In Russia, for some time now there has been such a thing as self-employment. The criteria for the special regime are determined by law. They cover small entrepreneurs who do not have individual entrepreneur status, as well as individuals who are not granted the right to hire employees. The types of activities for the self-employed in 2021 have also been established.
General concept
The key goal of controlling self-employment is to remove the population from the shadow sector of the economy. Some Russians, even if they want to legalize their own activities, do not know how to do it correctly and without breaking the laws.
It is believed that the majority of people receiving illegal income are engaged in retail trade or provision of services. There are several reasons for this situation:
- In the Russian Federation, employment and wage levels in different regions vary significantly.
- Not all entrepreneurs manage to run their business successfully. Sometimes individual entrepreneurs have problems even with paying insurance premiums.
- There is also a principled position of people who are dissatisfied with the spending of Russian budget funds and do not want to pay taxes.
At the same time, all these people are not ready to give up medical, pension, and social security, although they do not make contributions to the corresponding funds. Conscientious taxpayers have to pay for all these benefits. Despite the penalties, there was no significant improvement in the situation, so the authorities decided to clearly define who can be a self-employed citizen in 2021.
The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation has prepared a bill to establish the legal status of the self-employed. The department believes that this definition includes citizens conducting business activities based only on their own participation. Such activities may consist of selling goods produced independently, providing services, or performing work for other individuals. It is proposed to include in this category people who have not registered as individual entrepreneurs, but who notified the tax authorities about their activities.
Important! Self-employed people are considered as a new category of micro or small business entities.
Work formats and criteria
Previously, the authorities of the Russian Federation determined what types of activities a self-employed citizen can engage in. There were three positions in total, including:
- Supervision or care for children, citizens with diseases, people over 80 years of age and other persons who need constant supervision according to the conclusion of a medical organization.
- Tutoring services.
- Help with housekeeping, cleaning services, cleaning.
Regions were given the right to add to this list as necessary.
Important! There is no official list of types of activities of self-employed citizens in 2021.
A person who meets certain criteria can be self-employed in 2021:
- Individuals who do not have an employer and do not hire employees.
- People selling their own products.
- Persons receiving income within 2,400,000 rubles per year.
- People over 16 years of age.
Do you support the law on self-employed people in Russia?
Not really
Foreigners who work for hire from citizens, entrepreneurs or organizations are not considered self-employed. The same applies to foreign citizens working for lawyers, notaries or other specialists in private practice. You can determine who is self-employed and who does not fall into this category in Article 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
The list of activities of self-employed citizens includes:
- Persons providing tutoring services.
- Nannies.
- Hairdressers.
- Manicure specialists.
- Seamstresses.
- Citizens selling fruit, berry and vegetable products grown independently.
- Photographers.
- Confectioners.
- Drivers.
- Freelance copywriters.
- Journalists.
- Massage therapists working at home.
- Jewelry restoration specialists.
- Specialists in the repair and restoration of computers or household appliances who come to the client's home.
- People who rent out real estate.
While the official register of self-employed professions has not been formed and approved, any person who meets the above criteria can be self-employed in 2021.
List of prohibited activities
In addition to the tasks that require employees, the state has introduced a number of targeted prohibitions. Here is their list:
- Resale of goods and property rights;
- Trade in excisable products, such as gasoline or alcohol;
- Extraction and sale of minerals;
- Activities based on a contract of agency, commission, agency agreement, carried out with another entrepreneur in his interests.
For all of the above, you must choose a different taxation system.
Self-employment restrictions
But in addition to the permitted types of activities for the self-employed, there are also some restrictions. The law does not allow self-employed people to:
- Sell excisable goods subject to mandatory labeling.
- Engage in the resale of products or property rights.
- Extract and sell minerals.
- Carry out activities in the interests of other persons under agency, commission and other agreements.
