Russia will not see significant change in tax system in next three yrs – Medvedev

(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 10, 2013) Russia will not see any significant changes in its tax system within the next three years, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at a meeting with members of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RUIE) board.

The government has endorsed the principal areas of its tax policy development for 2014-2016, he said.

“No significant changes in the tax system structure are planned and no new taxes are going to be introduced during the upcoming three-year period,” Medvedev said.

“Emphasis should be placed on improving tax administration and reducing the share of the so-called shadow economy,” he said.

“Tax rules should be understandable and feasible, so that everyone pays taxes, including large, medium, and small businesses, both Russian and foreign,” he said.

RUIE members alerted the prime minister to the fact that de facto, the tax burden on business was increasing, partly due to new decisions regarding employee insurance and increasing the tax base for the purpose of insurance contributions.

The entrepreneurs also complained that regulatory acts were constantly being adopted that made new financial impositions on their business, and that “the burden continues to increase via tariffs.”

Bur Medvedev said he did not see any conditions for taxes to increase in the decisions that the RUIE members spoke of.

“I said at the start that there would not be any additional tax burden, but you are now telling me that de facto there is and that it is growing, partly due to tariffs. On the one hand this is probably true to some extent, but on the other, given how tax legislation is being elaborated in a whole range of countries, we are not undertaking any serious action (to increase the tax burden on business),” he said.

“The tax position of the state and government is consistent enough,” he said.