August 3, 2018 - Dentons’ Russia Tax and Customs practice has developed four tax draft laws ordered by the Competency center for statutory regulation of the digital economy, which operates at the Skolkovo Foundation. The draft laws are intended to create incentives for digital economy actors and to make the Russian tax system more competitive in the following areas:


 - R&D super deduction and Patent Box
 - Personal income tax deduction for business angels
 - Deduction of “input” VAT for export of digital and IT services and sale of IP rights, VAT exemption for sale of IT services (including SaaS)
 - New rules for individual tax residency


The first three draft laws have already been sent to the Digital Economy of the Russian Federation program project office for review in the Russian Federation Government. The draft law on individual tax residency has received the approval of experts from the Digital Economy autonomous nonprofit organization working group on statutory regulation and is being finalized with the federal executive authorities. Then it will also be sent to the Russian Federation Government for review.

Vasilii Markov, Partner in Dentons’ Russia Tax and Customs practice says this of the work on the draft laws: “The draft laws we have developed are primarily an important signal for the high-tech industry that the state is supporting it. Radical changes are now occurring in the principles of taxation and the main thrust of states’ tax policy while the world is undergoing digitization. We hope that clear and convenient tax incentive mechanisms will make it possible to say the Russian tax system is flexible and competitive, which will ultimately facilitate the development of the digital economy in the country. We are proud that precisely our team was given this task. We did everything possible to draft the highest quality regulations. The fact that most of the draft laws have already reached the stage of being reviewed in the Russian Federation Government is the result of joint efforts by our practice and the entire expert community: experts from the Special Legal Regimes working group and experts from the Statutory Regulation working group. We plan to continue working in this area because we want to not only interpret the provisions of law, but also shape the direction of policymaking in the digital economy era.”

Alexei Sokolov, Deputy Director of the Skolkovo Foundation Development and Planning Department and facilitator of the Special Legal Regimes working group says: “Today one of the key tasks the Russian Federation government faces is to improve the tax regulation framework which will meet all the requirements of the modern economy. Such initiatives require both a profound understanding of the principles of how the current laws work and the aspects of the digital economy. So we are delighted to cooperate with the experts of Dentons’ Tax practice: they entirely meet these requirements.”

Dentons’ Tax and Customs practice, which is rated one of the leading practices in Russia (Band 1 by Chambers Europe 2018), has 34 specialists.

The practice has all the resources necessary to provide you with the full spectrum of tax and legal services, including international tax advice, domestic tax and deoffshorization advice; advising on tax incentives and other forms of state support; contract tax review; tax restructurings; tax due diligence/self-checks; tax M&A support; tax dispute resolution; domestic accounting advice; tax legislative work; transfer pricing; individual tax planning and compliance; tax risk management; real estate tax; and supporting intangible asset transactions. The team also provides all types of customs law services, including customs compliance health checks; supply chain structuring and goods import modeling with the subsequent implementation of the developed supply structures; ensuring the declaration process complies with general customs law requirements; advising on the determination of customs value; advising on the classification of imported goods, etc.