Yury Fedyukin of ACIG Participates at Gaidar Forum 2015 Expert Discussion

Member of the Board at ACIG Group of Companies and Director of the Department for Legal and Tax Consulting Mr. Fedyukin spoke at the session, entitled Topical Issues of Tax Laws, on 15 January. He talked about the results of the discussion where the experts contemplated on the mechanisms for improvement of the tax law based on the findings of the law enforcement practice analysis. “The topic that was of the most interest for me at the session is the law on taxation of profit of controlled foreign companies. The opinions of experts about this document are surprisingly concurring, virtually in all its details. Actually, everyone understands that the law is rather raw, and considering the current situation in the economy, the timing for its implementation raises everyone’s eyebrows. Everyone agrees that the law has to be refined to avoid needless regulation, and the mechanisms contained in it need to be specified as––in the current version––it is a declaration rather than an actual operating tool,” Mr. Fedyukin says.

He believes that the issue of changing the tax law indeed has to be broached. “Many of our clients have businesses beyond the Russian Federation, and they wonder what to do with these in the light of this law and what to expect from it,” he says. “The distinction of this year’s Forum compared with the previous years is greater attention to practice, that is, immediate challenges faced by business rather than various general-interest macroeconomic issues. The Forum is turning into a practical platform from being a theoretical one, which I favor,” Mr. Fedyukin mentioned the topicality of the issues discussed at Gaidar Forum.

Mr. Fedyukin emphasized that events like the Forum are extremely important irrespective of the current situation in the economy. “They, on the one hand, enable relevant experts to coordinate their positions; on the other hand, the authorities find it important to listen to expert communities – wide ones, actually. Surely, both the State Duma and the Government assembles expert councils, listen to analysts and businessmen; however, they do not have such a wide range of both Russian and international experts. This is why such platforms are undoubtedly important,” Mr. Fedyukin says.