In the summer of 2015, many changes were made to legislative acts for entrepreneurs. The Law on the Support of Small and Medium Enterprises has undergone the greatest adjustment.
What has changed in June 2015?
On June 29, 2015, amendments were made to the Law on Support for Small and Medium Enterprises, according to which the threshold for the participation of foreign companies and individuals in authorized capital business entity organizations. If earlier their share could not exceed 25%, now this figure has increased to 49%. This means that legal entities in the Russian Federation can attract more foreign investors to develop their own business.
These restrictions do not apply to enterprises engaged in the practical implementation of technologies, inventions, software developments, as well as to legal entities supporting the activities of the Skolkovo Innovation Center.
For companies participating in Skolkovo research projects and having a share in the investment partnership, the transition to the category of business entities provides a number of advantages:
- Simplified rules for tax reporting.
- The requirements for maintaining accounting records are being relaxed.
- Certain benefits are introduced during the privatization of state or municipal property.
- It becomes possible to supply goods or perform work for the needs of the state or subjects of the Russian Federation.
- Special measures are in place to ensure and satisfy interests and rights guaranteed by law.
- Additional financial incentives.
In addition, it has changed maximum size revenue for attribution to the category of entities, and in 2015 for micro-enterprises it is 120,000,000 rubles, for small enterprises - 800,000,000 rubles, and for medium-sized enterprises - 2,000,000,000 rubles. for the previous year (“Government Decree No. 702 of July 13, 2015”).
For comparison: the previous Decree No. 101 of February 9, 2013 established for micro-enterprises - 60,000,000 rubles, for small - 400,000,000 rubles, and for medium - 1,000,000,000. The maximum amount of revenue is considered and adjusted by the Government once a 5 years, but the global increase in the amount occurred precisely in 2015.
The most important news was the publication of Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 287, according to which the Government's proposal was adopted to create a Federal Corporation for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises by renaming the Credit Guarantee Agency. The main purpose of establishing the Corporation is all kinds of interaction with enterprises. Other functions have also been identified:
- Providing assistance to Russian business representatives.
- Attracting investments for the dynamic development of domestic entrepreneurship, including from foreign companies.
- Versatile promotion of the development of investment projects that are directed to the capital of organizations (subjects).
- Information interaction with subjects and authorities, the municipality and other bodies that promote business development.
- Development and improvement of methods to support entrepreneurs.
- Appeal to the antimonopoly service authorities in case of non-placement of data on procurement in the unified information system by the customer, or in case of violation of the terms of placement, as well as in case of illegal requirements of the customer to the documents provided by the procurement participants.
- Appealing in the judiciary of illegal actions taken by customers against subjects.
- Purchasing Plan Compliance Tracking legislative norms.
- Provision of property support in the form of registration of ownership real estate subjects.
- Control over the provision of assistance to entrepreneurs by federal, subject and municipal authorities.
- Analysis of annual procurement reports.
The Corporation will be headed CEO, as well as the Management Board and the Board of Directors. For contacting this organization Entrepreneurs will be able to visit the Multifunctional Center, or order the required service through the Unified Portal of State Services. It is also planned to open branches, departments for consultations and representative offices - they must interact with business entities on their territory.
Moratorium on inspections of small businesses
On July 1, 2015, the State Duma approved Draft Federal Law No. 814738-6 “On Amendments to the Federal Law “On the Protection of the Rights of Legal Entities…”, which comes into force on January 1, 2016. According to him, until December 31, 2018, IP and legal entities. persons are exempted from scheduled inspections. However, this does not apply to organizations working in the field of environmental, fire or state security- they will be checked in the same mode.
Also, "supervisory holidays" will not apply in a number of other cases:
- If an LLC or individual entrepreneur within three recent years grossly violated the law and administrative sanctions were imposed on them; a decision was made to suspend their activities or their licenses were revoked.
- If the date of scheduled inspections was set earlier than the date of entry into force of the Law.
Constant support from the State and the introduction of certain benefits for entrepreneurs gives an incentive to develop business at an accelerated pace, and this directly affects the country's economy as a whole.
New entrepreneur or already experienced and long time a working businessman always experiences legal information hunger. If he is not a lawyer by profession, and does not have legal practice, then it is quite difficult for him to understand the whole variety of legislative acts that regulate the situation individual entrepreneurs and questions entrepreneurial activity.
