The initiative of the Russian Federation to reduce the number of reports provided by businesses

The Government of the Russian Federation has put forward an initiative to reduce the number of reports provided by business. In particular, declarations on transport and land tax will be cancelled. It is also planned to abolish the tax declaration for taxpayers of the simplified taxation system with the object of taxation «income».

Despite this, the number of mandatory reporting forms is enormous. There are up to 11 mandatory forms for Federal Tax Service, 158 possible forms of statistical reports for different types of activities, reports to the Pension Fund, and accounting statements. And often, the data specified in one form or another duplicates the information in another.

In order to reduce duplicate reporting forms, it is proposed to develop interdepartmental information exchange between the Federal Tax Service of Russia, Federal Statistics Service, the Pension Fund, and other federal, regional, and municipal government agencies. This will help analyze which types of reporting to leave and add information, and which to eliminate. It is also suggested to provide the possibility of transmitting all sorts of reports in electronic format.

It is also proposed to legislate the obligation to publish changes to the forms and formats of reporting data to state agencies in advance. The Government also wants to establish that all small companies must submit reports not more than once a quarter. Another proposed simplification is to set exact dates for submitting statistical reports, regardless of the industry.