Experts talk about legislative innovations of the last month of summer
The coming August is the time for vacations for legislators: both the State Duma and the Federation Council closed their summer sessions and went on vacation. But vacation laws themselves, as you know, do not. In August, a number of important legal and administrative norms come into force. They concern various groups of the Russian population: applicants and working pensioners, motorists and vacationers, parents with many children and clients of notaries … As always, experts helped to sort out the intricacies of MK's legislative novels.
From August 1, working pensioners, who officially number 7.9 million in the country, are waiting for the recalculation of pension payments. Since the employer paid taxes for them for a whole year, they will be added individual pension coefficients — points. The size of the increase is calculated individually, but the maximum number of points added is limited to three. In accordance with the cost of 1 point in 2023 (123.77 rubles), the maximum amount added per person can be 372.31 rubles. In order to receive this increase, working pensioners do not need to write any applications. The annual recalculation of the Social Fund of Russia (SFR) is carried out without application, that is, automatically. Recall that working pensioners, unlike other categories of citizens on a well-deserved rest, do not receive indexation of pensions from the state — it has been frozen since 2016.
“Any working person accumulates points over the past year that increase his pension. His individual pension coefficient rises. The monetary equivalent of this in 2023 is 123.77 rubles. for 1 point, which is 4.8% higher than in 2022. (118.09 rubles)». But it is clearly not necessary to rejoice at such an “increase”. After all, inflation in 2022 was, according to Rosstat, 11.94%. The change in the “assessment” of the score is 2.5 times lower than inflation. This is where the situation for older workers differs from the general indexation of pensions, which fully compensates for the increase in prices of the previous year. But working pensioners do not receive indexation. The question arises — why? Apparently, in the phrase «working pensioners», as they say, the first word is more expensive than the second. If a person entitled to an insurance pension continues to work, then, in the understanding of our authorities, he is more likely to be a working person than a pensioner. Therefore, it is believed that he does not really need to recalculate the size of the pension itself: the salary is enough.”
From August 1, the digital ruble is legally equated to non-cash funds. It will be possible to carry out financial transactions (with the exception of payment orders, collections and letters of credit) using the digital ruble through the Central Bank on a special platform. Digital rubles are not a cryptocurrency, but an official currency issued only by the Central Bank and backed by state reserves and assets. Starting from August, the fifteen largest banks in the country will take part in testing this unit. With the digital ruble, it will be possible to pay for purchases at retail outlets, transfer amounts to other electronic wallets. In the future, according to the statements of the Russians, benefits and pensions will be accrued in a similar form.
“The digital ruble is the third form of money, in addition to cash and non-cash. It is assumed that all three forms will be available for circulation in our country. Payment in digital rubles should be convenient: it does not require an Internet connection, this may be in demand in regions with a weak signal. Digital rubles will be stored in special wallets, the Central Bank will control the issue and movement of funds. In fact, this is the same non-cash ruble that most people use through online banking and card payments, but even more modern and convenient. It will take time to introduce a new form of national currency. There is no talk of a complete and “forced” transfer of the population to pay with the digital ruble: the Central Bank observes gradualness and consistency in this matter.
From August 1, the recycling fee for cars, commercial vehicles, trucks and buses will increase. This also applies to new and used cars. The consequence of this will be an increase in vehicle prices. The average rate for the recycling fee will increase: 1.7–3.7 times for passenger cars; 2.5–3.4 times for light commercial vehicles; in 1.7 — for trucks. An exception is made for cars with an engine capacity of not more than three liters for personal use. Owners of such cars will be provided with preferential terms: 3.4 thousand rubles for new cars up to three years old and 5.2 thousand rubles for cars older than three years.
“Innovation is introduced primarily for two purposes. This is done to replenish the budget, which is currently under heavy pressure. In addition, this is support for domestic producers, who are practically not affected by the new rules for waste collection. At the same time, the recycling fee complicates the work of the so-called resellers — at least those who bring cars from abroad. According to the old rules, only legal entities that import cars, including parallel imports, were required to pay the recycling fee. Individuals did not pay the fee, so very often, according to the documents, cars were imported by “physicists” in order to avoid the tax burden. Also, private individuals drove cars “to order”. Now a citizen who imported a car through parallel import must register it for himself and remain the owner of the vehicle for at least a year. If he does not do this, the Federal Tax Service will collect the same recycling fee from him. I think that because of this, in conjunction with the growth of the exchange rate, cars will rise in price by 10-20%. Currently, the average price of a new car in the Russian Federation is 2.6 million rubles.”
