Monitoring of the Federal Legislation dated 2.08.2004

Federal Law No. 95-FZ of July 29, 2004 on the Amendments to Parts 1 and 2 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and on Invalidation of Some of the Legislative Acts (Provisions of Legislative Acts) of the Russian Federation on Taxes and Fees

The amendments refine the taxation powers of the bodies of legislative (representative) power and representative bodies of local government, specify the types of taxes and fees, special tax regimes building the system of taxes and fees of the Russian Federation.

Invalidates the Law of the Russian Federation No. 2118-I of December 27, 1991 on the fundamentals of the tax system in the Russian Federation. In view of this, enters into force Articles 12-15 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation specifying the types of taxes and fees in the Russian Federation, as well as special tax regimes. Institutes 10 types of the federal taxes: value added tax, excise duty taxes, income tax from natural persons, uniform social tax, profit tax from organisations, tax on extraction of mineral resources, succession and donation tax, water tax, fees for the use of objects fauna and for the use of objects of water biological resources and the state duty. Regional taxes include the property tax from organisations, the gambling tax and the transport tax. Local taxes include the land tax and the property tax from natural persons. Thus, the system of taxes and fees in the Russian Federation does not include any more the customs duties and fees, payments for the use of the forestry fund, pay ments for the negative impact on the environment regulated by the special federal laws.

The Law specifies that for activities in distribution and/or placing of outdoor advertising, the system of taxation in the form of the uniform imputed income tax may apply at the decision of the subject of the Russian Federation, representative bodies of municipal regions, city districts, laws of the cities of federal significance of Moscow and St.Petersburg. Appropriate changes are introduced in Chapter 26.3 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Legislative (representative) bodies of the subjects of the Russian Federation may, before January 1, 2005, adopt the laws of the subjects of the Russian Federation defining the procedure of introduction of the uniform imputed income tax for individual types of activities for entrepreneurial activities in distribution and/or placing of the outdoor advertising taking into account the provisions of the present Law.

The Law increases the tax rate from 6% to 9% for the incomes of natural persons and legal entities form the shared participation in the work of organisations in the form of dividends.

Changes the budget distribution of the profit tax rate. Now, 6.5% will be entered in the federal budget and 17.5% to the budgets of the subjects of the Russian Federation. Local budgets are not included. Also specifies that the rate of the profit tax may be reduced for individual categories of taxpayers. In this case, the mentioned tax rate may not be lower than 13,5% (earlier, not lower than 13%).

The Law contains special provisions on the authority of the representative bodies of local government of residential settlements, municipal regions and city districts, as well as the bodies of legislative (representative) power and representative city bodies of local government in the cities of Moscow and St.Petersburg in the fixing of the local taxes.

The Federal Law is entered into force form January 1, 2005, however, no sooner than one month after the day of its official publication, with exceptions.

Federal Law No. 90-FZ of July 28, 2004 on the Execution of the Budget of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation for the Year 2002

Endorses the report of execution of the budget of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation for the year 2002 with incomes amounting to Rbl 815,476.14 million and expenses amounting to Rbl 789,621.08 million.

Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 976 of July 28, 2004 "Issues of the Federal Service of the Russian Federation for Control over Circulation of Narcotics"

The Federal Service of the Russian Federation for Control over Circulation of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is renamed into the Federal Service of the Russian Federation for Control over Circulation of Narcotics. The Federal Service of the Russian Federation for Control over Circulation of Narcotics is a federal body of executive power in charge of the working out of the state policy, normative-and-legal regulation, control and enforcement in the sphere of circulation of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors, as well as in the sphere of combating of their illegal circulation.

The new Service is a successor of the Federal Service of the Russian Federation of Control over Circulation of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.

The Decree is entered into force form the day of its signing.

Order of the State Customs Committee of the Russian Federation No. 696 of June 18, 2004 on the Endorsement of the Instruction on the Checking of the Correctness of Determination of the Customs Cost of Commodities Imported to the Customs Territory of the Russian Federation

Defines the procedure of actions of officials of the customs bodies when controlling the declared by the declaring parties customs cost of commodities imported (having been imported) to the Russian Federation, as well as when determining the customs cost of commodities independently. The Instruction does not apply to commodities moved by natural persons for personal, family, household and other needs not pertaining to entrepreneurial activities.

Specifies that simultaneously with the analysis of the documents presented by the declaring party, the customs body shall compare the declared cost with the selling prices at the internal market of the Russian Federation of similar commodities. The comparison and analysis shall be carried out on the basis of information available with the customs body.

If the documents presented by the declaring party, as well as additionally requested documents, do not permit to confirm the correctness of determination of the customs cost, the official of the customs body shall take the decision to correct the customs cost by changing its structure and/or the method of determination.