27 Sep 2022 15:14

Digital Ministry planning to resume accreditation of IT companies before Oct 15 - Shadayev

MOSCOW. Sept 27 (Interfax) - The Russian Digital Development Ministry expects to resume accreditation of Russian IT companies, suspended in August, by October 15, Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev said.

"I hope that by October 15 we will resume the possibility of accreditation. We will try to do it as quickly as possible before October 15," the minister said during a webinar with industry representatives on Monday.

Last week, responding to a question from Interfax, Shadayev said that new rules for the accreditation of IT companies were in the final stages of approval. "They are currently with the government," he said.

Accreditation gives companies the opportunity to receive various benefits. In addition, employees of accredited IT-companies can apply for deferment from mobilization.

Starting on August 1, 2022, in accordance with amendments to the Tax Code, the filing of applications for the registry of IT-companies was suspended until the adoption of a new procedure for accreditation.

In early August, the Finance Ministry said that it had developed a new procedure for inclusion in the register of IT-companies, proposing to accredit organizations whose revenues from IT account for at least 30%. Among other conditions for accreditation is the presence of the relevant OKVED as the primary one. Furthermore, at least 80% of the company's employees must have a salary no lower than the national average.

Startups that do not have revenues but invest in IT are also invited to be accredited. In addition to the aforementioned points, startups need to declare an IT project under development and its implementation status. Furthermore, the company must have been founded three years or less before applying for accreditation.

At the same time, as the Finance Ministry said, accreditation will be denied if the organization is a state-owned company; a bank, a non-banking credit organization, etc.; an insurance company or a telecom company; a state or municipal institution.

In addition, accreditation will be denied to companies created as a result of reorganization, organizations with direct and (or) indirect state participation (50% or more). The register will not include companies and banks with state participation from a special list approved by government order 91-R. Currently, the list contains about 40 entities, including Rostelecom , Russian Post, Rosnano, Aeroflot and others.

The Russian Industry and Trade Ministry is the only authority responsible for the registration.

In early August, the Digital Development Ministry excluded from the register of IT-companies more than 400 organizations for which activities in the field of information technology are not their primary focus. This included 32 banks, 12 insurance companies, more than 150 budgetary institutions and a number of other companies not related to IT.