Experts spoke about legislative changes in the second month of spring
April Fool's Day is a serious date. At least from the point of view of our legislators, who designated April 1 as the day for the implementation of many legal and regulatory documents that significantly change the lives of Russians. Not everyone, of course… But there is no doubt that the number of interested parties will amount to millions, if not tens of millions. Judge for yourself: the April innovations will affect some categories of pensioners and housing and communal services payers, car buyers and those wishing to obtain a license, residents renting apartments and starting redevelopment… Experts told MK more about the main legislative innovations in the second month of spring.
From April 1, the size of social pensions in the country will change: they will be indexed by 7.5%. Social pensions in Russia are received by citizens who do not have enough length of service to receive an insurance pension. Payments that are calculated for old age (social pensions are assigned from 65 and 70 years, respectively, for women and men), disability and in connection with the loss of a breadwinner will be indexed. The pension increase will affect more than 4.1 million people.
In addition to social pensioners, changes in payments will affect military personnel and members of their families, WWII veterans and siege survivors. Those affected by man-made and radiation disasters and their family members, flight test personnel, cosmonauts and their relatives will also receive indexed pensions.
An amount of 37.5 billion rubles has been allocated in the federal budget to increase social pensions in 2024. The fixed amount of social pension will be equal to 7733.34 rubles.
“Indexation of social pensions takes place annually from April 1, and pensions, as a rule, are increased by the inflation level of the previous year. Such indexations do not accelerate the growth of consumer prices, since pensions are indexed to the level of official, and not inflation personally observed by the population, which, as a rule, can be twice as high as official statistics. For the population, the increase in pensions is, of course, a plus, and retail trade also benefits from the increase in social payments. However, in dollar equivalent, the size of the social pension in Russia is only $83, and in Russia it is 7,733.34 rubles. It’s impossible to live on for a month. For those Russians who do not have enough experience to receive a retirement pension, they should think about saving money in advance in a bank or in a non-state pension fund for a more or less secure old age.”
Starting in April, a new column will appear in receipts for housing and communal services payments: recalculation of consumed services for the previous period. This innovation will affect those Russians who have individual meters for water, electricity and other services installed in their homes. And only if such a recalculation has not yet taken place for 2023. Recalculation will be based on a comparison of standards and actual consumption. If, according to meter readings, consumption standards are exceeded, homeowners will have to pay for additionally consumed resources.
“We must understand that we are not talking about additional payments, but about bringing utility charges to the volume of their actual consumption. In 2023, a law was adopted that changes the procedure for installing and checking individual metering devices, which will come into force on April 1, 2024. This standard regulates the relationship between special equipment inspection organizations and management companies. It is relevant for those residents for whom charges for the consumption of utility resources are made based on actual consumption, according to meter readings — hot and cold water, electricity, heat. It happens that a meter installed and registered with the management company breaks down, its service life expires, or the owner simply forgets to provide readings. During this period, the management company charges him a fee according to the standard that is in force in a particular municipality.
If there is a meter, and the fee was previously charged according to the standard, then from April of this year, a recalculation of actual consumption will be made in this apartment. Moreover, this will be done automatically: you won’t have to go somewhere or call anyone. In more than 90% of cases, metering devices function properly, as usual. They will not have any adjustments. So the innovation will affect no more than 10% of homeowners.”
From April 1, changes to the Housing Code regarding the redevelopment of premises will come into force. According to the new rules, changing the boundaries of premises, including the creation of new ones and the combination of several apartments, will be classified as redevelopment. Previously, the combination of apartments or rooms was defined as reconstruction. Moreover, such changes will need to be approved by the municipal authority, where you will need to submit an application of the technical plan of the redesigned apartment. Coordination will require not only plans to increase or decrease the area of rooms, but also such actions as equipping a pantry, dismantling built-in cabinets or moving doorways.
The procedure for registering redevelopment will also change. Now the homeowner will have to order a new cadastral plan for the apartment and send it to Rosreestr. In order for the redevelopment to be officially considered complete, the changes must be included in the Unified State Register.
“Why these changes in legislation were made is not entirely clear. All work on the facade, load-bearing walls, relocation of bathrooms and other work that could somehow affect the safety of other residents of the house must be approved without fail. Now, even the desire to carve out a small nook for a laundry room, pantry or wardrobe will be recognized not as reconstruction, but as redevelopment, although this does not entail constructive changes. When there is a question about combining or separating rooms, yes, it is worth taking certain measures here, since changes, even in the absence of load-bearing walls, can speed up the depreciation of the house. Therefore, it is worth agreeing with the fact that the transfer of rooms is still worth affirming. This partly applies to combining or dividing a bathroom — this is a wet area, it has its own characteristics. But the need to coordinate a thin wall, when the owner decided to make a dressing room instead of a wardrobe, is at least strange. It looks as if engineers from various inspections are given the opportunity to make a little extra money on permits.»
From April 1, regional authorities will have the opportunity to introduce a ban on the sale of alcohol in so-called “nalivaikas” — stores that turn into cafes at night and which are located in apartment buildings or in adjacent areas. This applies primarily to stores registered as catering outlets. According to the standards, it was enough for them to sell ready-made food and arrange at least 8 seats.