Citizens who use certain tax regimes are not recognized as self-employed. You cannot simultaneously be self-employed and use UTII, simplified tax system, unified agricultural tax, PSN.
Important! An existing entrepreneur can submit an application to the Federal Tax Service and engage in activities that are classified as self-employment. There is no need to close the IP.
There is one more very important nuance. Conditions for self-employed people working in the appropriate legal framework have been created in only four regions since 2021. It refers to:
- Moscow.
- Capital region.
- Kaluga region.
- Tatarstan.
It is assumed that if the experiment is successful, work for the self-employed will become available to the population of other regions. So far, a complete list of territorial units that may join the project in the future has not been published.
Who are self-employed citizens?
Before talking about who a self-employed citizen is and considering the full list of types of activities in 2021, you need to refer to the term that is spelled out in the regulatory legal act. It is clearly stated here that the self-employed include those individuals who carry out professional activities in the field of providing physical services. and legal persons. It’s worth noting right away what a face is:
- should not be given the status of an individual entrepreneur;
- it should not have employees and employers;
- should not receive a total profit of more than 2.4 million rubles annually.
The government decided that such people need their own legal status - this will not only allow them to engage in professional activities openly and legally, but also protect themselves from unscrupulous customers, with whom payments are planned to be made according to fiscal documentation. All that remains is to understand who self-employed citizens are, types of activities in 2021 and taxes in order to fully understand the issue.
Taxation and self-employment
For self-employed activities, a new tax accounting system has been introduced, which provides for obtaining a special permit - a patent. According to this innovation, citizens are given the right to engage in certain activities without registration as individual entrepreneurs.
The concept and procedure for paying taxes on the income of self-employed persons have been clarified in the amendments to the Tax Code. Three types of self-employed people are subject to so-called tax holidays. This means that until the end of 2021 they are exempt from personal income tax. This rule applies to tutors, au pairs and cleaners, as well as people looking after the sick, elderly citizens and children.
Important! This preference is allowed to be used only by those who have notified the tax service of their independent activities. The possibility of hiring employees is not provided for them.
The benefit will expire in 2021. From now on, the rules for doing business for self-employed people from the listed categories will become somewhat more complicated. They will have to stop working in their chosen field or register as an individual entrepreneur and pay taxes.
True, the State Duma is considering possible changes to the legislation, which involve extending tax holidays and the possibility of conducting certain types of activities without the need to register an individual entrepreneur. But in such circumstances, the self-employed will have to register for tax purposes.
Features of the patent system
The list of self-employed people includes people who have the right to buy a patent for a certain amount. This amount is set by the regional authorities, but should not exceed 20,000 rubles. Payments are divided into parts:
- Payment of contributions to the Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund.
- Money transferred to the Pension Fund.
- Tax component.
Payment is made one-time, the amount is automatically distributed by the treasury. The application for a patent is filled out by the tax authorities. When registering, you must present your passport and document your lack of registration as an individual entrepreneur.
Important! The patent document specifies what services a self-employed person can provide. It is allowed to conduct exclusively this activity and only within the region where the paper was issued. If these requirements are violated, tax authorities have the right to revoke the permit and even hold the self-employed person accountable.
For those who want to implement their ideas in business on a self-employment basis, a patent has certain advantages:
- The costs of obtaining a document are not tied to estimated income, unlike the PSN regime.
- There is no need to maintain accounting records.
- The tax and all contributions to the state are paid immediately when purchasing a patent.
- Registration with the tax service without obtaining individual entrepreneur status is carried out automatically without complying with special legal requirements.
- A future businessman does not risk property, unlike an individual entrepreneur.
Important! The lower limit of a patent's validity is 1 month, the maximum period is a year.
In the future, the list of services for self-employed citizens is planned to be expanded. It can include video filming, shoe and clothing repair, translations of foreign texts, and independent production of dairy products.
