Surplus profits will be taxed: is there any point in processing

No matter how much we call on the authorities to reduce the tax base in the country, it is increasing. Here the president signed a law on the introduction in the Russian Federation of a one-time tax on excess profits of past years. Such an additional payment will give our deficit budget (for the first half of the year it is 2.6 trillion rubles) 300 billion. It is already said in the business environment that in Russia there is nothing more permanent than a one-time thing.

The law comes into force on January 1, 2024. Large Russian companies are subject to the payment, whose average profit for the period 2021-22 exceeds by 1 billion rubles the profit they received in 2018-19.

Anything above a billion rubles is already superprofit, and you will have to pay a one-time tax of 10% from it to the treasury. The deadline for such payments is until January 28, 2024.

However, the amount of tax can be halved (up to an effective rate of 5%) if the taxpayer transfers the security deposit from October 1 to November 30 this year.

As we have already said, according to the calculations of the government’s financial block, such a fee will bring an additional 300 billion rubles to the budget.

Experts believe that the next “plucking” of the real sector of the economy will primarily affect companies in the field of mining of solid minerals, producers of mineral fertilizers, the metallurgical complex, wholesale and retail trade enterprises, as well as banking organizations.

The tax bowl will not bypass foreign companies operating in Russia through representative offices. These organizations, recognized as tax residents of the Russian Federation, are equated to Russian ones.

According to the Ministry of Finance, about 2.5 thousand taxpayers will fall under the distribution, that is, less than 3% of the total number of companies in the country.

Why is society cautiously accepting a new, albeit one-time, as it is declared, tax? At all important meetings, industrialists ask the government for predictability and stability in the tax base. Otherwise, how to plan development if the rules of the game are constantly changing?

The authorities promise but do not deliver. So that taxes do not appear as taxes proper, the great and mighty Russian language has found numerous synonyms for them: fees, dues, excises, duties … The words are different, but the meaning is the same: to pay a certain penny to the budget.

— From the point of view of the methodology and practice of taxation, I have questions, — says financial analyst, candidate of economic sciences Mikhail Belyaev. – In particular, if this is a fair one-time tax, then why should payers be offered an alternative: do you pay 5% now or 10% at the beginning of next year? More like a fine for improper driving. Until the 30th of the month 50%, and after the 30th – 100%. Does it mean that you get fined for doing a good job?..

Confused and previously sounded statements about an individual approach to companies that have to share their excess profits. That is, someone can receive exemption from the tax, although, as we know, everyone is equal before the law.

– The very introduction of the tax retroactively causes great discussions in society …

– I partly agree with him. This is not about getting excess profits by business, but about additional profits due to favorable business conditions. It was earned honestly, openly, without distorting reporting and without pressure on the market. Our tax office is on the easy way. Everyone knows the story of a Russian blogger who did not pay 900 million rubles in taxes – taxes! and fled abroad. Here, the state cannot get anything from it, but from entrepreneurs who work openly, please.

– But the budget will be replenished with 300 billion rubles, which are now not superfluous …

– No words, this is support from the federal budget. However, it wins here and now, but loses in the future, discouraging people from increasing production, developing and import substitution. It is better to cover the deficit in other economic ways.

An additional tax of 10% for businesses is quite significant. Some politicians are calling on the private sector to index the salaries of its employees annually. How to do this if the state withdraws part of the profits?

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 29086 dated August 7, 2023

Newspaper headline:
Surplus profits must be shared!