government body, obligations of a foreign counterparty of a Russian taxpayer in connection with conclusion of the agreement, the procedure for considering the taxpayer's application for conclusion of the agreement with the documents attached to it, and the list of grounds for refusal to conclude the agreement, etc. has been supplemented.

5. REGULATING CONTROLLED TRANSACTIONS

The criteria for classifying foreign trade transactions as controlled have been updated, i.e., transactions subject to special tax control due to the fact that the parties are related parties.

The accounting of income received by a taxpayer in determining the tax base for corporate income tax on transactions concluded with interdependent persons if such transactions were complicated by the presence of a commission agent or agent. Thus, money received from the commission agent (agent) will be subject to accounting as income of the taxpayer.

A tax audit of a controlled transaction is not carried out if the taxpayer has applied for the conclusion of a pricing agreement for tax purposes in the year of the conclusion of that transaction. The Law also defines the specifics of the taxpayer's interaction with tax authorities when such a situation arises.

New deadlines for complying with tax authorities' requests to provide documents during inspections related to transactions between related parties: instead of 5 days, documents can be provided within 10 days.

6. APPEALS AGAINST DECISIONS OF TAX AUTHORITIES

The list of grounds for dismissal by a higher tax authority of a complaint received from a taxpayer without consideration is extended:

• a dispute between a taxpayer and a tax inspectorate is resolved in court;
• a complaint is not signed;
• before a complaint was considered on the merits, an applicant died or an organization was liquidated.

 

A taxpayer now has the right to apply for a suspension of consideration of his complaint to a higher tax authority for up to 6 months. This is allowed if additional documents are required. In addition, the tax authority, which considers the complaint, may suspend consideration of the complaint if:

• there is an active court proceeding on a similar issue;
• there is a need for a mutual agreement procedure;
• the complaint cannot be considered before another constitutional, criminal, administrative or other proceeding is resolved.

 

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