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- Open the cache: the Federal Tax Service records the use of closed mutual funds for tax deferral
Open the cache: the Federal Tax Service records the use of closed mutual funds for tax deferral
The Federal Tax Service identifies cases of using closed-end mutual funds (SPIFS) to defer taxes while maintaining control over transferred assets. In three years, the number of such funds has grown by almost 90%, which has increased the agency's attention to possible abuses. Experts believe that this could be one of the reasons for the upcoming tax changes: in 2027, the authorities plan to tax part of the income of mutual funds at a rate of 15% and limit the possibility of long-term deferred payments. How such schemes work is described in the Izvestia article.
How mutual funds defer payment of taxes
The number of closed-end mutual funds has increased by almost 90% over the past three years, the Federal Tax Service told Izvestia. The tax service notes that the advantages of mutual funds — tax deferral and asset protection — in some cases are used by companies solely to reduce the tax burden, without an independent business purpose.
The mechanism is based on the features of the foundation's structure, explained Freedom Global analyst Vladimir Chernov. The owner transfers the property to the ZPIF and in return receives shares — shares in its assets. The fund can receive income, for example, from renting or selling property, and direct funds to new investments without paying income tax at the mutual fund level.
Income can remain inside the fund for years, and money that would otherwise have to be transferred to the budget will continue to work, the expert noted. As a result, the obligation to pay tax to the owner of the shares usually arises later — upon receipt of payments or sale or repayment of shares. Thus, the use of mutual funds allows you to defer tax payments on transactions with real estate, securities and other assets for years.
At the same time, such a postponement is legal in itself and does not mean tax evasion. However, investments through mutual funds are increasingly being used to build structures whose main purpose is tax optimization, said Sergey Chelyshkov, partner at IEF LEGAL.
Against this background, the authorities plan to change the rules for closed and interval mutual funds from January 1, 2027. It is proposed to levy a tax at a rate of 15% on passive income received by the fund — dividends, interest, rent payments and royalties. Currently, the payment of tax on such income can be postponed until the moment when the funds are received by the owner of the shares. According to the new rules, the tax is supposed to be deducted already at the fund level, and then the amount paid to the shareholder is credited in order to avoid double taxation.
How common are tax optimization schemes?
Closed-end and interval funds have historically been used in Russia to optimize corporate income taxes, said Victoria Bobrik, a lawyer at the BGP Litigation Tax Litigation and Consulting practice. A mutual fund is not considered a legal entity, so profits within it are not taxed in the same way as income from a regular company. The ability to postpone a tax payment for a long time has made such structures a common business organization tool.
The scale of the market itself is large. According to the Bank of Russia, the net asset value of all mutual funds exceeds 24 trillion rubles, with about 80% accounted for by closed-end funds. Thus, they manage about 19-20 trillion rubles. However, this amount includes legitimate investments and does not show the volume of questionable transactions, although it may be significant.
The tax deferral was used, in particular, by developers, as well as company owners when selling businesses, Victoria Bobrik explained. For example, if a fund sells shares or shares, the profit from the difference between the purchase and sale price may remain inside it. According to a similar scheme, rental and interest income can not be distributed to the owners of the units, but re-invested. In this case, the tax payment is postponed for years, until the shares are repaid.
What will change for the funds and budget in 2027
The introduction of a 15% tax on the passive income of closed-end and interval mutual funds starting in 2027 will put an end to the long-term deferral of payments on such income, if the new rules are adopted, said Vladimir Chernov, analyst at Freedom Global. Management companies will have to pay the tax by the 28th of next month, even if the interest, dividends or rent payments received remain within the fund. Therefore, it will become less profitable to create mutual funds solely for the sake of tax savings.
The authorities' attention to such operations is justified, since the suppression of such schemes will allow the budget to receive taxes, the payment of which companies could previously postpone for years, said Ekaterina Golubtsova, Associate Professor of the Department of State and Municipal Finance at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. In her opinion, the fight against abuse is also necessary for a more equitable distribution of the tax burden, otherwise the wealthiest taxpayers may receive benefits that are not available to others.
However, the tax changes will not eliminate the attractiveness of mutual funds for business, says Sergey Chelyshkov, partner at MEF LEGAL. Schemes in which income is infinitely accumulated and invested again within a mutual fund without current tax payments will have to be reviewed. Eventually, the ways in which funds are used will change, but interest in them will not disappear.
The new 15% rate will affect only certain types of income, while for other transactions, including the sale of fund assets, the possibility of deferring taxes will remain. In addition, the fund's passive income rate is lower than the standard corporate income tax rate of 25%. Therefore, under certain conditions, it may still be beneficial for a business to conduct operations through mutual funds.
However, tax control is likely to continue to strengthen as part of a policy of "whitewashing" the economy, Vladimir Chernov believes. The suppression of certain optimization schemes can bring additional revenue to the budget and create more equal conditions for business.
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