Background

From January 1, 2015, the power to accredit branches and representative offices of foreign companies was transferred to the Inter-District Inspectorate of the Federal Tax Service of Russia No. 47 for Moscow¹. The draft orders² providing reference forms for accreditation of foreign companies’ branches and representative offices, as well as the requirements for documents to be submitted to the tax authority (hereinafter the “Orders”) were posted on the official site of the Federal Tax Service of Russia. 

On February 27, 2015 the Orders were registered with the Ministry of Justice and shall officially came into force on March 16, 2015.

Key provisions

In accordance with the amendments made to the Law on Foreign Investment³, branches and representative offices of foreign companies, including those, whose accreditations shall expire after April 1, 2015, are required to undergo the procedure of re-registration with the tax authority.

From now on, information on all the branches and representative offices of foreign companies must be entered in the register of the accredited branches and representative offices of foreign legal entities.

To have a branch or a representative office re-accredited, its authorized representative must file a standard application with the tax authority.

In this case, before applying to the tax authority a person must assure sheet corresponding application on the number of foreign workers in the CCI RF4. Term assurance on average 3 working days.

However, prior to applying to the tax authority such representative needs to have the required statement of the number of foreign employees certified with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation⁴. Certification normally takes 3 business days.

The Orders provide for the following reference forms for the re-registration procedure:

• Form No. АФП-14 – for those branches and representative offices, whose accreditations shall not expire before April 1, 2015;
• Form No. ПКВ-14 – for those representative offices, whose authorizations shall not expire before April 1,  2015;
• Form No. 15АФП - for those branches and representative offices, whose authorizations shall expire before April 1, 2015.

The term to review the documents by the tax authority shall not exceed 5 business days from the date of submission of the application. Please note that from April 1, 2015 the accreditations of those branches and representative offices of foreign companies failing to re-register with the tax authority shall cease to be effective.

Recommendations

We would advise to review the requirements set by the Orders and to ensure the re-registration of  branches and representative offices of foreign companies with the tax authorities before April 1, 2015.

We would be glad to assist if you have any questions related to the procedure for accreditation of branches and representative offices of foreign companies.