The federal law on individual entrepreneurs, the adoption of which was discussed at one time, was never adopted, and there is currently no single normative act that combines all the norms aimed at regulating the activities of entrepreneurs in Russia.
In the proposed article, we will try to fill this gap and combine everything that the law says about, its status and the activities that it conducts.
General rules governing the activities of individual entrepreneurs
One way or another, all the regulations that are published in Russian Federation must comply with the Constitution of the Russian Federation. At the same time, if some issue is not regulated by law or other document, then you can always turn to the Basic Law of the country and find the answer there. This, in particular, is used by some entrepreneurs, who appeal against various normative and individual prescriptions, as being inconsistent with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, in the courts, including the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation.
The right to engage in entrepreneurial activity is guaranteed to every citizen by Article 34 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. It allows everyone to use their abilities and property available to them to engage in entrepreneurial activities. The direct use of this article allows you to find arguments when challenging the regulations and orders of state bodies, which either directly or indirectly impede the implementation of entrepreneurial activities. At the same time, it is not so important that this applies to one specific citizen or an indefinite circle of persons whose rights and legitimate interests have been violated.
Deciphering the concept of entrepreneurial activity is contained in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. This normative act, according to many legal experts, is the second most important law in our country. Entrepreneurial activity, according to Article 2 of the Code, is characterized by the following features:
- this activity is carried out independently, on the basis of the autonomous will of the subject,
- it is carried out at your own risk, and all for the results of the activity lies with the person carrying it out,
- focus of activity - making a profit, and systematic,
- sources of such profit - the use of property, the sale of manufactured or resold goods, the provision (performance) of services (works),
- is carried out with the obligatory registration of business entities.
The same norms of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation apply to the entrepreneurial activities of individuals as to the activities of commercial organizations - legal entities.
At the same time, the Civil Code of the Russian Federation establishes a direct condition, the fulfillment of which is necessary for a citizen to be able to engage in entrepreneurial activity. Article 23 of the Code establishes that individual have the right to engage in business only from the moment of its state registration. Moreover, if a citizen has not carried out the registration prescribed by law, but, nevertheless, is engaged in such activities, then these rules will also apply to him.
Registration of citizens as entrepreneurs is carried out in accordance with the Law "On State Registration of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs". The law establishes that the Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs is maintained to collect information about all citizens conducting entrepreneurial activities.
You can read more about what individual entrepreneurs now receive instead of a registration certificate at the link:
The state body authorized to register individual entrepreneurs is the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation. It is to the territorial body of the tax inspectorate at the place of his permanent residence that a citizen needs to apply if he wants to register as an entrepreneur.
Tax issues of IP activities
It is not by chance that the functions of registering individual entrepreneurs and maintaining the register of entrepreneurs were transferred to the tax service. Registration of individuals as entrepreneurs has as its key goal, among other things, the full, correct and timely collection of taxes and fees. Unlike other aspects of entrepreneurial activity, almost all issues of taxation of entrepreneurs are collected in one regulatory act - the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. The exception here is the rates and other parameters of regional and local taxes.
To select the taxation system that is most suitable for doing business, a citizen must refer to the second part of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. It is here, knowing what the future entrepreneur will do, that one can decide on the tax regime. The general taxation regime, the simplified system and the main parameters of UTII are spelled out in the second chapter of the code. For information on regional and local fees, please refer to the laws of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and the resolutions of the authorities local government.
Please note: An application for the transition to a simplified taxation system can be submitted simultaneously with an application for registration of a citizen as an entrepreneur. And for this, accordingly, it is necessary, using the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, to determine the taxation system used.
Licensing of IP activities
Another normative act that a citizen should familiarize himself with before starting his activity as an individual entrepreneur is the law “On Licensing Certain Types of Activities”.
Please note: Some of the requirements for persons wishing to engage in licensed activities are difficult to meet. An entrepreneur should familiarize himself in advance with what requirements are imposed by law and assess his capabilities.
The law establishes a list of activities for the implementation of which entrepreneurs, as well as legal entities, state registration alone will not be enough. In order to engage in such activities, a permit (license) from a specially authorized body is required.
The law specifies where to apply if an entrepreneur wishes to carry out licensed activities and in what order. The conditions for issuing and reissuing licenses and the terms during which licenses are valid are also determined.