Authorities will also be able to limit the hours of sale of alcohol, including beer and cider, in bars and cafes located in residential buildings. These changes will not affect restaurants.
“The initiative is aimed at turning the so-called “nalivayki” into full-fledged cafes. These are completely different requirements for business. Accordingly, a number of small businesses will face a dilemma — adapt to the new rules or close the business?
From the point of view of time constraints, this is a pressing issue for some residential buildings. Because there is a problem with noise from visitors to such establishments. If they work after 23, then it is noisy both inside and outside, as tipsy visitors go out to smoke. Of course, not all residents of the house can calmly demolish such a neighborhood. Meanwhile, there are 2.2 thousand such points in Moscow alone. And here much will depend on how regional authorities use this measure. If the regions are tough on such establishments, then some of them may close or change their format, focused only on takeaway sales.”
In April, a ban on customs clearance of cars imported from abroad in the EAEU countries comes into effect. Now Russians will be able to import a foreign car in only two ways: through Russian customs with payment of all fees, or through the countries of the Customs Union with an additional disposal fee when importing into the Russian Federation. The restriction is aimed against shadow and gray import schemes.
“Car supply channels through the EAEU countries made it possible, due to the peculiarities of customs legislation, to save about 20–30% of the cost of a car. And the import of cars to Russia under “gray” schemes tripled last year alone. Thus, the Russian budget is missing a significant amount, and the government has decided to correct this. Since the new rules assume that the import of cars into Russia will be possible either directly, through Russian customs with payment of all rates, excises and taxes, or through the countries of the Customs Union, but with additional payments for the recycling fee. So supplies, of course, will not stop completely. But at the same time, passenger cars will become noticeably more expensive. I guess just that 20-30%.”
From April 1, the threshold for duty-free online purchases will decrease from 1 thousand euros to 200 euros. In fact, this threshold was initially adopted, but in 2022, amid sanctions, the threshold was temporarily raised to support parallel imports. The duty is 15% of the price of the product and the excess price threshold. For example, if a consumer orders a product for 250 euros, then 15% duty must be paid from 50 euros. In total — 257.5 euros.
“An increase in the limit for duty-free online purchases from abroad from €200 to €1,000 has been temporarily introduced from April 2022. This was done under the conditions of sanctions to make it easier for people to import personal goods — food, clothing, shoes, medicines. It was necessary to prevent their shortage or sharp rise in prices due to the breakdown of supply chains and the departure of foreign companies from the Russian market. Now these negative phenomena have been largely overcome. The measure has lost its relevance. The duty-free purchase limit returns to the level of 200 euros, which was in January 2020.
At the same time, this step will now have little impact on the bulk of consumers. Up to 98% of international parcels received, including through marketplaces, do not exceed the amount of 200 euros.”
By the end of April, all taxpayers who received income in 2023 that was not taken into account by tax agents must submit a 3-NDFL declaration. Usually the deadline is April 30, but in 2024 this is a holiday, so payers are given a little more time, until May 2.
If there was no need to pay anything according to the declaration, then the fine for filing reports late will be 1 thousand rubles. If it was necessary to pay personal income tax, the fine will be 5% of the tax amount for each overdue day, but not more than 30%. However, you will still have to pay tax.
If you need to file a return for tax deductions and do not need to pay personal income tax, then you can submit documents at any time.
“Filing your tax return on time is extremely important for responsible taxpayers, as it avoids fines and misunderstandings with the tax authorities. Therefore, filing a return on time will deprive you of many negative consequences (fines, an increase in the amount payable, audits by tax authorities, etc.)
First of all, taxpayers should pay attention to the correctness of filling out the declaration and the correct indication of all income received that was not taken into account by tax agents. It is also important to take into account any changes in legislation that may affect your tax liability. Therefore, whenever possible, interested taxpayers should use the services of tax professionals to avoid errors and ensure compliance with all legal requirements. Fortunately, this can now be done for free using the official portals of departments and State Services, where everything is described in detail. In addition, you should not delay submitting the declaration until the last day in order to avoid possible errors from rushing to fill it out.”
Extending the validity of a driver's license. The validity of driver's licenses, which expire in 2024 and 2025, will be extended by three years, to 2027 and 2028, respectively. However, you can replace the document at any time. If the driver plans to take advantage of the extension, there is no need to make additional changes to the license — they will be extended automatically.
Changes to the rules for passing the traffic police exam. Passing the driver's license exam at the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate will become a little easier: from April 1, the number of penalty points that can be scored during the practical exam will increase from 5 to 7. At the same time, the retake deadlines are tightened: if you fail to pass the practical exam after three attempts, It will be possible to try again only after six months — but no later than 9 months after the previous attempt.
Rules for short-term rental of apartments. The new rules for short-term rentals, which come into force on April 3, provide for liability in case of offenses not only for guests, but also for the owner of the premises. It will be possible to rent out an apartment for a few days only if the rights and legitimate interests of neighbors are respected. It will also be impossible to rent out housing without meters.