Vedomosti: The Ministry of Finance wants to issue a one-time fee from business as an “emergency tax”

The Ministry of Finance proposed to draw up a one-time fee from the excess profits of Russian business (windfall tax) for 2021–2022 as an “emergency tax”, reports Vedomosti with reference to sources. According to them, the possibility of introducing such taxes is proposed to be enshrined in the Tax Code (TC). To this end, the Ministry of Finance has prepared a separate bill “On the tax on excess profits of past years”, as well as amendments to Part 1 and Art. 270 h. 2 NK.

According to Vedomosti, not only Russian, but also foreign organizations with a permanent representative office in Russia will be required to pay the fee. According to the draft law, the tax base is equal to zero if the arithmetic average profit for 2021-2022 does not exceed the profit for 2018-2019 and it is less than 1 billion rubles. Companies producing oil, gas and coal, oil refineries, producers of liquefied natural gas with active production and export, as well as companies from the register of small and medium-sized businesses will be exempted from paying tax.

It is assumed that it is possible to reduce the amount of tax on a voluntary payment made in advance, which will be accepted for deduction, but it will not be possible to pay more than 50% and receive an increased deduction. In order to fully repay the obligation to the state, it is enough for the company to “voluntarily” transfer half of the tax amount to the budget before December 1. When the deadline for paying tax under the law comes, it will be necessary to submit a copy of payment documents confirming the transfer of funds along with the tax return, Vedomosti’s interlocutors explained.

The bill has already been sent to large taxpayers for comment, the newspaper said. The representative of the Ministry of Finance also did not comment on the content of the bill. “The windfall profit payment, as originally planned, is planned to be a one-time payment. Plans in this regard have not changed,” he said.

Interfax informedthat windfall tax will be 10% of the excess of profit over the indicator for 2018-2019, and in case of early payment – before the formal entry into force of innovations on January 1, 2024 – 5%. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov appreciated potential income from a one-time fee from Russian business of 300 billion rubles. Head of RSPP Alexander Shokhin in February declaredthat the authorities of the Russian Federation agreed with the business this payment as a mandatory one.

Read about the discussion about collecting from business in the material “Kommersant” “Corporate self-taxation”.

Laura Keffer