The following Russian amendments have entered into force on the 1st of January:
-The retirement age has been raised to 60 for women and to 65 for men
-A pilot project with a new tax for freelancers has started in 4 different Russian regions: Moscow, the Moskovskaya Oblast, the Kaluzhskaya Oblast and Tartarstan.
-The general VAT rate has been raised from 18 to 20%.
-Minimum wage may no longer be beneath the poverty line, which is 11,280 rubles a month ( € 144,08) in Russia.
-Every 3 year period, employees can take an extra day off in order to participate in a periodic health examination
-The tax on movable property for organisation has been abolished. The tax on real estate for organisations remains in force. Abolishing the tax on movable property is meant to compensate the VAT increase.
-Some long distance train tickets may no longer be returned. At least you will no longer get your money back. This does not apply to all long distance train tickets though.
-The amount of goods and the maximum value of goods that you are allowed to bring to Russia has significantly been decreased to 25 kilograms and €500. This new rule only applies when you enter Russia by car, train, bus or by foot though. If you enter the country by plane the old rules apply: you will be allowed to bring 50 kilograms of good or goods worth no more than €10,000 without paying custom duties. Custom duties amount to at least 4 euros per kilogram
-The state fees for electronically registering and liquidating legal persons and Individual entrepreneurship (ИП) have been abolished. If you don’t file the applications electronically, state fees will still have to be paid.
-The Russian bank deposit guarantee scheme has been extended and now also applies to money held on behalf of small business. Small business in Russia means having a yearly turnover of less than 800 million rubles, having no more than 15 employees and no more than 49% of the shares may be held by a foreign legal person or no more than 25% of the shares may be held by a state organ. The amount that is covered by the guarantee is the same as natural persons and for individual entrepreneurs: 1,4 million ruble (€ 17.869,74).
Happy new year!
Source: https://www.vedomosti.ru/economics/galleries/2018/12/26/790403-chto-izmenitsya-s-novogo-goda
