The bill on one-time tax on excess profits was adopted in the second reading

The finalized high-profile bill on a one-time tax, which provides for the withdrawal of 300 billion rubles from businesses, was approved yesterday by the State Duma in a decisive, second reading. The list of those exempted from the obligation to share with the budget previously received excess profits at this stage was expanded. Companies in the oil and gas and coal mining sectors, SMEs, and payers of the unified agricultural tax were added to developers who did not pay dividends, troubled financial institutions, as well as enterprises that actively invested and therefore had no revenue in 2018-2019. In addition, in order to alleviate business concerns about a possible overpayment, the deputies clarified the features of early tax payment at a rate of 5% this year instead of 10% in 2024.

A package of bills on excess profits tax was approved by the deputies in the second, main reading – and if in the first vote it was preceded by stormy disputes (see Kommersant of June 29), then yesterday it was already accompanied by procedural difficulties. On the main draft, which regulates the one-time tax itself, the parliamentarians had to vote twice, because due to a failure in the numbering of amendments, one of the deputies, due to regulatory restrictions, was unable to submit his proposal to extend the tax to the oil and gas sector for separate consideration (it was eventually rejected ). According to the results of the repeated voting, the parliamentarians supported the draft with 310 votes (14 deputies voted against, 17 abstained). The “satellite” bill on the inclusion in the Tax Code of a provision on the possibility of establishing one-time taxes was adopted without overlap and without discussion.

Formally, a one-time tax will be levied in 2024 – at a base rate of 10% of the difference between the profits of companies in 2021-2022 and 2018-2019 – the legislation does not allow it to be introduced earlier. But since the government is interested in getting this money as soon as possible, companies are given the opportunity to pay it already from October 1 to November 30 of this year – and then the rate will be only 5%, and the tax will be issued in the form of a security deposit, which will be counted as tax. next year. In total, due to the excess profit tax, the Ministry of Finance expects to replenish the budget by at least 300 billion rubles.

The one-time tax applies to companies whose average profit for 2021 and 2022 exceeded RUB 1 billion.

The version of the bill, finalized for the second reading, provides for an indulgence for companies whose tax base exceeded half of the calculated profit for 2022, but the increase in assets in 2021 outpaced the increase in income tax and dividends were distributed. For such organizations, the tax will be limited to half the amount of the 2022 tax base. The Ministry of Finance explained this decision by the need to support businesses that reinvested funds and developed production.

Supplemented for the second reading and the list of those who do not have to pay a one-time tax. In the first reading, this right was given to small and medium-sized businesses, coal miners, companies in the oil and gas sector, and payers of the unified agricultural tax. By the second reading, banks and non-bank organizations, in respect of which measures were taken to prevent bankruptcy as of January 1, 2023, were exempted from payment (see Kommersant of July 13), as well as companies that had no revenue in 2018-2019. Olga Anufriyeva, deputy chairman of the committee on budget and taxes, who presented the bill, explained: we are talking about organizations that made investments or were start-ups — it would be unfair to tax them.

Also, developers who implement housing projects with the involvement of citizens’ funds will not pay the tax (if they did not pay dividends in 2021-2022). This amendment required additional explanations from the Ministry of Finance – the deputies were interested in why all developers were not removed from the list of payers. Alexey Sazanov, deputy head of the department, explained this by the peculiarities of the production cycle, which first involves raising funds and creating design companies, and then selling apartments (respectively, the moment of profit recognition is postponed) – for such developers, a one-time payment will actually become not a tax on excess income, but “increased income tax”. Large companies that implement various projects on an ongoing basis and distribute dividends, according to the Deputy Minister, conduct “regular, not project activities” and receive excess profits. Alexey Sazanov backed up this explanation with an estimate of the dividends paid by large developers in 2021-2022 – almost 160 billion rubles.

A separate block of amendments to the second reading concerns clarifications of the very procedure for paying the tax – introduced, as Olga Anufrieva noted, so that “there are no questions in practice.” It appeared because the previously formulated structure of the security deposit caused concern among the RSPP and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) in connection with the risks of applying the already full 10% rate if at least one ruble of the prepaid amount is returned or not offset (see “Kommersant” June 29). For clarity, provisions are introduced that regulate the procedure for possible changes. Thus, in the event of additional charges based on the results of a tax audit, the amount of the security deposit will also increase, and if a company submits an updated declaration for 2021-2022, the tax is calculated based on its indicators – if an overpayment occurs (when the taxpayer submits an application for its return), the amount of the security deposit decreases .

As the head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sergey Katyrin told Kommersant, the amendments also “take into account certain proposals of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and business” – in particular, the mentioned rule on the exclusion from the number of payers of organizations that have in 2018-2019 due to the incompleteness of the investment cycle or other reasons there was no revenue. The draft law in the new edition, Sergei Katyrin added, is supported by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The RSPP declined to comment.

Evgenia Kryuchkova, Diana Galieva