|
Server : Apache/2.4.62 System : FreeBSD fbsdweb2.web.rcn.net 14.1-RELEASE FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE releng/14.1-n267679-10e31f0946d8 GENERIC amd64 User : www ( 80) PHP Version : 8.3.8 Disable Function : NONE Directory : /domains/russinvecchi/newsletter/ |
Upload File : |
<html>
<head>
<title>Russin & Vecchi</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFCC" text="#000000">
<table width="99%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tr bgcolor="#FFFFCC">
<td colspan="2"><img src="images/russin_email.gif" width="480" height="60"><img src="images/blue_back.gif" width="280" height="60"></td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#990033">
<td width="19%"> </td>
<td width="81%"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#FFFFFF">Russia
Report. A Quarterly Newsletter.<br>
January, 2004</font></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#FFFFCC" valign="top"><img src="images/moscow_image_w_title.gif" width="135" height="135"></td>
<td valign="top" bgcolor="#FFFFCC"><p> </p>
<p><font color="#990000" size="4" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Registering
new business now simpler, quicker</b></font><br>
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> <b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">New
law requires companies to file only with tax authority</font></b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br>
<br>
<font size="2">A new law that went into effect Jan. 1 should
result in much simplified and quicker procedures for registering
business organizations in Russia, reports Evgeny Y. Kuzmenko,
of Russin Vecchi’s office in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. The
time between registration and opening bank accounts will
be reduced to about six business days, and new companies
will have to file with only one agency — a tax authority — he
notes.<br>
<br>
Formerly, new companies also had to register with pension
and social insurance funds and with the state statistics
committee, he explains. Companies could not open accounts
until about five additional days after filing with all those
bodies, he observes.<br>
<br>
The law came into effect rapidly — with President Putin signing
it Dec. 23, its publication coming Dec. 27 and its effective date Jan. 1 — possibly
because of upcoming presidential elections in March, Kuzmenko reports. As a result, “tax
authorities were unprepared to apply it properly,” he explains. Confusion
over which forms to use and procedures to follow should ease in coming weeks,
he says.</font></font></p>
<p><font color="#990000" size="4" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Russia
gets new tax enforcer</strong></font><br>
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> <b> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Consolidation
axes Tax Police, empowers Internal Affairs </font></b></font><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br>
</font><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <br>
A presidential edict in November finalized the transfer of Russia’s
tax investigation authority to the Ministry of Internal Affairs,
reports Rinat Zakirov-Ziev, of Russin Vecchi’s Moscow office.
The transfer is one of a number of developments that could make
law enforcement information-sharing more efficient, he notes.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Ideologically,
this transfer appears to be a part of consolidation of more law enforcement
functions within fewer agencies,” Zakirov-Ziev explains. The
process started in March 2003, with a presidential order abolishing
the Federal Service of Tax Police and moving its functions to the
Federal Service on Economic and Tax Crime Investigations, within
Internal Affairs. Later amendments affected the powers and functions
of the ministry, he adds.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Other
developments include the merger of the Federal Agency on Government
Communication and Information and the Federal Border Guard Service
into the Federal Security Service, which is now closer in terms of
functions and powers to its legendary predecessor, the KGB,” Zakirov-Ziev
reports.</font></p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#FFFFCC" valign="top"><img src="images/Vlad_image_w_title.gif" width="135" height="128"></td>
<td valign="top" bgcolor="#FFFFCC"><p> </p>
<p><font color="#990000" size="4" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Option
in tax cases disappears</strong></font><br>
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> <b> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Criminal
Code change cuts ‘active repentance’ to avoid
penalty</font></b></font><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br>
<br>
Criminal Code amendments that went into effect in mid-December
eliminate the option for individuals to avoid criminal liability
for tax evasion by paying all arrearages, reports Zhanna
Radmaeva, of Russin Vecchi’s Vladivostok office.<br>
<br>
</font><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">"Under
the previous practice of ‘active repentance,’ first-time offenders
could be exempt from criminal liability if they assisted in disclosing a crime
and entirely reimbursed the damage caused,” Radmaeva explains. The law
now provides penalties for failure to file required tax declarations or other
documents, and for knowingly providing false information in tax statements for
such acts comitted in large or specially large amounts,
she
notes.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> “
The new Criminal Code also adds penalties for tax withholding agents who do not
