The lowering of the annual income threshold, after which the users of the simplified systems and patent taxation (STS and PSN) undertake to pay VAT, forced 27% of them to think about reducing or even closing the business. Another 26% plan to curb growth in order not to cross the threshold, 24% plan to resort to a split and only 23% do not plan to change anything in their operations. These are the results of a survey of 23 thousand entrepreneurs from 87 regions conducted by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) of the Russian Federation.
From 2026, the threshold for paying VAT was reduced from $60 million to $20 million per year. The authorities positioned the measure as a tool in the fight against business fragmentation, which is currently preferred by almost a quarter of respondents. It was planned to lower the bar even further - to 15 million NIS and then to 10 million NIS, but this summer, after objections from businesses, it was decided to freeze it at the level of 20 million NIS until 2029. This is done only for users of a simplified taxation system. They did not extend the moratorium to the patent, and now Opora Rossi proposes to rectify this situation. However, the "privilege" for payers of simplified taxation systems did not inspire them much - according to a CCI poll, 39% of "ordinary" people consider the impact of the new rules on them to be critical, 36% - tolerable, but noticeable.
Escaping VAT, some entrepreneurs switched to the Automatic Simple Tax System (AUSN) - an experimental regime that does not provide for the payment of this tax for micro-businesses with an annual income of up to 60 million rubles and a number of employees of up to 5 people. However, the regime has several limitations - for example, the value of fixed assets cannot exceed 150 million rubles, and accounts can only be opened in certain banks. As a result, of the total number of "ordinary" students who transferred to AUSN, only 13% were satisfied with it, 28% reported problems encountered when intending to stay, 20% reported regretting the decision.
According to the survey, VAT changes affected the relationships of small and medium-sized companies with customers - 25% went into cash, 29% raised prices, 32% kept them at the same level, sacrificing profit.