On May 23, during the parliamentary hearings in the State Duma, the second public discussion of the forthcoming changes in the tax system took place. Alexey Stanchin, Senior Tax Consultant at Tax Compliance, commented on a number of initiatives in RBC's article.

The discussions again touched upon personal income tax, VAT and profit tax rates, amnesty on splitting, tax mechanism for investment support, increased authority for regions to tax high-value objects, land plots and property transactions.

Probability of introducing splitting into the Tax Code of the Russian Federation

In the opinion of our expert, there is no such probability. Since the decision on the existence of an offense in terms of splitting is always an assessment of a specific set of not always clear criteria. In addition, even if the totality of these criteria is established, it does not indicate an offense if they are explained by business purposes. Both the tax authority and the courts also in their decisions and clarifications support these approaches.

That is, at the moment there is no possibility to generalize all the accumulated practice on splitting with the subsequent consolidation of conclusions in the relevant article. The norm establishing a general principle and preventing abuse, which is currently used by tax authorities and courts, is already in place - it is Article 54.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Possible expansion of regional powers in terms of transportation tax regulation

For this purpose it is enough to amend Article 361 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, which provides for restrictions for the subjects of the Russian Federation in terms of increasing or decreasing rates by no more than 10 times. 

Or completely abandon the establishment of a certain prime rate in the Tax Code of the RF on transportation tax and fully give the authority to set the rate on vehicles to the subjects of the Russian Federation.

Consideration of progressive property tax

Recall that we have different real estate (immovable property) is taxed according to different rules. 

Today, land tax is charged at two types of rates depending on the category of the plot - 0.3 and 1.5%. In the future, the legislator may introduce changes that will allow regions to introduce more serious rates depending on the category of land.

With regard to property tax on property of organizations, the legislator may increase the upper limit of the rate. At the moment it is 2.2%.