The Ministry of Economic Development of Russia (Ministry of Economic Development) has proposed simplifying the process of obtaining resident status in the Special Economic Zone of the Technology Innovative Type (SEZ HTP) by replacing business plans with passports of investment projects.

"We propose to replace business plans with passports of investment projects, which is a simplified form of a business plan that shows all the necessary information for making a decision on granting the status of a SEZ HTP resident, we also introduce stringent requirements for the consideration of applications: 40 days of examination, we reduce to 15 working days, which will accelerate the process of obtaining status of a SEZ HTP resident and simplify the approval procedure", - said Deputy head of the Ministry of Economic Development Sergey Galkin.

In addition, the ministry proposes a number of other changes to the SEZ HTP. Thus, the Deputy Minister noted that the number of residents in the HTP SEZ at the end of 2020 increased by 26% compared to 2017 and amounted to 472 companies. Despite the positive results, it is necessary to improve accessibility for investors, the ministry believes. In this regard, the ministry proposes changing tax preferences for residents.

In order to improve the efficiency of management of SEZ HTT, the bills provide for the unification of industrial and production and technology-innovative types of SEZ HTT to give an additional opportunity to the regions and investors not to confuse in classifications, as well as changes in the tax regime for residents.

"We have envisaged new income tax benefits, as well as an accelerated VAT refund procedure and accelerated depreciation. The measures taken will make the mechanism of SEZ HTP more accessible to residents in terms of attracting, entering the resident status," Sergey Galkin explained.

With regard to the resumption of insurance payment benefits for SEZ residents, it has been revealed that about 80% of residents are small and medium businesses, and regardless of the type of activity carried out by them, the government has taken a systematic decision to reduce insurance contribution rates to 15% for an indefinite period.

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Author: Karina Kamalova