A Balance Sheet on Russian Taxes

Taxes, in any country other than a limited number of tax haven jurisdictions, are viewed universally as a burden. Russia is no exception. OF course, a tax system that imposes a 35 percent individual tax rate and a 35 percent corporate rate (with even higher rates for certain types of businesses) will never be praised by its taxpayers. Moreover, with frequent changes and a set of tax rules different from those in the United States, Russian tax laws are viewed with great apprehension by most Americans and other foreigners doing business in Russia. Russian tax rules certainly have major drawbacks.

Other problems with Russian taxes include too many types of taxes, both on the federal and on the local level. This multitude of taxes not only makes compliance difficult, but also makes it challenging to keep current with changes and amendments. Add to the confusion presidential decrees which append taxes onto existing law or modifying existing laws, as well as the wide variety of taxes that may be enacted at the local level. Additionally, there are five different payroll taxes on top of the individual income tax that must be withheld by employers from wages paid to employees.

Russia will never be a tax haven, nor have American and other foreign businesses come to Russia with that expectation. Rather, companies doing business in Russia have come here because they feel that Russia presents certain market opportunities.

In criticizing Russia's tax rules and tax administration, we should not forget that Russia is a relatively new tax jurisdiction. Russian tax laws (as with all other laws in Russia) are in a process of evolution. The same is true of the governmental bodies enforcing the tax laws.

As a step to facilitate the obtaining of double-tax treaty relief, the Russian tax authorities have issued new dual language (English/Russian) forms. The new forms for claiming double-tax treaty relief from tax withholding can be completed in either Russian or English. This development has made it easier for foreign companies, at least from English-speaking jurisdictions, to obtain certification of taxpayer status from their home jurisdictions in order to claim treaty relief in Russia.

On May 8, 1996 President Yeltsin signed a decree making additional improvements in Russian tax rules. The decree reduces late payment penalties from 0.7 percent per day to 0.3 percent per day. Other provisions in the decree provide for more rapid periods for depreciation of capital assets (to be effective January 1, 1997) and much broader rules for the deductibility of business expenses (also to be effective January 1, 1997).

Complaints about the Russian tax system, just like complaints about the American tax system, will never go away. However, over the past year there have been many positive development in Russian tax laws and regulations. More important, at both the government and legislative levels in Russia, there appears to be growing recognition that tax rules should be changed so as not to stifle economic activity. Although the tax situation in Russia is far from ideal, there is a genuine basis for hope for improvement.

10. Read and translate paying attention to the suffixes:

-let [lit]; -sure, zure []

circle - circlet (кружочек)

book - booklet (книжечка, брошюра)

leaf - leaflet (листок, листовка)

pleasure, exposure, measure, seizure.

11. Arrange in groups the words with the same prefix:

Independence, unfriendly, disbelieve, unknown, dislike, immaterial, unproductive, incomplete, unequal, illegal, impossible, irregular, untrue, inactive, irreplaceable, misunderstanding, illiterate, mispronunciation.