In early August, Russian universities will complete the admission campaign. You can hand over the original documents or put a mark on their provision on the State Services portal until August 3 — for those entering the general competition. Orders for enrollment in Russian universities will be issued from 4 to 9 August. Additional enrollment for higher education programs (bachelor's and specialist's) will end no later than August 29.
“In Russia, specialties in the field of IT are now most in demand, especially since the state stimulates educational activities in this direction as much as possible. Therefore, the most popular specialties of past years (accountant, economist, lawyer and manager) have been replaced by programmers, system administrators, database specialists, and employees in the field of information security. There is also a certain interest of applicants in studying at universities that graduate specialists for the industrial sector — there is a shortage of personnel in this direction, and salaries are growing steadily.
From August 1, needy families with children can receive an additional allowance in the amount of 7,000 rubles. These payments are not due to everyone, but only to families with three or more children living in the Moscow region. Payments for needy families will be made for each child studying in state or municipal educational institutions. They will be credited in addition to a one-time subsidy of 3 thousand rubles, issued for preparation by September 1. Families with an average per capita income below the subsistence level will be able to count on payments. In 2023, it is 17,277 thousand rubles.
“Despite the difficult economic conditions, the Russian economy remains stable, the state continues to fulfill all social obligations. Raising the minimum wage and living wage remains a key tool for reducing poverty. Last year, about 11 million children received targeted assistance in the form of payments. Effective targeted assistance is always easier to implement in economically successful regions of the country, which undoubtedly include the Moscow Region. The authorities of the Moscow region have achieved significant success in implementing a large-scale social policy against the backdrop of continued steady population growth. Many families do not fit the criteria of low-income large families and, in fact, also make ends meet. They also should not be forgotten. Intangible support for schoolchildren is also very important — payment for additional education and medical services. There is work to be done, but in general, a one-time subsidy of 10,000 rubles for families with many children is worthy of becoming federal history.”
Since August, the list of regions of Russia, in which a resort fee for visiting tourists has been introduced, has been expanding. Now everyone who plans to relax in St. Petersburg will have to pay an additional 100 rubles per day. This program will operate in test mode until the end of 2024. The fee will have to be paid by adult tourists who decide to stay in a hotel and other temporary accommodation in the Northern capital for more than a day. The law does not apply to minors, veterans of the Second World War, combatants, disabled people of groups I and II, full holders of the Order of Glory, representatives of low-income families, athletes and patients with a diagnosis of tuberculosis. The money will go to the city budget.
The list of regions in which the resort fee has been introduced has also been supplemented by the Sirius federal territory in the Krasnodar Territory. A similar program has been operating in the Crimea, Altai, Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories for several years.
“Probably, the tourist flow may slightly decrease in the first months after the introduction of the resort tax. But, I believe, it will recover quite quickly, if only due to the fact that St. Petersburg is one of the most popular tourist centers and has no analogues in the historical and architectural sense. The Sirius Federal Territory is also a popular tourist destination. Yes, indeed, for some families, a tax of 100 rubles per day can be significant. But I would like to note that some categories of citizens are exempt from this tax, including children under 18 years of age. The funds that the budgets of these regions will receive will be used for reconstruction, improvement and repair of resort infrastructure facilities. It is difficult to talk about the amounts that will go to the budgets of the regions. But, for example, in 2022, more than 8 million tourists visited the city on the Neva. If we roughly estimate the number of those exempted from paying the fee and estimate the average number of days spent in the city, then the approximate amount of income to the St. Petersburg budget will be more than 1 billion rubles a year.
Starting from August, the notary who certified the signature on the application for state registration of a legal entity or individual entrepreneur will be obliged to send this document electronically to the registration authority, along with a full package of documents, on the same day.
>
“Notaries are given this feature to make it easier to register a business. Not all individual entrepreneurs or small entrepreneurs understand the intricacies of registering their enterprise in order to comply with all the rules. And notaries, thus, will act as assistants to entrepreneurs who will be able to concentrate on business issues, and not waste time collecting the necessary papers and going through bureaucratic procedures.