How to get Russians out of the shadows, earning secretly from the state. The forum discussed ways to bring a business out of the shadow economy Bringing a business out of the shadow

The shadow economy and gray money continue to undermine political and economic stability in Russia. The Ministry of Finance estimates the shadow sector of the economy at about 15-20% of GDP. “Large sums are hidden in our shadow economy,” said Finance Minister Anton Siluanov. - If the shadow sector is somewhere around 15-20%, and the GDP is somewhere around 60 trillion. rubles, then 15% is 9 trillion.”

According to him, the total tax burden on the Russian economy is 35% - thus, due to illegal business, the Russian budget is experiencing a shortage of about 3 trillion rubles. rubles of income. The minister noted: "gray" salaries deprive regional budgets of 2 trillion. rubles, and the fight against them is included in the list of tasks of federal and regional authorities, including tax authorities.

At the same time, Andrei Belousov, head of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, noted earlier: if small business comes out of the shadows, its share in GDP will be 40-50% against the current 19% - business ideas in our country are not a shortage. If the issue of illegal business is resolved (according to the minister's estimates, 18 million people work in it), in terms of the share of small business in the economy, Russia will be on a par with developed countries.

Meanwhile, experts from the research institute Global Financial Integrity (GFI) believe that the size of the shadow sector of the Russian economy is much higher - it is estimated at 46% of GDP annually. According to their calculations, from 1994 to 2011, $211.5 billion was illegally withdrawn from Russia. This is income hidden from taxes, bribes, as well as money earned on the arms, drugs and people trade.

According to the head of GFI Raymond Baker, the country has lost hundreds of billions of dollars that could be invested in health care, education, infrastructure and other social areas. The World Bank also notes that the Russian shadow economy is 3.5 times higher than in other G7 countries. At the same time, the shadow economy and gray cash flows have been steadily growing over the past two decades due to inefficient political management and the traditional desire of businessmen in Russia to avoid paying taxes.

As Anton Soroko, an analyst at the FINAM investment holding, told Vek, such high figures obtained during the GFI study are probably due to several factors. “Firstly, it seems to me that most of the mentioned outflow occurred in the second half of the 90s - a time of high political instability, low transparency of the economy and weak consumer confidence. Secondly, a fairly large volume of the shadow economy, which, in fact, becomes a catalyst for these flows.”

With the outflow of capital, the economy loses free funds, which, other things being equal, could be used to finance state infrastructure, social projects, could become the basis for increasing the growth rate of real disposable income of the population, the expert notes.

“One of the main conditions that must be met in order to reduce the shadow turnover of funds is the optimization of the tax system in order to increase accessibility for subjects of taxation and reduce physical costs for adequate payment of deductions,” says Soroko. “We must continue to work on the investment image of the country, improve the microclimate for small and medium-sized businesses.”

According to him, Finance Minister Siluanov's assessment is likely to be too optimistic. “I think that the real volume of the shadow sector of the economy is somewhat higher - 20-25%,” the analyst believes. - But measures to reduce the share of the "shadow" are already being carried out. For example, from 2014, any cash transactions will be prohibited, provided that the transaction volume exceeds 600,000 rubles. From 2015, the restriction will become even tougher - from 300 thousand rubles. Thus, the increased investment activity, most likely, will not greatly affect the cash flow, since almost all payments must be made through banking structures. I think that these measures will have a positive impact on the filling of all levels of the budget. Opportunities for fraud in such a situation becomes much less.”

The tightening of tax administration, the reduction and sharp rise in the price of the "cash" market, the active participation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in tax audits make many entrepreneurs think about whether to abandon dubious schemes and start paying all taxes.

You were the honor of the shadow economy of Russia if you used the services of "gray" or "black" offices, which only drew documents, but did not really provide services. If you gave part of your salary in an envelope. If you did not show all revenue in the reporting. In general, you were "in the shadows" if you reduced tax payments by illegal methods.

Suppose that you decide to start a new life from Monday, or from February 1, namely, to pay all taxes established by the state.