Differences between individual entrepreneurs and self-employed people
Self-employment has a number of significant differences from working with individual entrepreneur registration. Entrepreneurs working officially are forced to pay insurance premiums annually in the established amount, even if for some reason they have not worked for some time. A self-employed person, whether or not receiving income, does not pay contributions. His payments are limited to the purchase of the patent.
Important! For each type of activity, the tax is calculated separately.
According to the provisions of the law, in the future, the legalization of a self-employed person will provide for the payment of tax on professional income. Taking into account the work format, the NDP will be 4% or 6%. In terms of reducing costs and simplifying accounting, self-employment still looks like a more attractive option. The authorities also promise to develop an application for mobile gadgets that will allow you to pay taxes using a card.
But there are also differences in the nuances of work between individual entrepreneurs and the self-employed:
- Individual entrepreneurs have no limits on permissible types of activities.
- Self-employed people are allowed to provide services solely for the personal and household needs of people.
- The self-employed are not accrued seniority, but they have the right to make voluntary contributions to accumulate pension points.
- Individual entrepreneurs must go through the registration procedure in full, and for the self-employed it is enough to notify the tax authorities about the start of work.
Entrepreneurs must submit reports to government agencies according to the established template. There is no such obligation for the self-employed. However, self-employed citizens trying to take out a bank loan will find themselves in a difficult situation, since financial structures will equate them with the unemployed.
FAQ
- If a self-employed person also works and the total income exceeds 2.4 million per year, what then?
The 2.4 million per year limit only includes income earned as self-employed. Income from work is accounted for separately and taxes are paid by the employer.
- The limit of 2.4 million rubles per year is 200 thousand per month. If a self-employed person received 300 thousand per month, and paid 100 thousand to the individual entrepreneur, then how to calculate the tax?
There is no limit of 200 thousand per month - only 2.4 million rubles. in year. A self-employed person can receive at least 2.4 million rubles per month, but nothing in the remaining 11 months of the calendar year.
Only revenue is used to calculate tax. To take into account expenses, you need to become an individual entrepreneur with a tax rate of 15% of profits.
- Can a self-employed person open an auto parts store or car wash?
The store is definitely not allowed. It is prohibited to resell any goods, especially excisable ones. For this you need an IP.
You can do a car wash if there are no hired workers (you do everything yourself).
- Can a self-employed person open an online store and what to do with checks for clients?
It depends on the goods you will sell. Definitely cannot be resold. And sell goods of your own production - handicrafts, honey, forged products, etc. - Can.
There is no need to buy a cash register - a receipt can be generated in the My Tax mobile application.
- I work from home (nail service). Maternity leave is over. Can I become self-employed?
Yes, if you only provide services, but do not resell related goods and if you do not have employees.
- I am a home-based confectioner, selling my own products. Should you become self-employed?
Yes, if your activity is not subject to mandatory licensing.
- Can a dentist register as self-employed? And in general, is it possible to provide other medical services? services (for example massage) for the self-employed?
The self-employed are not allowed to engage in activities that require licensing.
- I do dropshipping, can I become self-employed? After all, I don't buy the products I sell.
Income in dropshipping is formed as the difference between the sale price and the purchase price. This is trade, and trade for the self-employed is prohibited.
- I'm a copywriter. There are not always orders. Having become self-employed, how to pay tax when there are no orders?
Self-employed people pay tax on their earnings. No revenue - no tax.
- I want to buy equipment for the production of foam concrete for pouring floors and monolithic walls of country houses. I purchase materials at retail. Become self-employed or individual entrepreneur?
First, calculate what is more profitable - paying 4% on revenue or 15% on profit. In the first case, it is easier to become self-employed. The second will require an individual entrepreneur with a USP of 15%.
Conclusion
The great economist John Keynes once said, “The only intellectual pursuit that always pays is tax evasion.” The scientist lived in the first half of the twentieth century, and then tax authorities did not yet have such powerful surveillance systems as they now have in developed countries and Russia.