fulfill their obligations to calculate, withhold or transfer taxes in a specially
large amount,” she reports. It also penalizes organizations and sole
entrepreneurs who conceal funds or property subject to large tax assessments,
she adds.<br>
</font></p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td height="332" valign="top" bgcolor="#FFFFCC"><img src="images/yuzhno_image_title.gif" width="135" height="152"></td>
<td valign="top" bgcolor="#FFFFCC">
<p> </p>
<p><font color="#990000" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><b>Sakhalin
elects Malakhov as new governor</b></font><br>
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> <b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Late
leader’s former deputy likely to stay course on projects</font></b></font><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br>
<br>
Ivan Malakhov won a Dec. 21 runoff election to succeed the
late Igor Farkhutdinov as governor of Sakhalin, reports Evgeny
Y. Kuzmenko, of Russin Vecchi’s office in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
As Farkhutdinov’s former deputy and longtime ally,
Malahkov seemed the most likely candidate to continue the
fallen leader’s course, Kuzmenko comments.<br>
<br>
“It is doubtful that Sakhalin's new governor will bring
any changes to the current policy on Sakhalin oil and gas projects,” Kuzmenko
observes. Farkhutdinov died in a helicopter crash Aug. 20. In
the runoff between the top candidates in a Dec. 7 election, Malahknov
defeated Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Mayor (and Farkhutdinov rival) Fedor
Sidorenko, winning 55% of the votes, Kuzmenko reports.</font></p>
<p> </p>
<p><font color="#990000" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><b>Revoked
Sakhalin border zone decree still enforced</b></font><br>
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> <b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Some
guards demand passes for travel in northern regions </font></b></font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Although
a decree declaring most of the Sakhalin region a border zone
was revoked officially in July by late Sakhalin Gov. Igor
Farkhutdinov just one month before his death, some border guards in
the
island’s
northern regions have continued to enforce it, reports Denis
Marchenko, of Russin Vecchi’s Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk office. “As
a result, all foreigners and even Russians without registration
in these regions have been required to have passes in order to
travel out of the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk into the border zone,” he
explains.<br>
“
Although such illegal demands are becoming a thing of the past,
there is a possibility that the decree itself may be reinstated
by the Sakhalin Regional Court in response to an appeal of the
regional prosecutor's office,” Marchenko cautions. The
Regional Court is expected to consider the appeal — the
contents of which are confidential — in the early part
of this year, he notes.<br>
</font></p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#FFFFCC" valign="top"> </td>
<td valign="top" bgcolor="#FFFFCC"><p> </p>
<p><font color="#990000" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><b>R&V
lawyers share insights on Russia’s Far East</b></font><br>
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> <b> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">6
present workshop at London conference on Sakhalin projects</font></b></font><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br>
<br>
At an international conference for Sakhalin contractors,
suppliers and project operators in November, six Russin
Vecchi attorneys shared practical solutions from their daily
experience in meeting legal requirements for operations
in Russia’s Far East. The six presented a full-day,
post-conference workshop at IBC Energy’s Sakhalin
Oil and Gas Conference in London.<br>
Workshop topics included a survey of legal developments
since the firm first opened a Moscow office in 1991; joint
ventures with Russian partners; Russian content requirements
for Sakhalin projects; political risk insurance; contract,
tax and benefit requirements under Russian employment law;
maritime and water use laws affecting the oil and gas industry;
special rules affecting workers in far northern regions;
and factors to consider in leasing real property in Russia.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br>
Russin Vecchi presenters included Jonathan Russin, managing
partner for the firm’s Russian Practice Group; Sergei
Lazarev, executive partner for the firm’s Russian
Practice Group; Tom Mansbach, from the Washington, D.C.
office; Natalia Prisekina, director of the Vladivostok office;
Denis Marchenko, a senior associate in the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
office; and Rita Hoffmann, director of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
office. In-house counsels for two operators of the Sakhalin
I and II projects — David Bertoch of ExxonMobil and
Matthew Crawford of Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Limited
(SEIC) — also significantly contributed to the Russin
Vecchi-sponsored event.<br>
</font></p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> </font></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td><p><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">© 2004 Russin & Vecchi,
LLP</font></p>
<p> </p></td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#003366">
<td> </td>
<td><font color="#FFFFFF" size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">www.russinvecchi.com</font></td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>