Checks of individual entrepreneurs
An important moment in the activity of an entrepreneur is the situation when state and municipal control and supervisory authorities show interest in his activities. The legitimate interest of control and supervisory authorities in relation to individual entrepreneurs is manifested in the conduct of control measures - inspections. So that in the process of their implementation there would be no abuse on the part of controllers, a law was adopted on the implementation of control. The law contains the basic rules for conducting inspections, and an entrepreneur should be familiar with its main provisions.
Thus, in particular, the law establishes that there are two types of inspections: scheduled and extraordinary. As you can see from the name of the first, their holding is planned in advance. What an informed entrepreneur cannot but know.
Scheduled inspections should take place no more than once every three calendar years. The law establishes that before the beginning of the year in which the supervisory authority plans to conduct an inspection in relation to a particular entrepreneur, it must include data about him (on the planned inspection) in the annual plan of inspection activities. The plan prepared in this way is sent by the control body to the prosecution authorities. And already, accordingly, after checking this plan by the employees of the prosecutor's office, the plan of verification measures becomes part of the general (consolidated) plan of verifications for the year.
Practical value, this moment, for businessmen has the following. Before the beginning of the new year, all summary plans for inspections for the coming year must be posted on the Internet. An individual entrepreneur can get information about whether a scheduled inspection is planned for him, and when this will happen, both on the website of the subject of the federation in which he operates, and on the website of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation. Search on the website of the Prosecutor General's Office is carried out by PSRN, his last name, first name and patronymic, or by the name of the organization.
Unscheduled inspections are coordinated with the prosecutor's office, as a rule, on an individual basis. The entrepreneur learns about them, usually shortly before the start of the audit.
Is a law on individual entrepreneurs required in modern conditions?
Analysis legislative framework, existing for 2019, and the main concepts of the development of civil legislation allow us to conclude that individual entrepreneurs operating without education legal entity, in their rights and obligations are practically equated to legal entities. Main differences between these two entities economic activity lie in their civil status. In particular, the ability of a person, as a founder of a business with the formation of a legal entity, not to be liable for his debts in the event of negative results thereof. In addition, it should be borne in mind that, as a rule, the business of individual entrepreneurs is small or medium, which also determines the features of its regulation.
But, since, in general, individual entrepreneurs are equated to other entities economic activity, then, according to most experts, a separate law on individual entrepreneurs, in principle, is not required.
Expert opinion
Maria Bogdanova
More than 6 years experience. Specialization: contract law, labor law, law social security, right intellectual property, civil process, protection of the rights of minors, legal psychology
Federal Law No. 480-FZ of December 25, 2018 extended the moratorium on scheduled inspections of small businesses from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2020. For these purposes, Federal Law No. 294-FZ of December 26, 2008 “On the Protection of the Rights of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs in the Implementation of state control(oversight) and municipal control” a new article 26.2 has been introduced.
It is envisaged that from 2019, scheduled inspections will not be carried out in relation to legal entities and individual entrepreneurs that are included in the Unified Register of Small Business Entities. All SMEs are included in a special register on the website of the Federal Tax Service.
It is impossible not to mention another innovation of legislators since the beginning of 2019 - the introduction of a special regime that implies the payment of a tax on professional income (PIT) by both entrepreneurs and citizens whose independent work does not need registration of IP (tutors, nannies). For this purpose, the law “On conducting an experiment ...” dated November 27, 2018 No. 422-FZ was adopted (hereinafter - Law No. 422-FZ).
For the time being, only a few subjects of the Russian Federation will apply the new taxation system:
- Tatarstan;
- Kaluga region;
- Moscow region;
- Moscow.
If such an experiment is successful, then the new law for individual entrepreneurs and non-individual citizens will be extended to the entire territory of the Russian Federation. The trial period is set to 2028. The purpose of introducing a new tax is to take into account the self-employed population, to withdraw it from the shadow business. For individual entrepreneurs who have become NAP payers, its rate will be 6%.
A new Federal Law dated July 24, 2007 No. 209-FZ on the development of small and medium-sized businesses was adopted. It defines the criteria for classifying small and medium-sized businesses, as well as the main goals and principles of state policy for the development of these enterprises. The material on the provisions of the new law was prepared by L.P. Fomicheva, auditor, member of the Chamber of Tax Consultants of the Russian Federation.