Self-employed is truly the simplest and lowest-cost tax regime. After all, there is no list of types of activities, which means that everything that is not prohibited by law is permitted.
The government promises not to change anything. If it keeps its word, then this mode is the best solution for aspiring entrepreneurs who have chosen the appropriate activity.
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Registration of self-employed people and its advantages
Those wishing to engage in some activity on a self-employment basis should choose one of the options:
- Visit the Federal Tax Service, taking your passport and photo with you.
- Send the application along with copies of papers by mail (you need to send registered mail).
- Form an application on the Internet resource of the Federal Tax Service through the user account (authorization required).
- In the future, it will be possible to register in the “My Tax” application from a mobile device.
Those who do not want to record income from their own work will have to pay fines. For the first detected violation of this type, sanctions are limited to a fifth of the income received. If the violation is repeated within six months, it will be 100% of the income.
Important! Tax authorities do not issue notifications when registering a self-employed person, so you need to put a mark on the second copy of the paper. This can be done by the inspector.
Registering as self-employed provides some benefits:
- Protection of rights at the legislative level. If disagreements arise when providing services to individuals, the recipient of the services will have to prove their case.
- Social guarantees. A registered self-employed person assumes obligations to make payments to social funds, so he can use medical services and benefits from the state without restrictions.
- Calm. Such activities are legal.
Self-employed people also have the right to a tax deduction. This preference should be distinguished from tax refunds when purchasing housing or social deductions. In this case, the state provides a kind of advance in order to reduce the tax burden and encourage people to come out of the “shadow”. This advance is equal to 10,000 rubles.
The deduction is provided once and is calculated on an accrual basis. Even after deregistration and registration again, calculations will not start from zero. In fact, during the period the deduction is valid, the self-employed person pays 3% tax. When the limit is reached, the tax increases to 4%. The tax office monitors this independently.
Important! The deduction is provided to all self-employed people, regardless of the presence of an individual entrepreneur, the amount of income, or the type of activity. There is no need to write special applications or submit reports to receive it.
The state needs to develop an effective mechanism that will simultaneously encourage citizens to legalize their activities and control their income. The first steps in this direction have already been taken, including through the introduction of a patent system. At the moment, there is nothing complicated in the procedure for registering a self-employed person, but there are certain advantages. However, the question: “What types of self-employed people exist who are allowed to engage in individual entrepreneurship” remains open.
How to become self-employed in 2021
The procedure for registering self-employed citizens without individual entrepreneurs is described in detail in Article 5 of this law.
It states that everyone who wishes to engage in entrepreneurship and business for personal interests must register with the tax authorities by submitting the appropriate application.
Important! At the moment, people who operate in the 4 above-mentioned regions have the opportunity to register with the tax office as self-employed.
The entire process of registering a self-employed person, processing documents and interacting with the Federal Tax Service is carried out through a specially developed “My Tax” application, which allows you to resolve formal issues without leaving your home. Citizens have several options for registering to start legal activities:
- Download the application and apply yourself.
- Instruct the servicing bank to do all the registration steps for you with further servicing and interaction with the Federal Tax Service authorities through it.
- Submit an application for registration through your personal account on the Federal Tax Service website, if you have a login, password and digital signature.
To register you need:
- Fill out a standard application form online, providing the required information.
- Attach a scan of your passport in the program.
- Attach a personal photo.
Important! If you submit an application through your personal account on the Federal Tax Service website, you only need to fill out the application form.
What the registration procedure looks like:
- You download the “My Tax” application and send an application to the Federal Tax Service in electronic format.
- You are waiting for your application to be reviewed.
- You receive a notification about a positive or negative decision.
Registration may be refused if errors have been made, discrepancies in the submitted information are identified, there are contradictions with the law, etc.
The registration date will be the day on which you submitted your application. State tax service employees are required by law to review your application within 24 hours and give a decision on it.