Russian taxation and tax optimization schemes - Essay Example

Tax optimization schemes can therefore be said to be the structuring and organizing of a company’s or individual’s activities in order to reduce of minimize that their tax liabilities. This exercise which is becoming legal increases the amount of money maybe a company wishes to reinvest in its productive assets or even distribute among its shareholders (Saez, Slemrod, and Giertz 13 –50). There is no way to escape interacting with the tax authorities. Of the surveys conducted in the recent past, it emerges that there has been charged additional tax liabilities which are related to VAT and profit tax.

These tax charges were due to insufficient economic documentation and justification. There has been consistent strengthening of the tax policy in Russia. This has lead to a marked reduction of tax payments. The Russian government introduced changes. These tax changes protect the integrity of the country’s tax system. These changes included the introduction of amendments to the general anti-tax avoidance provisions. These are part of the tax optimization schemes that Russia is implementing. They include income tax exemptions and the introduction of the option of a tax liability in cases where a tenant qualifies for tax deductions.

There are also schemes that let companies avoid declaring de facto members of staff as employees. This frees such staff from the obligation of paying high payroll taxes which my go up to thirty percent of one’s salary. This paper will look at income taxes or VAT and the tax Optimization schemes (Selen 17-67). Income taxes or VAT in Russia in 2012 and the tax Optimization schemes According to Ernst & Young (14 – 32), one of the structures for optimization in Russian that is most common is the creation and the usage of the of the corporate profit centers in the internal offshore zones as well as in foreign offshore jurisdictions.

This has created an environment whereby some certain taxpayers are released from taxation and the administrative territorial formations enjoying reductions in the tax rates in federal taxation. By utilizing these optimization schemes, they result to an effective profit tax rate. Most companies are employing these optimization schemes because of that they need to disclose their statements, so they can be issued with foreign securities, or obtain loans from foreign banks or even in cases of multinational mergers.

Compared to other countries round the world the Russian Federation offers more protection to taxpayers. This is done by putting the burden of proving the usage of illegal tax shelters on the tax authorities. This has resulted to having the tax inspectorate taking the taxpayers to court to prove that tax shelters are illegal and in most cases the inspectorate loses such (Ernst & Young 14 – 32). The draconian rules that exist in other parts of the world, for instance the disclosure rules that were introduced in order to evaluate in United Kingdom the Inland Revenue on tax planning in advance, do not exist in Russia (Long 855-869).

Russian businesses and foreign investors will at times be embroiled in tax disputes with the tax authorities. Due to changes introduced in tax laws which require a taxpayer to appeal to the highest tax authority before proceeding to court, it has really reduced these tax disputes. The tax optimization schemes have created an opportunity whereby conclusive amicable agreements with the tax authorities are reached during the litigation process (Long 855-869).