The online ‘Business: A Survival
Guide’ conference, organized by the Roscongress Foundation and EY, took place
on Friday in Moscow. The event, which was broadcast on the Roscongress-TV YouTube channel and the Foundation’s official Facebook
account,
focussed on support measures for small and medium-sized businesses under
emergency quarantine.
«Business support has always occupied a place of
importance on our agenda. And it’s more important than ever to provide business
people with complete and reliable information about available support tools and
mechanisms for overcoming this crisis. The most vulnerable representatives of
the business community, which include small and medium-sized enterprises, are
in especial need of this support,» Roscongress Foundation CEO and Chairman of
the Board Alexander Stuglev said.
Discussion participants — well-known legal and tax
consultants — answered questions of the greatest concern to entrepreneurs in
the current environment.
EY Partner and Head of Corporate Taxation in the CIS
Dmitry Babiner talked about which companies could expect government support.
These include organizations operating in those sectors of the economy most
affected (air and road transport, leisure and entertainment, catering,
hospitality, etc.) and included in the register of SMEs as
of 1 March 2020. In his talk, Babiner also touched on certain legislative
subtleties. For example, only those companies that have failed for 3
consecutive years to meet SME criteria (revenue of up to RUB 2 billion and less
than 250 employees) may be excluded from the register.
Key support measures include, beginning 1 April 2020,
the reduction of minimum wage insurance premiums for SMEs from 30% to 15% and
an extension of the tax payment period. Tax incentives were also discussed in
detail in the reports of EY Partner and Tax and Accounting Reporting
Preparation Group Head Yulia Timonina and Partner and Head of the
Group for Tax Policy and Dispute Resolution in the CIS Alexey Nesterenko.
The presentation by Irina Novikova, Senior Manager of
the EY Human Resources Consulting Department, focussed on issues related to
relations between employers and employees during the non-working periods in
effect in Russia until April 30. It was shown that 90% of companies whose
employees can work remotely have already taken advantage of this opportunity.
Many of those who cannot work remotely continue to go to work. 50% of companies
not falling under the President’s Decree dated 25 March 2020 ‘On Declaration of Non-Working Days in the Russian
Federation’ and 25% of those affected by the Decree said as much in the recent
survey.
Director of the EY Private Customer Tax Services Group
Anna Savon and Director of the Customs Regulation and Foreign Trade Group at EY
Anton Shishkin also participated in the online conference. They talked about
changes in the taxation of income of individuals on deposits and operations
with debt securities and on measures to regulate international trade.
The conference was moderated by Alexey Bobrovsky, Head
of the Russia 24 TV Channel Service of Economic News.
A recording of the broadcast can be found on the Roscongress-TV YouTube Channel. Those wishing to submit their
questions to the experts can do so in the comment section.