How long will you be haunted by "past life sins"

Tax Liability

A tax audit may be conducted for three calendar years preceding the year in which the audit was scheduled. That is, if a tax audit is scheduled for December 2018, then 2015, 2016, and 2017 activities will fall into the audit period.

The statute of limitations for imposing tax liability is three years.

Criminal liability

But if, when lowering taxes, there was a conspiracy of persons (for example, a director and chief accountant is already a group of persons) or you did not pay taxes on an especially large scale, then criminal liability comes into play, for which the statute of limitations is already 10 years.

This means that within 10 years from the moment the offense was committed, the state has the right to bring charges against you under the articles of the Criminal Code.
A particularly large amount is more than 15 million rubles of unpaid taxes over three years.

The investigating authorities may initiate criminal cases on tax crimes not only on the basis of materials submitted by the tax authorities. It turns out that a criminal case can also be initiated for those periods that are no longer included in the period of a tax audit.

How to get rid of a "problem" LLC

So, you have decided that it is time to start a new life and do not want to worry about the next 10 years about whether the investigator will see signs of a crime in your past activities or “lucky” .... In other words, you want to get rid of the troubled LLC. What are the options?

liquidation

Liquidation of a legal entity is an understandable procedure, but a long one. You must pay off all debts, register a liquidation decision, make an announcement in the press, draw up an interim and liquidation balance sheet and ... pass a tax audit!

Reorganization

It is possible to liquidate a legal entity by joining another company. Such operations are now under special control in the tax authority - all participants in the process are called to the tax office, and if there is no reasonable purpose for this reorganization, then the tax authority may refuse to register the reorganization.

Sale of a share in LLC to "special" people

All changes in the composition of the founders are now carried out by a notary. You must bring a "clear and reasonable" buyer for your stake in the distressed LLC.

In addition, there is always a risk that the person to whom you sold the share will say during interrogation that the purpose of the transaction was not to acquire a legal entity, but to receive five thousand rubles for it. And then the internal affairs bodies can apply articles 173.1 and 173.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which refer to the use of nominees to enter information into the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.

It turns out to get rid of the company today is very, very difficult. And while you are thinking about how to run a business, every quarter, starting in 2015, you submit data to the tax office about who you bought goods and materials from and to whom you sold them. And this information will be stored in the tax authority for an indefinite number of years.

Thus, there are no simple and easy ways to eliminate risks. You need to be aware of this, weigh the risks in the implementation of activities, and if necessary.

About a third of Russian small and medium-sized entrepreneurs work in the shadow economy without registering their businesses or paying taxes. Such data was announced at the forum in Sochi by the President of Sberbank German Gref. The question of how to bring enterprises out of the "shadow" was discussed during the discussion at the forum "Is it easy to be an entrepreneur? The view of business and government."

At the beginning of the panel session, German Gref named the TOP 5 problems that, according to Russian entrepreneurs, are the main ones when starting a business. They turned out to be high taxes and various non-tax deductions, a lack of qualified personnel, the need to cooperate with enterprises in the shadow sector and audits by fiscal authorities.

During the discussion, the organizers tried to give the floor to the current entrepreneurs, who spoke about the problems they face, and then gave a response to the representatives of the authorities. The main goal was to create an opportunity for both sides to hear each other.

Now we often hear that the pressure of regulatory authorities on entrepreneurs has become a little less. In practice, we do not feel this, - said the CEO of Logasoft and the founder of another 20 different companies working in the IT field, Alexei Logantsov. - Let me give you an example: with the help of control and supervisory authorities, the customer checks the contractor, who is a supplier of food. The controllers find out that when chicken eggs are washed (before cooking), the stamp on fitness for sanitary and epidemiological standards disappears from them. And on the basis of this - that this stamp is being washed off - they break the state contract with the supplier of products. Or one more example: employees of the Federal Tax Service do not find me in the office of my company and, on the basis of this, block bank accounts. And I need to pay salaries to employees on that day.

