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About Alinga | |
 15.07.09
Welcome from Alinga!
The recent US-Russia summit held in Moscow, and the parallel business conference that was held in conjunction with it, helped point out just how interconnected international politics and international business are. Political relations can affect many aspects of a country's business environment. Visa regimes, tariffs, import quotas and bans, double taxation, and restrictive trade legislation are all still cited as problems in US-Russia trade. All, we can be sure, will require an improvement in general relations before they can be solved.
Diplomatically, the summit was hailed as a success. Obama's visit, as Foreign Policy Magazine put it, was a "ray of sunshine" in what has been a troubled relationship. But there is still much more work to be done to remove the restrictive barriers that have kept, as Obama pointed out in his speech before business leaders in Moscow, the volume of US-Russia trade at the same level as US-Soviet trade had been and at about the same amount as US-Thailand trade currently amounts to. Both sides have much work to do if both are to profit together in the world’s globalizing economy.
As usual, our newsletter will continue to keep you informed of the legal, tax, and accounting issues that affect business in Russia and with an emphasis on those that affect international business operating in Russia.
If you have comments, questions, or suggestions on other ways we can improve our site and newsletter, please contact the editor at jwilson@acg.ru! To subscribe to this newsletter, send an email with "Subscribe Alinga" in the subject field to jwilson@acg.ru.
Expensing Non-Recoverable Debt Russia's Ministry of Finance (MinFin) confirmed its stand in regards to recognizing non-recoverable debt according to an approved list of grounds.
There is much more "Accounting and Payroll" information available in the Russian version of this same newsletter!
Review Of Recent Changes To Tax-Related Legislation In The Russian Federation This monthly Russian-language service from Alinga and regular feature of the Alinga Market Update is designed to bring your financial personnel a broad view of recent changes to the Russian Tax Code. Forward this link to them!
What Are MinFin's Letters For? The Ministry of Finance's (MinFin's) letters on the application of tax laws are not aimed at establishing, modifying or repealing laws. So what exactly is their purpose?
Taxes being paid into the State Budget have fallen by one-third. The Ministry of Finance (MinFin) has found new ways to compensate for this, including increasing extraction taxes for natural gas, excise duties on tobacco and alcohol, and state duties.
Old Tax Optimization Schemes Return A scheme popular in the 1990s is becoming popular again: employers are increasingly paying salaries "in envelopes" – i.e. under the table.
Personal Income Taxes of Workers Working In Foreign Firms Separate divisions of foreign organizations with their own balance and bank account are recognized as tax agents in connection with employee salaries.
Plan To Free Small Businesses From Tax Burden Poses More Questions Than Answers Today, Russia's Budget and Taxation Committee recommended the approval of a bill that encourages smaller businesses to engage in innovative activity.
New Checks For Small Businesses During this time of crisis, city authorities have been steadily removing administrative barriers for small businesses while at the same time coming up with new ways to investigate those businesses.
Russia's Putin Signs 2009 Economic Stimulus Plan At a meeting of the government commission for regional development Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he had signed an economic stimulus plan for 2009.
Amendments To NGO Law Do Not Apply To Foreign NGOs Amendments to the law on non-governmental organizations submitted by President Dmitry Medvedev to the State Duma will apply only to Russian NGOs and will not affect foreign ones, a high-ranking official said.
Trade Bill Once Again Submitted For Revision Deputy Vice-Premier Viktor Zubkov has been entrusted with the task of revising the new trade bill.
Tax Collections Will Bypass Courts Despite Prominent Lawmakers' Protests Next week the Duma Budget Committee will recommend adopting amendments to Article 48 of the Tax Code.
Moscow's Most Dangerous Tax Offices Those companies who were audited in the first quarter of 2009 by the Federal Tax Service (FNS) Office ¹ 6 are the worst off. Twenty times more taxes were demanded and collected than during the same period last year for that district.
Number Of Inspections In Small, Medium Business Slowly On Decline Russian President Dmitry Medvedev believes that the number of inspections and charges in small and medium businesses is on decline, but quite slowly.
President Simplifies Life For Non-Profits On Friday, the State Duma began to consider a first draft of amendments to the Law "On Non-Profits" as suggested by President Medvedev.
Court Bailiffs May More Easily Freeze Company Accounts The introduction of circulating documents electronically between the banks and the court bailiffs will hopefully cut down on the time necessary for debt recovery from legal bodies and individuals.
Contractors Off-limits To Inspectors: Supreme Court Inspectors may only request bank account details for the companies they are inspecting and banks have the right to refuse any requests for information on the company's contractors.
Closed Joint Stock Companies To Be Abolished? In the near future, Russia may only have two company forms—joint stock companies (AO) and limited liability companies (OOO.)
Russia's state Duma has begun consideration of a bill that would abolish the requirement for taxpayers applying uniform tax on imputed income to use cash registers.
Find Job Vacancies Here Find Employees Here
How To Create A Shared Team Vision So how should an HR department go about creating a shared team vision for staff?
Putin Urges Governors To Control Timely Salaries At Enterprises Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin urged governors to supervise constantly timely payments of salaries at enterprises.
There is much more HR information available in the Russian version of this same newsletter!
The Militsia And FMS Agree To Joint Control Of Migrant Workers Rashid Nurgaliev, the Minister of Internal Affairs, and Konstantin Romodanovsky, Head of the Federal Migration Service (FMS), issued a joint order pertaining to the adoption of administrative rules regulating the use of foreign labor.
The following resource is meant to quickly introduce the reader to some of the major English-language commentary concerning the current financial crisis in Russia, how that crisis might affect Russia's government and ruling structure, and what the international outlook is for Russian business.
Prosecutor-General And Ministry Of Public Health And Social Development Disagree On 2008 Quotas The Office of the Prosecutor-General says that in 2008 "the Ministry of Public Health and Social Development (MinZdrav) repeatedly increased quotas for foreign labor."
Russia Proves Money Paradise For Foreigners, But It Never Lasts Too Long The results of a special survey conducted by British HSBC shows that foreign specialists working in Russia have the biggest salaries in the world.
Rights Of Foreign Citizens Expanded Senators endorsed the Federal Law "On Changes to Articles 6 and 7 of the Federal Law 'On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation,'" and also to Article 14 "On Russian Citizenship," and sent the changes to the President for his signature.
Moscow Becomes Cheaper For Foreigners, But They Don't Feel It Yet The Russian capital is no longer the most expensive city in the world for foreigners working in it. It topped the list of the most expensive cities since 2006 and has now been edged to third place by Tokyo and Osaka.
The Medvedev Thaw: Is it real? Will it last?
Audit and Taxation Legal Accounting and Payroll Questions? Ask Alinga's Experts!
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