The Federal Tax Service summed up the interim results of the current fiscal system
[ad_1]
On the eve of the upcoming tax reform, at an extended meeting of the board of the Federal Tax Service (FTS) on Tuesday, March 19, the interim results of the work of the current fiscal system were summed up – in 2023, tax revenues to the budget system amounted to 46.8 trillion rubles. In 2024, the last year when tax rates will remain the same, nominal fees are expected to increase to RUB 52.5 trillion. Among the taxes from which a significant increase in revenue is expected is an increased personal income tax, the collections of which will increase by 75%, which may become an additional argument in favor of introducing a progressive scale. Taking into account this prospect, the Ministry of Finance is already concerned with the fight against tax optimization of personal income tax.
On Tuesday, at an extended meeting of the Federal Tax Service board, the results of the work of the fiscal system in 2023 were summed up. According to the head of the service, Daniil Egorov, last year tax revenues into the budget system of the Russian Federation amounted to 46.8 trillion rubles, which is 11% more than a year earlier. The highest growth rates are recorded in terms of income tax (plus 25%, up to 7.9 trillion rubles), personal income tax (plus 14%, up to 6.5 trillion rubles), as well as VAT (plus 11%, up to 7.5 trillion rubles). 2 trillion rubles). According to Mr. Egorov, this is 9% higher than the budget indicators, and 7% higher than the consolidated budgets of the regions. This year, tax revenues of the budget system are expected to increase by another 12% – to 52.5 trillion rubles.
In the context of the upcoming reform of the tax system, which, if amendments are adopted this year, could start working from 2025, the projected federal budget revenues in terms of “increased” personal income tax to 15% for individuals with incomes over 5 million rubles are noteworthy. per year – let us remind you that the “regular” 13% of income tax is fully credited to regional and local budgets, and 2 percentage points of the increased rate are sent to the federal budget. The turn to such a progressive personal income tax scale occurred in 2021 – an additional 2 percentage points are targeted and are used to finance the treatment of children with rare diseases.
As follows from the materials of the Federal Tax Service, revenues to the federal budget from increased income taxes in 2024 are projected at 280 billion rubles, which is 75% more than in 2023, when 160 billion rubles were received. (in 2022 – 149 billion rubles).
The tax reform announced in the President’s Address to the Federal Assembly involves a transition to “a more equitable distribution of the tax burden towards those with higher personal and corporate incomes” (while simultaneously reducing the tax burden on families, including through deductions). As Vladimir Putin previously explained, we are, in fact, talking about a full progressive scale of taxation for individuals, but the details of the upcoming reform have not yet been disclosed. In this regard, data on a significant increase in revenues from increased personal income tax can become an additional argument in its favor – the increased income tax rate for wealthy citizens, tested on a small group of taxpayers, taking into account growing revenues, can be considered a successful experience.
In terms of corporate income, the details of the reform of which are also unknown, we may be talking about increasing the taxation of increased profits. The idea has also already been partially tested within the framework of a “one-time” tax on excess profits, which brought the budget 318.8 billion rubles, which is slightly higher than expectations (300 billion rubles), but now linking the tax burden to investment activity is also being discussed.
The Ministry of Finance is clearly already thinking about the potential risks of progressive taxation.
As the deputy head of the department, Alexei Sazanov, noted at the board meeting, it is necessary to fight tax optimization mechanisms, including in personal income tax: “It will be necessary to level the conditions.” Note that optimization of income tax was one of the reasons for abandoning the progressive scale in 2001. However, as lawyers note, tax optimization schemes in personal income tax remain very common today. Among them, for example, are gray salaries, which will be partly combated in the future by further increases in the minimum wage (from 18.5 thousand rubles to 35 thousand rubles by 2030; an official salary below the minimum wage can result in liability for the employer), as well as substitution of labor relations with civil law ones (for example, contracts with individual entrepreneurs or self-employed people who are actually employees of the company) or even work in the shadow sector.
Partner B1 Marina Belyakova notes that such schemes are not “flaws in the legislation – they are tax abuses,” the task of combating which is not solved by changes to the Tax Code. Alexander Erasov, partner in the tax practice of the MEF LEGAL, agrees with this: the fight against schemes is more a matter of tax control, which is now being strengthened, and for the effectiveness of this work, what is important is not the severity, but the inevitability of punishment in cases where it is deserved. However, the problem may be broader. Donat Podniek, partner of the Kept tax consulting department, notes that today individuals have the opportunity to optimize personal income tax both legally and illegally, but in a “difficult to identify way” – for example, there is virtually no control over the pricing of a large number of transactions of individuals, cash payments are not limited, but control for expenses of individuals, with some exceptions, is not established by law. According to TeDo tax practice partner Karina Khudenko, tax evasion can be eliminated in different ways – for example, by introducing liability not only for the recipient of the income, but also for the employer of the individual who does not pay taxes (this will be relevant for those who pay income to household staff, tutors), through control of expenses if they are not comparable with the declared income of individuals.
[ad_2]
Source link