Dozens of companies are now in the process of registration in "Russian offshores" special administrative regions (SARs), and the authorities will expand opportunities for registering new residents, Deputy Economic Development Minister Ilya Torosov said on Friday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th September, 2020) Dozens of companies are now in the process of registration in "Russian offshores" special administrative regions (SARs), and the authorities will expand opportunities for registering new residents, Deputy Economic Development Minister Ilya Torosov said on Friday.
"We have a number of companies, dozens, I would say, companies that already declare that they are in the process of moving to the SARs. So we hope that we will further expand the residence of the SARs," the deputy minister said at the roundtable "SAR: Two Years of Success and Prospects for Further Development" organized by RBC.Conferences.
In August 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a package of laws providing for the creation of special administrative regions with special conditions for economic activity for foreign companies on the territory of Oktyabrsky Island in the Kaliningrad Region and Russky Island in the Primorsky Territory. These decisions created a competitive tax regime enabling foreign companies, including those with Russian capital, to change their foreign jurisdiction to that in Russia.
"Currently, the energy ministry, as part of the new roadmap for the transformation of the business climate, approved by the government in July 2020, is developing bills aimed at further developing the SAR regime. On September 23, 2020, the bill aimed at expanding the possibility of re-domiciliation of foreign companies from foreign jurisdictions was approved at a government meeting and is prepared to be submitted a to the State Duma in the near future," Torosov said.
The deputy minister noted that over the two years of operation of the mechanism, 35 residents have already been registered in the SARs: 34 international companies and one international fund, belonging to different owners and working in various industries.
In particular, Rusal completed the process of re-registering from the island of Jersey to the Russian jurisdiction this week. The company is now registered in the SAR on Oktyabrsky Island.
The finance ministry proposed to create a more attractive tax regime in the SARs than in Cyprus, but not as much as it was before the changes, Sazanov said.
"The regime that we have to create in the SAR should certainly be more favorable than the tax regime that will be in Cyprus after January 1, 2021, but not as attractive as it was in Cyprus before our changes," he said.
The tax agreement with Cyprus has already been signed, the changes should come into force on January 1, 2021.