Note:
Note:
* We wrote about it.
At the end of July, the President signed Federal Law No. 209-FZ of July 24, 2007 "On the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses in the Russian Federation" (hereinafter - Law No. 209-FZ).
The former Federal Law of June 14, 1995 No. 88-FZ "On state support small business in the Russian Federation" (hereinafter - Law No. 88-FZ) was adopted in 1995 and established certain benefits and privileges. For example, if changes in tax legislation were unfavorable for a small business entity, it could pay taxes under the law that was in force at the time of its creation.* For many years, such a moratorium saved small businesses from increased UTII rates, the introduction of VAT for private entrepreneurs, and other difficulties. the obligation to apply it.
Note:
* Arbitration practice on this matter, see.
Law No. 88-FZ also provided for the right of small enterprises to accelerated depreciation: they could apply double rates, as well as additionally write off as depreciation charges up to 50 percent of the initial cost of fixed assets. Most of these benefits have been abolished since 2005*, but the moratorium continues. For example, if a company was incorporated on December 30, 2005, then it can use the tax law almost until the end of 2009 (although she will have to defend this right in court).
Note:
* We wrote about it.
New law determines what support small and medium-sized businesses can count on.
Small and Medium Enterprises: Criteria
Articles 3 and 4 of Law No. 209-FZ define the concepts of small and medium-sized businesses. These include consumer cooperatives entered into the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and commercial organizations(with the exception of state and municipal unitary enterprises), as well as individuals included in the unified state register of individual entrepreneurs and carrying out entrepreneurial activities without forming a legal entity, peasant (farm) enterprises that meet certain criteria.
First criterion- the composition of the founders of legal entities. To be considered a small or medium enterprise, the share state property, foreign founders or public organizations in the authorized capital should not exceed 25 percent (except for the assets of investment funds). Not more than a quarter of the shares (shares) may belong to other legal entities that are not small enterprises. A similar condition was contained in Law No. 88-FZ.
Second criterion- average number of employees. Companies with a staff of 16 to 100 people fall into the category of small ones. Organizations with no more than 15 employees are recognized as micro-enterprises, which are also classified as small. A medium-sized firm is one with between 101 and 250 employees. The average number of employees for a calendar year is determined taking into account all its employees, including those working under civil law contracts or part-time, taking into account the actual hours worked, employees of representative offices, branches and other separate divisions.
Third criterion- proceeds from the sale of goods, works, services and (or) the book value of assets for the previous calendar year. Revenue is determined in the manner prescribed by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation - excluding VAT. The book value of assets is determined in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation on accounting.
The limiting values of these values will be determined by the Government of the Russian Federation every five years on the basis of data from continuous statistical observations of small and medium-sized businesses.
Statistical bodies will have the right to conduct selective observation through monthly or quarterly surveys (for micro-enterprises - once a year).
Principles of support for small and medium-sized businesses
Article 6 of Law No. 209-FZ defines the main goals and principles of state policy for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Among the main principles are: ensuring equal access of subjects to participation in support programs, delimitation of powers of various levels of government, participation of representatives of small and medium-sized businesses in the formation and implementation of state policy in the field of development of small and medium-sized businesses, examination of draft laws.
Among the main goals and principles of state policy in this area, Article 7 names: the introduction of special tax regimes, the simplification of the rules for conducting tax, accounting And statistical reporting, forms tax returns on certain taxes and fees, the establishment of a preferential procedure for the privatization of state and municipal property, special forms of participation in the procedures for placing orders for the supply of goods and the provision of services for state and municipal needs.
Support is provided to those entities that are included in the registers of small and medium-sized businesses - recipients of such support (Article 8 of Law No. 209-FZ). The procedure for its conduct is established by the Government of the Russian Federation.
Specific benefits are not named in Law No. 209-FZ. They will be laid down in development programs, which, on the basis of this law, will be adopted by authorities at all levels. Among the forms of support: financial, property, information, consulting, support in the field of training, retraining and advanced training of personnel, etc. Their possible types are named in separate articles of the Law.
Article 14 of Law No. 209-FZ establishes a declarative procedure for subjects to apply for local support, as well as the openness of support procedures. However, it cannot be provided to small and medium-sized businesses that are credit or insurance organizations (with the exception of consumer cooperatives), investment and non-state pension funds, professional market participants valuable papers, pawnshops, participants in production sharing agreements, persons engaged in entrepreneurial activities in the field of gambling, non-residents under the currency legislation (except for cases provided for by international treaties of the Russian Federation).
