Opportunities for tax planning for digital companies: international experience

The article deals with comparing taxation conditions of a range of countries which can be applied for IT companies as the subjects of digital economy. The author examines the peculiar features of tax privileges, tax planning tools and optimization for running digital companies in such countries as Estonia, Hong Kong, Great Britain, Malta and Ireland. These countries are included in a number of international ratings and are highly estimated by foreign experts as regards the level of convenience of doing IT business. The author especially focuses on the financial calculations of possible ways for tax optimization and the key features of implementation of the extremely popular in European countries IP-Box regimes. In conclusion the author concentrates on the patterns and trends within the tax jurisdictions under consideration including the one regarding the existing treaties on avoiding double taxation. He points out that it is possible to use the international experience in order to create competitive taxation of digital companies in Russia as part of developing addenda to the package of measures (effective 01.01.2021) which is also called “tax maneuver”. In particular, it is suggested that income tax rate for IT businesses in Russia should be altered taking into consideration the foreign countries’ indexes. Moreover, the author presents his ideas on the components of possible use of such measures as “digital residency” as part of the second package of “tax maneuver” measures. The author makes a conclusion on the importance of implementing non-taxation measures for maintaining rapid development of IT-industry in Russia and enumerates the most essential directions and problems of the IT-society and the possible ways of their realization.

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