Motherland will not call – Newspaper Kommersant No. 3 (7448) dated 01/11/2023

The Ministry of Digital Development, together with specialized associations, is preparing a package of measures for the return of IT specialists who left the Russian Federation. As “carrots” discussed guaranteed reservation from conscription in the army and the payment of a flight to Russia, and as a “stick” – an increase in personal income tax. The latter measure, on the contrary, will provoke layoffs from Russian IT companies and the transfer of specialists to foreign ones, experts are sure. The Ministry of Digital Development does not support it either. Market participants consider the most important measure to be securing the armor, which has been declared since the spring of 2022, but has not yet been issued.

Participants in the IT market told Kommersant that in December the Ministry of Digital Development began holding meetings with representatives of associations and companies on the return of IT specialists to the country. According to Aleksey Smirnov, the head of the board of directors of Basalt SPO, we are talking, for example, about partial payment for “reverse relocation”, as well as an increase in personal income tax from 13% to 30% for those who work from abroad, even if they formally remain tax residents.

The head of NP Russoft, Valentin Makarov, confirmed that the Ministry of Digital Development is discussing with associations a package of measures for the return of IT specialists. He talks about the possibility of providing reservations from being drafted into the army, as well as paying for a flight to the Russian Federation, “as for tough proposals, namely a ban on remote work and raising taxes up to 30%, this method will only hurt, since IT specialists will start leaving en masse” . A Kommersant source in the government said that there is no final package of measures yet, but “they will be adopted in the near future.”

The Ministry of Digital Development explained to Kommersant that “they are developing additional measures to support the development of IT companies operating in Russia.” “At the same time, we do not support the initiative to introduce a ban on remote work from abroad and the introduction of protective taxes – this will not help either the industry or the specialists themselves,” they noted.

In mid-December, Russian Senator Andrey Klishas announced that a bill would be submitted to the State Duma prohibiting remote work for officials, transport workers and information security officers (see Kommersant on December 14, 2022). Later, the head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Maksut Shadayev, criticized the initiative, citing the fact that 80% of IT specialists who left continue to work for Russian companies, and such measures push them to find employment with foreign players (see Kommersant dated December 20, 2022). Deputies have already proposed raising taxes for those who have left (see Kommersant of December 25, 2022).

After the announcement of partial mobilization in September 2022, the Ministry of Digital Transformation published a list of activities whose employees may qualify for a deferment (see Kommersant dated October 10). In addition, according to a government decree of March 28, 2022, IT specialists of military age (from 18 to 27 years old) are entitled to a deferment from the army. In December, the head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Maksut Shadayev, said that the ministry would work on the issue of including additional IT specialties in the list of those eligible for deferment from military service. Now the list includes 195 specialties.

According to Mr. Smirnov, now about 100 thousand IT specialists work outside the Russian Federation, and in the event of an increase in personal income tax, they will either quit, or the companies themselves will begin to open offices in other countries and re-register employees. “It is necessary, on the contrary, to reduce taxes, and not only for Russians, but also for foreign specialists. This way it will be possible to attract additional labor force, and from which country the employee works is not important, ”he believes.

The executive director of the Association of Developers and Manufacturers of Electronics Ivan Pokrovsky said that in mid-December it discussed the possibility of protecting key industry employees from conscription. According to him, the deferment from the army to IT specialists and employees of the military-industrial complex has not yet been legally fixed. “There is a regulatory gap between the ministerial lists of companies and military commissariats, so military commissars can still call on any employee,” he says.

Normative acts on the basis of which a deferment is carried out for employees of IT companies have not been adopted, confirms Alexander Karpukhin, partner of Five Stones Consulting. He notes that “internal agreements between departments can change at any time,” therefore, amendments to the Federal Law “On mobilization training and mobilization in the Russian Federation” or a special decree of the President of the Russian Federation are necessary.

Timofey Kornev