According to official statistics, last year Russians drank 5.3% less spirits in comparison with 2014. Experts associate this with the increase in the volume of counterfeit alcohol, which is available not only in stores. However, every fourth Russian store sells alcohol without a license. The Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, Innovative Development and Entrepreneurship, Viktor Zvagelsky, believes that it happens due to the unbalanced policy of excise taxes and the small fines for selling counterfeit goods.
There is a difficult situation in Kabardino-Balkaria. 566 crimes were registered there during the first nine months of 2015 in the sphere of illegal trafficking in industrial production, the vast majority of which (98%) was counterfeit alcohol. In September of last year Kabardino-Balkaria regional FSB officers blocked the channel of delivery of counterfeit alcohol and excise stamps for the domestic SKFO markets. Law enforcement agencies seized more than 2,376,000 liters of ethanol worth over 100 million rubles, as well as 665,000 liters of alcohol products, which were sold legally and brought more than 140 million rubles (excise and VAT) to the budget in the form of taxes.
The activities of 26 clandestine workshops for production of counterfeit alcoholic drinks were suppressed. Criminal cases against organizers of 8 underground workshops were sent to court, including three cases of illegal production on an industrial scale. More than 15,000 counterfeit excise stamps were seized. According to UGA, the investigative authorities initiated a criminal case against the leaders of seven companies from Kabardino-Balkaria engaged in the production of alcohol. They were suspected of tax evasion in especially large amounts of about 2.2 billion rubles.
In an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza, Victor Zvagelsky reminded that it is prohibited to inform about the actual situation related to tax evasion in Kabardino-Balkaria. "Now the law enforcement agencies, the Federal Tax Service and the Ministry of Finance are empowered to verify the payment of excise duty, including the alcohol industry. Now a number of factories in Kabardino-Balkaria haven't paid the additional part of the excise duty. We will see how this figure amounting to more than 20 billion will be confirmed soon."
Zvagelsky specified that there are many so-called transitory payments. There are also deferred payments and bank guarantees, but some banks are unable to fulfill their obligations. "The problem with these companies will be resolved, and the state will receive all unpaid taxes and excise duties," the deputy promised. But if it happens, then bankruptcy proceedings and seizure of equipment will begin in order for the government to receive in any case those amounts that had not been paid for one or other reasons."
According to Zvagelsky, the situation with counterfeiting and tax evasion cannot be said to be a specific problem of the Caucasus republics. "Similar situations have occurred in the Moscow region and in a number of regions of the Urals. Today the main issue is that there are loopholes for such illegal schemes, in addition to general egregious instances of tax evasion there are actually legal schemes in some regions that can be subsidized by their manufacturers. And it is a violation of the legislation, statutes and the decree of the Ministry of Finance when enterprises receive illegal subsidies. It creates the absolute opposite of competition in the market. We have many such regions. We should fight against them at the legislative level, suppressing all legal schemes, and punish those who deliberately don't pay taxes both in administrative and criminal ways, but at the same time remove existing legal methods of tax evasion or deferred payments,'' the deputy said.
According to the bill introduced to the lower house by Zvagelsky, fines for illegal trade in alcohol could increase to three million rubles.
Victor Zvagelsky described the situation in Kabardino-Balkaria as the tip of the iceberg: "As for Kabardino-Balkaria, Ossetia, Karachaevo-Cherkessia, and a number of other republics, which are trying to open their own production and optimize taxes, now they have been placed in fairly rigid frameworks by the Federal Service for Alcohol Market Regulation. I hope enterprises that operate in a similar way will appear soon."