Article 17 of Law No. 209-FZ provides that financial support to small and medium-sized businesses and organizations that form the support infrastructure is carried out at the expense of the relevant budgets by providing subsidies, budget investments, state and municipal guarantees for the obligations of these organizations.
Financial support is not provided: those engaged in the production and sale of excisable goods, as well as the extraction and sale of minerals.
Property support is also provided (Article 18 of Law No. 209-FZ), which can be expressed in the form of transfer to the possession and (or) use of state or municipal property, including land, buildings, structures, structures, non-residential premises, equipment , machines, mechanisms, installations, vehicles, inventory, tools, on a reimbursable and non-reimbursable basis or on preferential terms. The property must be used for its intended purpose and cannot be transferred or contributed to the authorized capital of other enterprises.
In addition, the law names the forms of information, consulting and personnel support. It is planned to allocate preferential subsidies, loans, property, create an information infrastructure and consulting centers, etc.
Transitional Provisions of the Law on Support for Small and Medium Businesses
Law No. 209-FZ enters into force on January 1, 2008, with the exception of provisions relating to the powers of the Government of the Russian Federation to set limits on revenue and book value of assets, as well as to conduct continuous statistical observations of their activities. These provisions come into force on January 1, 2010.
From January 1, 2008, small businesses that operated under the old law and do not meet the conditions for classifying small businesses established by the new Law No. 209-FZ retain the right to previously provided support in accordance with federal and regional programs for the development of small and medium entrepreneurship within six months, i.e. until the end of June 2008.
Entrepreneurial activity in the Russian Federation is developed and therefore it is quite difficult to introduce something new. For successful business development, entrepreneurs attract investors to their activities. Thanks to investments, any business has a chance to win in the competition in the Russian markets.
According to the legislation of the Russian Federation, an entrepreneur can be a legal entity or an individual (individual entrepreneur). To regulate the relations that arise in the process of doing business, law No. 209 “On the development of small and medium-sized businesses” was created, which will be discussed below.
Description of Federal Law-209 "On the development of small and medium-sized businesses"
Federal Law No. 209 "On the development of small and medium-sized businesses in the Russian Federation" was adopted by the State Duma on July 6, 2007, and approved 5 days later of the same year. Last changes were submitted on July 26, 2017. The law contains one chapter and 27 articles.
Federal Law No. 209 was created to regulate relations between:
- Individuals and legal entities;
- State bodies. Russian authorities;
- State bodies. the authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation;
- Local governments working on the development of small and medium businesses.
Article 3 of this Federal Law on enterprises and entrepreneurial activities lists in detail the following concepts:
- Small and medium business entities;
- Subject support infrastructure;
- Forms and types of support.
Federal Law No. 209 contains articles on the basis of which statistical data are collected on the activities of medium and small businesses. The collected statistics are sorted into monthly and quarterly reports. If a small business is not yet developed, but continues to work, then the leaders of the organization must provide data to the statistics bureau every 12 months. Sometimes selective statistical observations are carried out on the activities of business by decision of the Government of the Russian Federation.
Download the law on private entrepreneurship of the Russian Federation
For the development of business activities in the Russian Federation, a separate state policy is applied, which is implemented by local authorities. It is aimed at achieving the goals and principles established by Federal Law No. 209.
State policy objectives:
- Formation of a competitive environment in the Russian economy;
- Security favorable conditions for conducting the activities of small and medium-sized businesses;
- Ensuring competitiveness;
- Providing assistance to business entities in the field of promoting goods and services;
- Increasing the number of medium and small businesses;
- Increase in the share of taxes paid by business entities.
Principles of public policy:
- The division of duties between the state. authorities in providing assistance to medium and small businesses;
- Responsibility of the federal government authorities for doing business right. Creation necessary conditions for economic development business entities.
To download the Federal Law with the amendments and additions, go to.
Changes in the law on the development of entrepreneurship
The last amendments to the Federal Law were made on July 26, 2017. It's about on Article 4 of Law No. 209.
