According to the results of a study by Ernst & Young, over the last year the mutual relations of tax authorities with taxpayers have improved markedly. But business representatives questioned by Expert Online say that working with tax inspectors continues to be difficult for them, and that positive changes mostly relate to select companies
The company Ernst & Young conducted a study on taxation among 58 Russian and international companies doing business in Russia: a third working in retail, 19% in energy and chemistry, 14% in finance, and 12% each in the automobile industry and telecommunications. Respondents were required to respond to questions concerning tax checks and disputes in Russia, as well as questions about Russia’s tax legislation and tax administration, the impact of Russia's tax system on foreign investment and measures to improve Russia’s tax system.
It turned out that the tax climate in Russia has improved. The following figures indicate this. 32% of those surveyed described their relations with the tax authorities as “good” (in 2006 - 22%). 11% of respondents (10% a year earlier) had “bad” relations with tax inspectors. The remaining 56% (65% in 2006) were “neutral.”
84% of those surveyed said that they had had tax disputes with the authorities, with 82% of those disputes being considered in judicial proceedings. Of the cases that came before the court, 89% were won by the participants of the survey, which is a high rate of successful completion of disputes, and points to significant support of taxpayers on the part of the judicial bodies.
True, despite all this, most respondents felt that the existing tax system has a negative impact on the investment climate: 63% of those surveyed characterize the impact of the Russian taxation system as “negative” or “very negative,” while the number of neutral and positive assessments dropped from 54% to 37%. Respondents consider tax legislation as the area where the most significant changes are required.
Businessmen say that recently the Federal Tax Service has tried to make cooperation easier between the tax authorities and taxpayers, but on the ground tax collectors are doing whatever they want, and life for taxpayers is not being made easier.
Vladislav Korochkin, Vice President of the All Russian Public Organization for Small and Medium Business (OPORA), said that in tax legislation there are still a huge number of gaps where double interpretations mean taxpayers can be quite forcefully strong-armed. Sergey Belyakov, Deputy Chairman of the Tax Committee of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Businessmen, agrees with him.
Regarding corruption, the general director of the company Tax Assistance, Sergey Shapovalov, says that taxpayers understand that it is futile to fight it. If the government starts addressing this it is possible it will only get worse. Another body of corrupt officials will be created.
Korochkin says that corruption has not diminished, but that people have resigned themselves to it; everyone has adapted to each other, has learnt to live with each other and no longer perceive corruption so badly. Experts agree only with the last trend noted in the study: that the tax system in modern Russia is having a very negative effect on the attractiveness of investing in the country.
Yekaterina Shokhina
Photo: Comstock complete / Fotolink
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