Indeed, we conducted a survey among 55,000 entrepreneurs in order to find out the problems that most hinder them in doing business, - said Mikhail Abyzov, Minister of the Open Government, during the discussion. - 65 percent of respondents named the frequently changing rules of the game on the part of the inspection bodies as the biggest problems. 1/3 of the respondents named corruption as the biggest problem and another 1/3 - corruption. It is possible to change the current situation only by revising all the outdated norms and rules that entrepreneurs are obliged to follow. We want to switch to a different mentality of state controllers during inspections. The controller is not a business executioner, but an assistant in creating a safe work system.

Deputy Chairman of the Federal Tax Service Daniil Yegorov, speaking at the discussion, in turn, thanked the entrepreneurs and said that the fiscal services information about the incorrect operation of controllers is an opportunity to correct errors, an opportunity to update. In his opinion, the realities of the Russian economy are often far ahead of ideas about competent and civilized supervision of enterprises. For example, if the same businessman is the founder of 20 companies, then he can be identified as a group that is engaged in "money laundering". It will take time for such things to cease to be considered anomalies.

On November 22, within the framework of the X All-Russian Conference of Commissioners for the Protection of the Rights of Entrepreneurs, experts discussed how to bring Russian business out of the shadows.

Boris Titov presented a new program to stimulate the withdrawal of small and medium-sized businesses from the shadows - "Light for the garage economy." He also said that he would offer to use it to the President of Russia in the new political season. Among the main decisions of the program is the creation of the Entrepreneurial Code, which will unite all regulatory legal acts on protection measures and support measures for entrepreneurs.

“Despite the fact that we managed to strengthen our positions in the international ratings of investment attractiveness, the share of the shadow economy, according to the World Bank, has remained at 40% for the past 7 years. This provides us with a tax shortfall of 3 trillion rubles to the state budget and a stable fourth place in the ranking of the largest shadow economies in the world after Ukraine, Nigeria and Azerbaijan,” Andrey Nazarov, Public Ombudsman for the Protection of Entrepreneurs from Criminal Prosecution, pointed out the paradox.

The contradictory state policy in the field of SMEs largely affects, Boris Titov believes. “The state itself kills the positive effect of the measures taken to improve the investment and business climate in the country,” he said.

Among the measures that increased the outflow of SMEs to the shadow sector, the business ombudsman named: an increase in the rates of social insurance payments for individual entrepreneurs, a mass termination of lease agreements for the placement of NTOs, the introduction of a real estate tax for entrepreneurs on a “simplified system”, an increase in penalties and reporting volumes, an increase in the number of non-tax payments and fees, etc.

The “Light for the Garage Economy” program, as measures to financially stimulate small and medium-sized businesses, proposes to provide repayable loans for starting a business in the amount of 1 million rubles under the personal guarantee of the entrepreneur, subsidizing up to 5% of annual loans for project financing, canceling the Central Bank’s reservation for targeted loans and use of refinancing instruments for securitized loan packages within the system of project and trade financing.

According to Andrei Nazarov, the state also needs to reconsider its attitude towards entrepreneurs, as they take on its functions of employment of citizens, payment of salaries, taxes and social benefits. “Changing the vector will help raise the status of entrepreneurship in society, encourage people to bring their business out of the shadows or open a new business,” he said.

“There are already examples in our history when the attitude of the state towards entrepreneurs allowed them to act as a driver of economic growth: in Tsarist Russia, merchants of different guilds, depending on the amount of taxes paid, received different preferences in the form of benefits and even the weight of their voice in making government decisions,” – he argued.

“What will prevent us from using this experience today to stimulate entrepreneurs to come out of the shadows? This thesis should be included in the parting words of the business community to the President before the start of the election campaign,” Andrey Nazarov suggested.

According to the business ombudsman, if the majority of small businesses are legalized, this will increase the country's GDP by 2.5%, increase the number of jobs they create from 26% to 45% (by 2025) and increase the contribution of SMEs to the country's GDP from 20% up to 30% (by 2025).

At the All-Russian Conference of Commissioners for the Protection of Entrepreneurs' Rights, business ombudsman Boris Titov presented a new program to stimulate the withdrawal of small and medium-sized businesses from the shadows - "Light for the garage economy."

The administrative and fiscal burden on businesses has grown, the situation with the shadow economy has deteriorated significantly due to the decisions taken by the government in 2013-2014, Titov stated. According to him, the state itself "kills" the positive effect of the measures taken to improve the investment and business climate in the country.