P 2 article 4
Item 2 refers to the number of employees in small enterprises. Up to 100 employees can work in such an organization. The management of a micro-enterprise can employ up to 15 people. The number of employees in medium-sized enterprises should not exceed 200 people.
P 2.1 Article 4
P 2.1 of the article of the Federal Law "On the development of small and medium-sized businesses in the Russian Federation" states that deputies State Duma can independently set the maximum threshold for the number of employees in the enterprise.
Ch 3 Article 4
This part describes the rules by which the category of a medium and small business entity is determined. If an individual or legal entity (a citizen as an individual entrepreneur) during the previous year did not employ other citizens of the Russian Federation on labor activity, then the category is determined based on the amount of profit for the previous year. Other categories of entities are determined depending on the number of employees in the enterprise.
The category of a business entity can be changed if changes have been made to the sorting indicators. If an individual entrepreneur is again registered in the state register, then the category of the subject remains the same.
All Federal Laws on entrepreneurial activity in the Russian Federation
Federal laws are understood as legislative acts that contain norms and rights governing relations arising between entrepreneurs or directly with their participation in entrepreneurial activities.
List of federal laws regulating entrepreneurial activity:
- - describes the state of the market on the territory of the Russian Federation;
- - describes legal status entrepreneurial activity;
- - describes the legislative provisions that regulate certain types of business activities;
- - contains correct order conducting business activities.
Despite a considerable number of federal laws, not a single legislative provision contains the principles of interaction between the state and business. In the articles of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, as rules for trade turnover, there is an indication that the state cannot interfere in the private affairs of entrepreneurial activity without any reason.
But if the law contained the principles of interaction between the state and entrepreneurship, there would be no contradictions between several federal laws.
To download changes and additions to this federal law No. 209 "On the development of small and medium-sized businesses in the Russian Federation", go to .
Over the years, interests small companies and entrepreneurs various areas activities were protected by the Law on State Support for Small Business. This regulation guaranteed small firms preferential terms lending, insurance, maintaining the order and conditions of taxation, as well as a number of simplified procedures in entrepreneurial activity. However, since the adoption of this Law, much has changed, and some of its norms have become outdated and recognized as invalid. In order not to leave small businesses without state support, the legislator did not make amendments and additions to current law, and developed a new one - the Law on the development of small and medium-sized businesses, which comes into force on 01.01.2008. The very name of the document indicates that the state intends to take care not only of small enterprises and entrepreneurs, but also of the development of medium-sized businesses.
So, on July 24, 2007, a new Law "On the development of small and medium-sized businesses in the Russian Federation" N 209-FZ (hereinafter - Law N 209-FZ) was adopted, which will enter into force on January 1, 2008 and will replace the current present Federal Law of June 14, 1995 N 88-FZ "On State Support for Small Business in the Russian Federation" (hereinafter - Law N 88-FZ).
Law N 88-FZ is not actually applied in practice, since the preferential tax regimes provided for in it for small businesses have become invalid with the adoption tax code RF and the Federal Law of July 31, 1998 No. N 148-FZ "On a single tax on imputed income for certain types of activities." In addition, no relevant by-laws have been adopted to ensure the actual implementation and application of this Law.
Law N 209-FZ introduces the concept of medium-sized business, widely used in world practice. Innovative, in comparison with the previous Law, is also the possibility of classifying consumer cooperatives, which, as you know, are non-profit organizations, as small and medium-sized businesses.
Small and medium-sized businesses include legal entities and individual entrepreneurs that meet the criteria established by Law N 209-FZ:
1. Composition of assets.
In the authorized or share capital, or mutual fund subjects of small and medium-sized businesses - legal entities, the share of the Russian Federation, constituent entities of the Russian Federation, municipalities, foreign citizens and legal entities, public and religious organizations, charitable and other funds should not exceed twenty-five percent (with the exception of assets of joint-stock investment funds and closed-end investment funds ). The share of participation of other legal entities (not being subjects of small and medium-sized businesses) in the capital of a small or medium-sized enterprise should also not exceed twenty-five percent. Similar requirements for authorized capital small enterprises are also established by the current Law N 88-FZ.
2. Average number of employees. This indicator should not exceed:
a) from one hundred and one to two hundred and fifty people inclusive for medium-sized enterprises;
b) up to one hundred people inclusive for small businesses; among small enterprises, micro-enterprises with an average number of employees of up to fifteen people stand out.
