MOSCOW, Oct 18The State Duma, due to the loss of relevance, rejected a bill that provided tax incentives for organizing and holding the final match of the UEFA Champions League, which was to be held on May 28 this year in St. Petersburg. said Wednesday that the State Duma received a letter from the government proposing to reject this bill. The document, which passed the first reading in February, was aimed at creating the legal final match of the UEFA Champions League in May of this year at a high level and in accordance with the requirements of UEFA. However, after the start of Russia's special military operation to demilitarize Ukraine, UEFA decided to postpone the final match from St. Petersburg to Paris. In this regard, the need for the adoption of the draft law has disappeared. The document amended the Tax Code in terms of exempting the organizers and participants of the match from paying value added tax, personal income tax, taxes on profits and property of organizations, state duties, transport tax, as well as paying insurance premiums. At the same time, benefits for the payment of personal income tax and insurance premiums applied exclusively to foreign citizens and stateless persons involved in the preparation and holding of match events. The norms of the bill were to apply to legal relations that arose from May 28, 2021, and be valid until the end of 2022. Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass.
