Herald
Fly-by-night companies fine off

For the first time in Russia, the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (EGRUL) is being “cleaned” from the statistical companies. The Federal Tax Service (FTS) began to implement this program in 2016, and following the results of 2017, striking the fly-by-night companies off the register will be continued. On 01.06.2016 there were 4,8 mln active organizations, and on 01.06.2017 the number reduced by 5,7% and amounted to 4,5 mln. In relative figures, most of all legal entities decreased in Murmansk region – 14,8%, Chelyabinsk region – 13,8% and Moscow – 11,8% (see Table 1).

Such a rapid reduction is not a result of negative processes in economy: according to preliminary estimates, growth of the GDP of Russia in Q1 2017 is 0,5%; key industries – trade and construction – are recovering, as well as industrial production is increasing. The main reason of reduction is to be sought in purposive exclusion of fly-by-night companies from EGRUL.

Table 1. Regions with the largest relative decrease in the number of legal entities
Region Number of active legal entities on 01.06.2016 Number of active legal entities on 01.06.2017 Reduction for the year, %
1 Murmansk region 21 187 18 047 -14,8
2 Chelyabinsk region 113 031 97 427 -13,8
3 Moscow 1 090 657 961 590 -11,8
4 Novosibirsk region 137 810 122 294 -11,3
5 The Republic of Kalmykia 4 921 4 388 -10,8
6 Khanty-Mansi autonomous district - Yugra 40 263 36 314 -9,8
7 Tomsk region 35 004 31 572 -9,8
8 Oryol region 15 707 14 171 -9,8
9 The Republic of Mari El 15 482 14 131 -8,7
10 Volgograd region 51 307 46 830 -8,7
  The Russian Federation 4 781 592 4 510 689 -5,7

As explained by Dmitry Grigorenko, deputy head of the FTS, taxmen remove companies, which do not provide any financial reports for a year and beyond and have no account activity. According to various estimates there are 600-700 th fly-by-night companies in Russia; that is 13-16% of total number. That is to say one in ten companies could be statistical, that is why verification of potential partners before closing of deals is crucial for economic security provision.

Several years ago the situation was much worse: in 2011 there were about 1,8 fly-by-night companies or 40% of total number, that is 2,6 times more than now. It is obvious that strike against dubious organizations works. There is also a tendency of shorten the life of such companies: if earlier they could carry out illegal operations for years, now, as a rule, the company is abandoned after 1-2 "transactions" and it no longer shows any signs of activity.

The need for information is especially increased when cooperation with a new counterparty is planned. To reduce the risk of financial loss and involvement in a fraudulent scheme, it is necessary to check all possible information about a potential partner. If the FTS discovers that the counterparty is a fly-by-night company, the transaction with it will be deemed to be directed at obtaining an unreasonable tax benefit. In this case, the exclusion of transaction costs from the income tax base and referring to VAT offset are recognized illegal. As a result, if there is a fact of cooperation with a fly-by-night company, additional taxes will be charged and a claim for payment of a fine and penalty will be raised.

The Tax Service is constantly improving the regulatory framework for struggle against fictitious companies and identifying their signs. Here are the most important documents: Order No. MM-3-06/333@ of the Federal Tax Service of 30 May 2007 and Order No. MMV-7-14/72@ of the Federal Tax Service of 11 February 2016, which recorded signs of a fly-by-night company and measures for their detection. Analysis of the Russian arbitration practice found the most common signs (see Picture 1).

Picture 1. Signs of a fly-by-night company most often found in the materials of arbitration cases Picture 1. Signs of a fly-by-night company most often found in the materials of arbitration cases

Extract from EGRUL confirms the fact of state registration of the company in accordance with the established procedure, but it cannot automatically be sufficient confirmation of "due diligence and caution" of the taxpayer when choosing a partner for cooperation. Further verification through the professional information system is necessary.

Globas users have an opportunity to quickly verify the counterparties using Reliability index, which evaluates the negative signs and takes into account the recommendations of the FTS on identification of fly-by-night companies.

According to Globas, currently the number of companies with negative signs is 10-13% of the entire amount of organizations, which corresponds to official statistics. Reliability index is calculated for all Russian enterprises of the real economy.

