IT tax breaks planned
Nov 06, 2001
The Russian government said it is planning to introduce tax privileges for software developers and IT specialists.
According to German Gref, the Minister for Economic Development and Trade, the government is drawing up a set of laws that will make domestic IT professionals exempt from taxes for an unspecified period of time - "until the industry begins to generate huge profits."
The government said that under the legislation, technoparks for IT specialists will be created, in which companies will work without paying any taxes but will have to observe a code of rules and fully report to the government.
But critics pointed to the fact that a large proportion of Russian software developers work for foreign companies.
These companies do not report profits or pay any taxes to the Russian government, so the legislation would not make any difference to them.
According to German Gref, the Minister for Economic Development and Trade, the government is drawing up a set of laws that will make domestic IT professionals exempt from taxes for an unspecified period of time - "until the industry begins to generate huge profits."
The government said that under the legislation, technoparks for IT specialists will be created, in which companies will work without paying any taxes but will have to observe a code of rules and fully report to the government.
But critics pointed to the fact that a large proportion of Russian software developers work for foreign companies.
These companies do not report profits or pay any taxes to the Russian government, so the legislation would not make any difference to them.