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Yulia Vassiljeva

Yulia Vassiljeva

head of foreign companies accreditation department

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Good afternoon!

A foreign company that does not have branches and representative offices in the Russian Federation plans to open a bank account in St. Petersburg. It requires registration with the tax service by submitting an application under form 11BS.

Here it is not clear to which inspectorate we should submit documents: the one at the location of a branch of a bank or to the Inter-district Inspectorate No. 4 in St. Petersburg, which registers branches and representative offices of foreign companies? None of the tax inspections, including the central one, could give me a relevant answer. And what inspectorate is it in Moscow? What documents are needed in the tax inspection? Is it necessary to certify the application or is it possible to submit it with a power of attorney in a simple written form?

Did you have to work with a similar issue?

02.03.2018 Read answer

Can you tell, please, is there an obligation after accreditation of a branch/representative office:

1. To open a bank account.

2. To register with the tax service/Pension Fund/Social Security Fund?

As far as I remember, a branch/representative office can only be registered with a bank account opened and a labour contract.

The client wants neither opening a bank account nor signing a labour contract by now, because the representative office became not needed one month before registration. I do not understand, if the client does not open a bank account and, hence, does not obtain notifications from Pension Fund and Social Security Fund, does it make him free of reporting to those funds? How to submit those reports?

06.02.2018 Read answer

Good afternoon!

I really need advice.

We have a change of the Head of the Representative Office in Moscow. The Minutes of Board on the change of the Head, the Power of Attorney were issued last year, the deadlines were missed. I called the the Inter-district Inspectorate No. 47 in Moscow to ask whether it was possible for the new Head in Moscow to make a resolution with the current date «... to enforce the decision of the Board of Directors of July 17, ... to dismiss ..., to appoint... as the Head of the Representative Office...» , and thus the countdown of 15 days would go from this date. They said — Yes, this is the way it should be done.

I am confused by this moment: is the notary certification needed for the signature of the Head in this resolution (signed in Moscow, in Russian)? Or, like a power of attorney for a courier, you can sign it and place a seal of the representative office on it?

14.01.2018 Read answer

The Director of the Moscow representative office is about to be changed , there are a resolution on their appointment and a Power of Attorney. The resolution and the power of attorney are issued in two languages, in Russian and Korean, certified by a notary in Korea and apostilled. Do I need to submit them like that to MIFNS № 47 in Moscow or do I need to translate an apostille from a notary and only then submit it to MIFNS № 47 in Moscow?

And can a new director of a representative office issue a power of attorney (a power of attorney with the right to delegate powers) to submit it to MIFNS № 47 in Moscow in a simple written form? Will MIFNS № 47 in Moscow accept such a power of attorney or only the one certified by a notary?

09.01.2018 Read answer

A couple of questions on accreditation of a branch (a Cypriot company):

1. I do not fully understand the recommendation which seems to be used often: the Regulations of a branch is APPROVED by the Company (and this is specified in the Resolution on opening the branch), but SIGNED by the head of the branch (who has an appropriate power to sign it).

In my opinion, this document should have a signature of those who approved this document, and many years ago I have accredited a branch with the State Registration Chamber, the Regulations was approved and signed by the head of the branch, and he was authorised to APPROVE the Regulations of the branch and make changes to that. Is this way acceptable nowadays?

2. The directors and shareholders of a Cypriot company are legal entities. Is it necessary to use the documents verifying the powers of the individuals who sign this resolution (i.e. they will not be specified in certificates)?

Of course, the resolution to open a branch will be certified by a «notary» (certifying officer) and apostilled. BUT: in the verification of a Cypriot «notaries» it is not said that the powers of signatories are verified, but said «signed in my presence by ... As the Certifying Officer, I certify only the signature which appears on document and assume no responsibility for the content of this document...» Some time ago I had to deal with a notary (well, just once) who requested the whole load of additional documents to confirm the powers of those who signed the document.

Thank you in advance!

28.12.2017 Read answer
For the last 5 years, construction sites of foreign companies in the regions had been opening without accreditation on the basis of the Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation of 30.09.2010 N 117n «On approval of data on the state of products or agreements». In some regions, of course, tax officials groaned about lack of accreditation, but they agreed to register at last! So, turns out it is possible to open an establishment without accreditation, is not it?
01.12.2017 Read answer
Can you share, please, your experience in regard to the documents for registering a foreign legal entity (Germany) doing construction works on the construction site in Russia within 12 months? As far as I understand, this registration is based on the Order of the Ministry of Finance of 30.09.2010 N 117n. The form of application to the tax service is 11IO. What documents signed by the authorised officers should be brought to the tax service and in what form (is the apostille a must)?
17.11.2017 Read answer
Did I get it right that in the labour contracts of the employees working at a territorially separate establishment of a foreign company it is the legal address of a branch to be specified? And one more question to go: do the foreign nationals need accreditation if they are employed at that establishment? Well, it is not a branch or a representative office anyway.
07.11.2017 Read answer
We went to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and they said we should make corrections either to the application for accreditation or to the translations of documents. Could you specify, please, what are we expected to do?
11.10.2017 Read answer
The term of accreditation of our representative office is going to expire in January 2018. Is it any risky?
04.06.2017 Read answer