Article
Russia has joined a convention against offshore profit shifting

The Government of Russia by its decree No. 963-r of 23.05.2017 On signing the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting has approved Russia’s joining the multilateral convention of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The draft has been prepared by the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation and has been approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Justice and the Federal Tax Service.

The Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting of 24.11.2016 was developed by the member countries of the Special Group of the OECD as a part of the Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS). The Convention has been opened for signature since December 31, 2016. With Russia having joined the Convention, the number of BEPS member countries has totaled 67.

The provisions of the Convention are intended to prevent offshore profit shifting and help to coordinate work on implementation of the BEPS Action Plan via multilateral approval of changes in the ways of implementation of existing agreements on avoidance of double taxation. This also eliminates the need for bilateral negotiations on each of these agreements taken separately.

This, in its turn, helps the members to provide flexibility during fulfilment of their obligations, and to create conditions for high transparency of activity both of countries themselves and of their tax authorities and taxpayers.

The application of the Convention will affect 63 agreements on double taxation avoidance between the Russian Federation and foreign countries, except countries that are not members of the Special Group of the OECD for development of the Convention. The exception also applies to Sweden and Japan due to extended negotiations on conclusion of new agreements that take into account the provisions of the Convention.

The Convention does not contradict the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union, and other previous international treaties of the Russian Federation.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an international economic organisation of developed countries that have united based on market economy and democracy. The OECD was founded in 1948 as Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) in order to coordinate European economic recovery projects under the Marshall Plan. Organisation’s headquarters are located in Château de la Muette, Paris. José Ángel Gurría Treviño has been its Secretary-General since 2006. The Council of representatives of member countries governs the OECD, and the decisions are based on general consensus. At present, the organization includes 35 countries, with the most of the EU member countries among them. The European Commission, as an institution of the European Union, is also a separate member of the organization. The share of the OECD member countries in the gross world product amounts to 60%.

Just to remind you, according to the Federal Tax Service, treaties on avoidance of double taxation are applied by the Russian Federation with the following countries:

No. Country Date of conclusion of treaty Effective date Applied since Applied since
1. Albania 11.04.1995 09.12.1997 01.01.1998  
2. Algeria 10.03.2006 18.12.2008 01.01.2009  
3. Argentina 10.10.2001 15.10.2012 01.01.2013  
4. Armenia 28.12.1996 17.03.1998 01.01.1999  
5. Australia 07.09.2000 17.12.2003 01.01.2004 (Russia) 01.07.2004 (Australia)
6. Austria 13.04.2000 30.12.2002 01.01.2003  
7. Azerbaijan 03.07.1997 03.07.1998 01.01.1999  
8. Belgium 16.06.1995 26.01.2000 01.01.2001  
9. Botswana 08.04.2003 23.12.2009 01.01.2010 (Russia) 01.07.2010 (Botswana)
10. Bulgaria 08.06.1993 24.04.1995 01.01.1996  
11. Canada 05.10.1995 05.05.1997 01.01.1998  
12. Chile 19.11.2004 23.03.2012 01.01.2013  
13. China 27.05.1994 10.04.1997 01.01.1998  
14. Croatia 02.10.1995 19.04.1997 01.01.1998  
15. Cuba 14.12.2000 15.11.2010 01.01.2011  
16. Cyprus 05.12.2008 17.08.1999 01.01.2000  
17. Czech Republic 17.11.1995 18.07.1997 01.01.1998  
18. Denmark 08.02.1996 27.04.1997 01.01.1998  
19. Egypt 23.09.1997 06.12.2000 01.01.2001  
20. Finland 04.05.1996 14.12.2002 01.01.2003  
21. France 26.11.1996 09.02.1999 01.01.2000  
22. Germany 29.05.1996 30.12.1996 01.01.1997  
23. Greece 26.06.2000 20.12.2007 01.01.2008  
24. Hungary 01.04.1994 03.11.1997 01.01.1998  
25. Iceland 26.11.1999 21.07.2003 01.01.2004  
26. India 25.03.1997 11.04.1998 01.01.1999 (Russia) 01.04.1999 (India)
27. Indonesia 12.03.1999 17.12.2002 01.01.2003  
28. Iran 06.03.1998 05.04.2002 01.01.2003  
29. Ireland 29.04.1994 07.07.1995 01/06.04.1996 (Ireland) 01.01.1996 (Russia)
30. Israel 25.04.1994 07.12.2000 01.01.2001  
31. Italy 09.04.1996 30.11.1998 01.01.1999  
32. Japan 18.01.1986 27.11.1986 01.01.1987  
33. Kazakhstan 18.10.1996 29.07.1997 01.01.1998  
34. Kuwait 09.02.1999 03.01.2003 01.01.2004  
35. Kyrgyz Republic 13.01.1999 05.07.2000 01.01.2001  
36. Latvia 20.12.2010 06.11.2012 01.01.2013  
37. Lebanon 07.04.1997 16.06.2000 01.01.2001  
38. Lithuania 29.06.1999 05.05.2005 01.01.2006  
39. Luxembourg 28.06.1993 07.05.1997 01.01.1998  
40. Macedonia 21.10.1997 14.07.2000 01.01.2001  
41. Malaysia 31.07.1987 неизвестно 01.01.1989  
42. Mali 25.06.1996 13.09.1999 01.01.2000  
43. Malta 24.04.2013 22.05.2014 01.01.2015  
44. Mexico 07.07.2004 02.04.2008 01.01.2009  
45. Mongolia 05.04.1995 22.05.1997 01.01.1998  
46. Morocco 04.09.1997 31.08.1999 01.01.2000  
47. Namibia 30.03.1998 23.06.2000 01.01.2001  
48. Netherlands 16.12.1996 27.08.1998 01.01.1999  
49. New Zealand 05.09.2000 04.07.2003 01.01.2004 (Russia) 01.04.2004 (New Zealand)
50. North Korea 26.09.1997 30.05.2000 01.01.2001  
51. Norway 26.03.1996 20.12.2002 01.01.2003  
52. Philippines 26.04.1995 12.12.1997 01.01.1998  
53. Poland 22.05.1992 22.02.1993 01.01.1994  
54. Portugal 29.05.2000 11.12.2002 01.01.2003  
55. Qatar 20.04.1998 05.09.2000 01.01.2001  
56. Republic of Belarus 21.04.1995 21.01.1997 01.01.1998  
57. Republic of Moldova 12.04.1996 06.06.1997 01.01.1998  
58. Romania 27.09.1993 11.08.1995 01.01.1996  
59. Saudi Arabia 11.02.2007 01.02.2010 01.01.2011  
60. Serbia, Montenegro 12.10.1995 09.07.1997 01.01.1998  
61. Singapore 09.09.2002 16.01.2009 01.01.2010  
62. Slovakia 24.06.1994 01.05.1997 01.01.1998  
63. Slovenia 29.09.1995 20.04.1997 01.01.1998  
64. South Africa 27.11.1995 26.06.2000 01.09.2000 (South Africa) 01.01.2001 (Russia)
65. South Korea 19.11.1992 24.08.1995 01.01.1996  
66. Spain 16.12.1998 13.06.2000 01.01.2001  
67. Sri Lanka 02.03.1999 29.12.2002 01.01.2003 (Russia) 01.04.2003 (Sri Lanka)
68. Sweden 14.06.1993 03.08.1995 01.01.1996  
69. Switzerland 15.11.1995 18.04.1997 01.01.1998  
70. Syria 17.09.2000 31.07.2003 01.01.2004  
71. Tajikistan 31.03.1997 26.04.2003 01.01.2004  
72. Thailand 23.09.1999 15.01.2009 01.01.2010  
73. Turkey 15.12.1997 31.12.1999 01.01.2000  
74. Turkmenistan 14.01.1998 10.02.1999 01.01.2000  
75. Ukraine 08.02.1995 03.08.1999 01.01.2000  
76. United Kingdom 15.02.1994 18.04.1997 01.01.1998 (Russia) 01./06.04.1998 (United Kingdom)
77. USA 17.06.1992 16.12.1993 01.01.1994  
78. Uzbekistan 02.03.1994 27.07.1995 01.01.1996  
79. Venezuela 22.12.2003 19.01.2009 01.01.2010  
80. Vietnam 27.05.1993 21.03.1996 01.01.1997