The Ministry of Finance has established new distinctions for tax registration and deregistration. These apply to both foreign organizations and individuals, although not to investors and operators acting on the basis of production sharing agreements.
The tax authorities are to complete the registration of a foreign company within five business days from the date of receiving the necessary documents.
These include an application for registration, foundation documents, a decision on establishing a branch/representation in Russia, and related statute. The decree also established special procedures for the tax registration of diplomatic missions and also for foreign organizations with corporate accounts in Russian banks, and according to the location of fixed assets the company owns and where the company pays its natural resources production taxes, if applicable.
There are also "simplified" deregistration rules. In addition to the regular, voluntary procedures, if a foreign company does not submit tax declarations and/or annual reports for 18 months or shows no activity in their bank accounts for 18 months, the company can be automatically deregistered.
Previously established distinctions are considered to have lost force.
This is according to Decree # 117 “On Distinctions of Tax Registration of Foreign Companies” from August 30, 2010, which has recently come into force.
Also, by the Decree # 129н from October 21, 2010 the Ministry of Finance clarified tax registration of foreign citizens as individuals. New procedures are in place for tax registration of foreign citizens based on place of residence, the location of fixed assets, for attorneys, and for deregistration and changing registration data.
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