The head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry announced support for the catering industry by raising the threshold for zero VAT

The decision to raise the zero VAT threshold for catering, which is currently being discussed by the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, will support companies in the SME+ segment (small and medium-sized enterprises). This opinion was expressed by Sergey Katyrin, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) of the Russian Federation, in a conversation with Izvestia on January 31.

"I believe that raising the revenue threshold to 3 billion rubles is designed to support companies of the SME+ segment in the catering sector. That is, those that have already gone beyond the threshold of medium-sized business and moved into large business. This will make their transition seamless: companies will partially retain the preferences available to SMEs, such as zero VAT," Katyrin said.

According to him, now, with revenues over 2 billion rubles, catering companies are actually forced to restructure their work, prioritizing the sale of franchises instead of independent scaling. Otherwise, they will face a significant increase in taxes and contributions.

"At the same time, according to our data, there are not many companies in the field of catering, which have a turnover of more than 2 billion rubles a year," - added the head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation.

Gastronomic sum: the Russian Federation discusses raising the zero VAT threshold for public catering

Why the authorities are ready to make concessions and whether this will help to slow down the growth of prices in restaurants and cafes

Earlier in the day, Izvestia reported that the authorities are discussing raising the zero VAT threshold for catering. Since 2022 cafes and restaurants with revenues below 2 billion rubles do not pay tax - now they want to raise the threshold to 3 billion rubles. The Ministry of Finance has confirmed that the issue is being worked on.