In the first half of 2021, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) carries out an economic census of the small business.

The data received during the economic census will form the basis of solutions and support programs made by the state.

In order to take part in the census, small business enterprises have to fill in the electronic form on the Government Services Portal (having an approved user account) or on the Rosstat web-site (having electronic digital signature) or with the help of operators of the electronic documents flow.

It is also possible to provide a completed form to the Statistical Register personally or to send it by e-mail.

Rosstat ensures confidentiality of the provided information. Only consolidated information is used.

The economic census of the small business is carried out once in 5 years, and it is obligatory to take part in it in accordance with the article 5 of the Federal Law as of 24.07.2007 №209-FL “Concerning the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Business in the Russian Federation”.

The last census of the small business was carried out in 2015. Following its results, Rosstat identified 1 468 490 enterprises and 2 082 545 sole entrepreneurs, engaging in the activities. In general, 18 400 thousand of people were working in the small business.

Total revenue from sale of goods (works and services) amounted to 62 086 billion RUB.

Users of the Information and Analytical system Globas can get all the available information on all the legal entities and sole entrepreneurs from the Unified Register of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises of the Federal Tax Service, where more than 5 684 thousand of small business enterprises are registered as of 10.01.2021.

The number of administrative and civil arbitration cases has grown steadily since 2016, but since 2018, it has begun to decrease. Over the past two years, the percentage of won disputes has also decreased as well.

Main statistics

According to the Information and Analytical system Globas, 1,6 million cases were registered in the arbitration courts in 2020, that is 18,5% less than in 2019 (all types of cases, excluding bankruptcy ones).

The main reason for this dynamics is restriction of business activity in 2020, granting payment deferrals for counterparties and pre-trial settlement of disputes.

More and more disputes are being resolved out of the court

In 2020, there was a 60% decrease in the number of disputes related to the collection of taxes and mandatory payments to the budget of the Russian Federation. Their share in the total number of cases reduced from 25% to 12%. (Picture 2).

This is due to a more accurate identification of tax offenses using digital methods of analyzing the company's activities and to the effective joint work of legal departments and control unit of the Federal Tax Service at the stage of inspections and during pre-trial consideration of tax disputes. If any tax risks are identified at the taxpayers’ activity, they are induced to voluntarily clarification of tax obligations without inspections.

However, there is a tendency that is dangerous for enterprises - judicial practice is not being formed, and taxpayers have no basis for judicial protection of their rights.

Taking into account the moratorium on inspections introduced by the Federal Law No. 215-FL of July 20, 2020, an increase in disputes over taxes and obligatory payments to the budget is not expected in the next 4 months. From December 22, 2020, the period for the suspension of penalties was extended to May 1, 2021.

Every second case is decided not in favor of the plaintiff

For the second year, there is a negative trend among the share of fully satisfied claims (Picture 3). In 2020, only 43% of the plaintiffs achieved full satisfaction of the claims, and only 9% of total amount of the asserted claims for 2020 were satisfied by the court. The main reason is the use of the arbitration court as an instrument of pressure on the counterparty. In most cases, the plaintiffs demonstrate the seriousness of intentions through the court, and thereby accelerate the voluntary process of debt recovery.

Resume

The restriction of business activity influenced the decrease in the total number of arbitration cases and the number of fully satisfied claims in 2020.
Detailed counterparties check in the Information and Analytical system Globas is the most effective way to avoid economic disputes and losses.