The legislative assembly of the Ulyanovsk region has received a bill introducing a new status – family enterprises. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the region, which initiated the bill, explained that this is the first step to support enterprises where members of the same family work, as well as to “bring them out”. shadows.” It is possible that in the future a new tax regime will be introduced for them – a family license. We learned opinions about the legislative initiative.
The proposed bill is not new for Russia. In recent years, several regions have introduced the concept of family enterprises into their laws, including Ryazan, Vladimir, Tambov, Kirov, Saratov, Samara regions, Bashkortostan, Kamchatka region and Yakutia. Agreed Alexander Yakunin, head of the regional Chamber of Commerce and IndustryThe residents of Ulyanovsk took the most recent experience of Samara as an example. The bill was discussed there a week ago. the neighbors proposed to create a new concept in the region: “family enterprise”, create a registry and later provide various privileges, financial, informational and property support.
– 74% of small and medium enterprises in Russia are family owned. 57% of Chamber of Commerce members belong to this category. Family businesses bake 30% of bread, account for 99% of farms, 80% of hotel businesses and 60% of catering businesses. The situation is approximately the same in Ulyanovsk region. We suggest introducing this concept here as well. It is expected that the appropriate federal law will be passed and the funding will flow. Therefore, we should prepare, write the main definitions,” explained Yakunin.
Family business standards mentioned in the bill.
- Participants of a business company, business partnership, business partnership are members of the same family who have a total of more than 50% shares in the authorized capital of the LLC or in the joint capital of a business partnership, business partnership, or more than 50% of the voting shares of the JSC. One of the family members is the sole executive body of such a legal entity or the chairman of the board of directors (supervisory board) of an entrepreneurial company, or at least one of the family members is entrusted with the management of the company’s affairs. business partnership. In this case, family members are employees of such a legal entity.
- At least 50% of the members of a production cooperative, consumer cooperative or peasant (peasant) enterprise are members of the same family.
- At least 50% of the employees of an individual entrepreneur who work for him at his main workplace are his family members.
In this case, the range of family members is determined in accordance with family law. According to Article 2 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation, they include: spouses, parents, children, adopters and adopted children;
It has not yet been decided what kind of support funds the family business can receive. According to Yakunin, this is already the second stage. The introduction of this status has been discussed since 2018. Then it was announced that a new tax regime will be developed – a family license, which will free entrepreneurs from paperwork.
— Today, almost 40 documents must be submitted for each family member to submit a report on labor relations. As a result, entrepreneurs register one or two of them in the enterprise, and the rest of the employees remain in the shadows for the state,” explained Sergey Katirin, the head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation.
They wanted to enable micro-enterprises of up to 15 people to obtain a family license and operate for a year without providing any other documents to other family members. But the law has not yet been passed at the federal level, although the idea was championed by President Vladimir Putin in 2019.
Business Ombudsman Ekaterina Tolchina positively assessed the legislative initiative proposed by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry;
– There are two legal forms of entrepreneurship in our country: an individual entrepreneur or an organization. Self-employment is not a legal form. If a family license is introduced, either a new legal form is needed: “family enterprise” (this is a very serious legislative reform), or a special tax regime. But within the framework of this regime, it will be necessary to reflect the legal status of other family members.
According to him, family entrepreneurship now faces several main problems. In particular, the participation of family members in the business. it is necessary to formalize working relationships and maintain personnel document flow. When everyone in the business is family, it’s automatically considered redundant.
“That’s why the family license is offered.” It will be a kind of hybrid of legal form and tax regime. I have always been in favor of expanding support measures for small and micro businesses. First of all, such entrepreneurs are waiting for the right to issue a family license: bakeries, car service points, farms,” Tolchina noted.
Yelena Guseva, deputy head of the innovation center in the social sphere of the “My Business” regional center fears that if special privileges are introduced for family businesses, “all businesses will become family businesses”.
– In general, all entrepreneurs have the same aspirations: reducing the tax burden, cheap long-term money. In my opinion, it is necessary to define the order of business inheritance. I know many cases where children do not want to continue their parents’ work, although continuity is very important. There is another nuance: the fragmentation of business, which is often seen as tax evasion. We need a clear legislative formulation of this status. There are still many questions.
By the way, according to the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 74% of Russian family companies do not survive to the second generation, and 91% to the third.
What do the businessmen think? Owners of Glamping “Hills”, husband and wife Olesya and Anton Eichmann They believe that the initiative is very necessary.
– As a rule, family business does not attract investors. We develop with the received funds and then invest again. It’s a slow process. I don’t want to involve third parties, because this is a family business, everyone is ours. We don’t have a lot of money to build a lot at once. Therefore, it would be good if there were preferential loans and tax breaks for family businesses. One more thing. I am an individual entrepreneur, only I can take a loan from the bank for business development, and Anton is no longer taken into account,” explained Olesya.
Alexey Yakushev, head of a peasant farm, father of many children stated that he is in favor of laws supporting family businesses. But he criticized the initiative.
– In my opinion, this is blasphemy. I no longer expect anything good from the decrees and documents of the Ulyanovsk region. All our small farms are family owned. And once again we did not receive the subsidy required by the law: before it was state support for grain, now it is for seed. There is a feeling that the methodology itself is designed to deny the maximum number of farmers; they find an error with the last comma, even if all the numbers agree. Out of 1,200 farmers, only dozens received subsidies. What is the point of adopting new laws if the old ones do not work? Isn’t it better to put order in the current legislation?