The Ministry of Labor decided to find out the tax secrets of Russians

As you know, everything secret sooner or later becomes clear. So the Ministry of Labor requested access to the tax secrets of Russians. Such an initiative is contained in a draft order of this department. The list of information that may be of interest to the Ministry of Labor must be agreed upon with the Federal Tax Service. But the ultimate goal of the project is the fight against “gray employment” and salaries in envelopes.

Tax secret is any information about the taxpayer that became known to government agencies during audits. And they are not subject to disclosure; they remain, so to speak, under seven seals in the Federal Tax Service database.

As experts suggest, the transfer of information from the Federal Tax Service to the Ministry of Labor may turn out to be an effective tool in the fight against illegal employment of Russians.

What do the representatives of the Ministry of Labor want to know, what secret do they want to find out? In particular, information about violations or signs of violations when employers enter into civil contracts with individuals who are in fact permanent employees. Data on companies that cooperate with 10 or more self-employed people, paying them a monthly salary of 50 thousand rubles or more. Information about employers whose deviations in the amount of average monthly wages exceed 35% of the regional average.

This and other information will help the authorities fight “gray employment” in the labor market.

At the end of 2022, the Ministry of Labor identified over 660 thousand people employed in the shadow sector of the economy. Although, according to numerous analysts, these scales are much larger: there are simply different types of “shadow”.

True, the desire to defeat the shadow economy in the country in this way also has a downside to the coin. The more people and organizations have access to private data, the higher the risk of data leaks. And which taxpayer – be it a legal entity or an individual – wants to be scanned, as if on an x-ray?

This point of view is also shared by Alexey Zubets, Doctor of Economics, Professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation.

“In my opinion, the Ministry of Labor does not particularly need such information,” he believes. – This department is not involved in collecting taxes. If he plans to collect information about the “gray zone” in the country, about draft dodgers who do not work “white”, then there are other sources.

– For example, which ones?

– Rosstat data, which is collected through various sociological surveys of the population, which determines the status of a citizen, his salary, and other information.

There is reporting by legal entities – partly open and partly closed data. The fact is that confidential information cannot be completely open. “Gray employment” can also be caught through the balance sheet of enterprises, through retail trade turnover on the territory of the constituent entities of the Federation. Such information is also published by Rosstat.

– In your opinion, what is the scale of the “gray zone” in our labor market?

– It is believed that about 15%. Of these, approximately 5% work “under the table”, receive salaries only in envelopes, and about 10 percent receive part of their earnings through the cash register, and the second part in envelopes. As a rule, these are trade, service, hotel and agricultural enterprises.

Based on this, I assume that the Federal Tax Service is unlikely to give the Ministry of Labor access to its database. This is a serious question; in our country there is a law on the protection of personal data and everyone has every right to maintain such a secret.

– If we assume that the tax office will reveal its secrets and they will become public, why is this dangerous, primarily for individuals?

– Taxes are personal information and it is confidential. I admit that even the tax office does not have the full base. There is information from high-ranking officials, security officials, and other major figures. If such information gets abroad, it can become the basis for blackmail and can cause enormous damage to a person’s reputation, and even damage to the state.