Estimates of the shadow sector vary. The World Bank estimates the size of the shadow economy in Russia at 50% of GDP, said Elena Dybova, Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Association of Chartered Certified Accountants - 39% of GDP.

According to a study by the Center for Socio-Political Monitoring of the Institute of Social Sciences of the RANEPA, the share of Russians who at least occasionally worked unofficially or for wages in an envelope over the past year is about 44.8% of the total number of employed in 2017. The share of those who constantly receive salary in envelopes increased in 2017 from 28.8% to 31.4%.

According to the calculations of the Ministry of Labor and Social Development, about 15 million people are completely excluded from the official sector of the economy. The hidden wage fund (income of workers in the informal sector and gray wages in the official sector) was estimated by Rosstat at 10.9 trillion rubles in 2015 (13.4% of GDP).

Among the measures that increased the burden on business are an increase in the rates of social insurance payments, as a result of which more than 0.5 million individual entrepreneurs were deregistered; introduction of a real estate tax for entrepreneurs applying a simplified taxation system; increase in penalties; increase in the cadastral value of land; high key rate policy of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation; increase in tariffs of natural monopolies.

New difficulties for business were brought by the revocation of licenses from banks by the Central Bank, which resulted in the blocking of funds in settlement accounts of entrepreneurs. Now this account receives 60-70 requests per day, said Dmitry Potapenko, managing partner of Management Development Group Inc and Ombudsman for the Protection of the Rights of Self-Employed Citizens and Microbusinesses.

Titov proposed the creation of a special organizational and legal form “individual entrepreneur without the right to hire” with a simplified registration and deregistration regime (through the MFC) and reduced contributions (payment for a patent should not exceed 10,000 rubles per year. The simplification of the regime was discussed with the Ministry of Economic Development and interested departments, said Maxim Lyubomudrov, Deputy General Director of SME Corporation JSC.

Among the measures to stimulate the withdrawal of small and medium-sized businesses from the shadow sector are a moratorium on most inspections, an amnesty for businesses and a 2-fold reduction in fines provided for by the Code of Administrative Offenses for small and medium-sized businesses.

The Light for the Garage Economy program also offers a package of measures to financially stimulate small and medium-sized businesses: the provision of repayable loans for starting a business in the amount of 1 million rubles under the personal guarantee of the entrepreneur; subsidizing up to 5% of annual loans for project financing, the abolition of the Central Bank's provision for targeted loans and the use of refinancing tools for securitized loan packages within the system of project and trade financing.

According to Titov, the consolidated measures will make it possible by 2025 to increase the contribution of SMEs to GDP from 20% to 30%, and the number of jobs created from 26% (18.8 million people) to 45% of their total number, and GDP as a result will increase by 2.5%.

Most of the proposed measures are not objectionable, and some of them are already being discussed by regulators, said Lyubomudrov. According to him, the program represents a consolidation of proposals from various departments.

According to the calculations of the INP RAS, if the package of measures is implemented, up to 60% of Russians could be employed in the SME sector by 2035.

Help button

In addition to the strategic plan, Titov presented at the conference the current functionality - a special electronic service "Nabat", which allows entrepreneurs to receive prompt assistance from the commissioner in the event of an unscheduled inspection or search. A special mobile application operates in the "red button" mode and is available for free download in the AppStore.

To use the service, you need to pre-register so that in the future the call center operator can identify the person who applied for help when the need arises. When an entrepreneur launches a service, he is asked to provide data on the inspection and inspectors in order to establish its status (scheduled, unscheduled, administrative investigation, is there an entry in the register) and fix violations. The service allows you to protect the interests of entrepreneurs, counteract illegal inspections, control the actions of inspectors and ensures the participation of the authorized person.

Among the next tasks announced by Titov for the commissioners was the creation of a new rating of regions in terms of the level of business safety. The business ombudsman plans to model such a rating with the help of the FSO: its results can become a tool for interaction with regional authorities, since it will allow assessing the actions of various regional services and departments, and not just the effectiveness of a particular governor.