‘You shouldn’t have touched the personal income tax’
Rustam Minnikhanov commented on the amendments to the ENS mechanism
The head of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov, spoke about the transition to the unified tax account (ENS), launched on January 1, 2023. After complaints from the regions, the federal authorities made concessions and agreed to return their income as a matter of priority. From January 1, 2024, income from personal income tax will be returned to municipal budgets twice a month, not once, as it has been this year.
The whole country has learned that single account is now in Tula
On 15 December, the head of the Federal Tax Service of the Republic of Tatarstan, Marat Safiullin, announced the full settlement of the problematic situation with tax payments after the transition to the Unified Tax System. According to him, the single contact centre was created in the structure of the tax authorities to assist taxpayers, and a software product was developed that helped to deal with the administration of payments.
“In the beginning there were difficulties, but in general, settlements with taxpayers have been seriously simplified," said Marat Safiullin. “Plus a 5-fold reduction in personal accounts, a 2-fold reduction in arrears, and a 23-fold reduction in unidentified payments.
Previously, 30 days were allocated for mutual settlements, but now the verified payment amount is fixed on a unified tax account.
“The ENS made it possible to promptly execute the orders of the tax authorities, and then the whole country found out that there is a unififed tax account in Tula," said the head of the federal treasury, Roman Artyukhin.
Personal income tax is returned quietly
But the main achievement is that personal income tax will be credited to regional budgets twice a month, not once, as before, the head of the Federal Tax Service of the Republic of Tatarstan stated. According to him, amendments to the Tax Code of the Russian Federation have entered into force, which allows tax authorities to transfer income as a priority. “Personal income tax will be paid 2 times a month from 2024," Artyukhin said.
“I believe that personal income tax is the main income of our municipalities. You shouldn't have touched the personal income tax," Minnikhanov stated.
In his opinion, the return to the previous regime of personal income tax revenues to the treasury is slow. “It's coming back quietly," he said.
Let us remind that since January 1 of this year, the mechanism of a unififed tax account has been activated, when all taxes are transferred to a single account in the treasury, and the tax authorities distribute them among budgets independently. The new procedure was introduced to simplify payments and minimise errors, but caused a shock to the regions due to cash gaps. “According to the results of the first quarter, the republic expected to collect over 5 billion rubles against the background of wage growth, but received minus 3.8 billion rubles in personal income tax," Leonid Yakunin, the head of the Budget Committee of the State Council of Tatarstan, told Realnoe Vremya earlier.
As a result, a group of deputies and senators submitted to the State Duma a bill on the priority transfer to the budgets of personal income tax paid under the single tax account mechanism. It starts working on January 1, 2024.