The Accounts Chamber called preferential regimes in the Far East ineffective

Preferential regimes for business in the Far East are not effective enough and do not achieve the goals for which they were created. This conclusion was made by the Accounts Chamber (AC) following an evaluation of the work of the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation and the target program on the Kuril Islands (Izvestiya has the report).

At present, the Far East has the largest number of special regimes compared to other districts: 16 territories of advanced development (TOR), the Free Port of Vladivostok (FPV), a special regime on the Kuril Islands, a special economic zone (SEZ) in the Magadan Region, and a regime of regional investment projects (RIP). However, they do not form a unified system of support measures, the SP noted.

Various federal and regional bodies are in charge of managing the Far Eastern preferential regimes, while the benefits and support measures are generally identical, said Natalia Trunova, auditor of the Audit Chamber.

The Accounts Chamber also identified a number of other shortcomings. For example, the Vladivostok port regime does not help integrate the city into international trade, as most of the allocated investments are directed to construction and logistics. And when creating a TOR, the economic and budgetary effect targets are not fixed, i.e. it is not specified how much a company should eventually pay to the state.

The Accounts Chamber also considers it a problem that most tax preferences are valid for 10 years. This means that in the coming years many residents of the TOR and the Port of Vladivostok will run out of the preferential period, and the companies may simply stop their work - they have no obligation to continue their activities.

At the same time, the preferential regime in the Kuril Islands has not yielded the expected results at all: every third participant does not operate, and only 8% of the planned jobs have been created.

Based on the results of the analysis, the SP sent recommendations to the government to finalize legislation in order to improve preferential regimes. It is also necessary to establish monitoring of companies that are running out of tax incentives. Finally, the program of regional investment projects in the Far Eastern Federal District should be canceled altogether, while retaining benefits for existing participants.