The current Law N 88-FZ establishes a different maximum allowable number of employees for various fields of activity. There is no such division in the new Law.
3. Proceeds from the sale of goods (works, services) excluding value added tax or the balance sheet value of assets (residual value of fixed assets and intangible assets) for the previous calendar year.
This indicator should not exceed the limit values established by the Government of the Russian Federation for each category of small and medium-sized businesses.
This criterion is new in comparison with the previous Law. From January 1, 2010, the Government of the Russian Federation will begin to establish it once every five years, taking into account "the data of complete statistical observations of the activities of small and medium-sized businesses."
The category of a small or medium-sized business entity is determined in accordance with the most significant condition - the number of employees or the amount of proceeds from the sale of goods, works or services. The category of a small or medium-sized business entity changes only if the number of employees or the amount of revenue is kept above or below the limit values for two calendar years following one after another (clauses 3, 4, article 4 of Law N 209-FZ) .
Features of legal regulation of the development of small and medium-sized businesses
Art. 7 of Law N 209-FZ. The state provides for many measures for the legal regulation of the development of small and medium-sized businesses:
Special tax regimes, simplified tax accounting rules, simplified forms of tax returns for certain taxes and fees for small businesses;
Simplified guidance system financial statements for small enterprises carrying out certain types of activities;
Simplified procedure for the preparation of statistical reporting by small and medium-sized businesses;
Preferential payment procedure for state and municipal property privatized by small and medium-sized businesses;
Features of the participation of small businesses as suppliers (performers, contractors) in order to place orders for the supply of goods, performance of work, provision of services for state and municipal needs;
Measures to ensure the rights and legitimate interests of small and medium-sized businesses in the implementation of state control (supervision);
Measures to ensure financial support for small and medium-sized businesses;
Measures to develop the infrastructure to support small and medium-sized businesses;
Other measures aimed at ensuring the implementation of the goals and principles of the Federal Law.
Articles 9, 10, 21 - 25 of Law N 209-FZ contain a detailed list of measures for information, consulting and other types of support for small and medium-sized businesses. Measures to support small and medium-sized businesses provided by the Law, in particular, include:
Placing in open access information about federal and regional business support programs, about organizations that form the infrastructure for supporting small and medium-sized businesses;
Creation of organizations providing consulting support to small businesses;
Support in the field of training and retraining of personnel;
Support in the area innovation activities and industrial production;
Support in the field of foreign economic activity;
Support in the field of handicraft activities;
Support for organizations engaged in agricultural activities.
Separately, it should be said about the measures of property and financial support.
Registers of beneficiaries of "assistance"
Federal executive authorities, executive authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, local governments that provide support to small and medium-sized businesses maintain registers of small and medium-sized businesses - recipients of such support. The registers contain information, in particular, on the type, form and amount of support provided, the period of its provision, as well as violations of the procedure and conditions for providing support, including the misuse of support funds. The procedure for maintaining registers is established by the Government of the Russian Federation (clauses 1, 2, 4, article 8 of Law N 209-FZ).
The information contained in the registers of small and medium-sized businesses - recipients of support, is open for familiarization with it by individuals and legal entities. Information about small and medium-sized businesses and the support provided to them is excluded from the registers after three years from the date of expiration of the support period (clauses 5, 6, article 8 of Law N 209-FZ).
The current Law N 88-FZ provides first for the need to register a legal entity as a small business entity and only after receiving the appropriate certificate - the possibility of using the privileges and benefits established for small business. For individual entrepreneurs, such registration is not required. In accordance with the new Law, "preliminary" registration is excluded, the criteria for compliance with the category of small or medium-sized businesses will be checked each time when applying for or using specific support measures.
Who will be left without support
Support, in accordance with the Law, cannot be provided to small and medium-sized businesses that are credit institutions, insurance organizations (with the exception of consumer cooperatives), investment funds, non-state pension funds, professional participants in the securities market, pawnshops, participants in production sharing agreements, entrepreneurs in the gambling business, as well as non-residents of the Russian Federation (clause 3, article 14 of Law N 209-FZ).
Small and medium-sized businesses engaged in the production and sale of excisable goods, as well as the extraction and sale of minerals, with the exception of common minerals, also cannot be provided with financial support (paragraph 4 of article 14 of Law N 209-FZ).