Despite lengthy discussions, the authorities will not abolish the transport tax in 2018. Officials continue to discuss possible alternatives for this tax, but the final version of the changes has not yet been approved. Experts emphasize the unfair principle of calculating the amount of tax, which infringes on the rights of ordinary motorists.
The main purpose of the transport tax is to ensure high quality road surfaces. This tax goes to local budgets, which provides a significant share of revenue. Owners of various vehicles have to pay tax - cars, motorcycles, motor boats, etc.
The principle of calculating transport tax is the main object of criticism from experts and motorists. The amount of tax depends on the power of the vehicle, and it does not matter whether the vehicle was used during the year. Current legislation provides for correction factors, the value of which depends on the cost of the car. In addition, the authorities have provided certain benefits that may exempt car owners from paying vehicle tax.
Cars that were received under social programs and converted for a disabled driver belong to preferential categories of vehicles. The benefit will also apply to cars that are reported stolen.
A vehicle's horsepower does not reflect the actual damage a vehicle causes to the road surface. The intensity of exploitation is much more important, experts emphasize. Officials have repeatedly discussed the abolition of this tax, proposing various alternatives. However, representatives of the economic bloc are not ready to abandon the transport tax in the near future.
Possible alternatives
The main argument of the Ministry of Economic Development is that this tax effectively fills local budgets, which are experiencing significant difficulties after the onset of the economic crisis. As a result, the transport tax remains in force. Previously, experts and legislators proposed various alternatives for the transport tax.
The most likely scenario is the abolition of the transport tax and a corresponding increase in the excise tax. In this case, the principle of fairness will be observed - those car owners who use their cars more often will pay more. In this case, owners of more economical types of engines will be in an advantageous position.
Despite the obvious advantages, the authorities are in no hurry to abandon the current transport tax model. The annual increase in excise taxes is used to finance current expenses and will not be able to compensate for the losses of local budgets from the abolition of the transport tax. According to preliminary estimates, potential losses per year reach 150 billion rubles.
The second option for changes is linking them to the environmental component of vehicles. Representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade came up with a similar initiative, emphasizing the need to reduce emissions. In addition, this standard is in line with European trends aimed at using the least harmful types of engines.
The main stumbling block that hinders transport tax reform remains the state of local budgets.
Budget problems
The total debt of regional budgets has reached 2 trillion rubles, which is turning into a real problem for the government. Already 5 regions do not meet the established standard (the amount of debt should not exceed 50% of income) and are on the verge of default. The loss of 150 billion in revenue will lead to additional problems.
As a result, officials are interested in maximizing the filling of local budgets, including through the extension of the transport tax for 2018. The state treasury is also experiencing difficult times, being dependent on fluctuations in oil prices.
The tax reform being discussed in the government will not have serious consequences, experts suggest. The authorities will not make drastic changes before the presidential elections, intending to delay the most painful changes.
Officials do not plan to abolish the transport tax either in 2018 or in the near future. Despite significant shortcomings, it provides about 150 billion rubles. revenues to local budgets. The weak point of the current tax remains the calculation principle, which has been criticized by experts and motorists.
The final payment amount depends on the power of the car, which does not reflect the actual nature of use. As an alternative, officials are considering increasing excise taxes or linking them to the environmental friendliness of engines. Given the difficult financial situation of the regions, the economic bloc is delaying the launch of the reform.
The controversy surrounding the transport tax levied on Russian car owners has not subsided over the past few years. On the one hand, this fee is very significant, which helps fill the treasury of the Russian Federation by 146 billion rubles annually. In the current situation, finding a way to find these funds when the specified fiscal fee is canceled will not be so easy.
On the other hand, this tax does not please car owners at all, especially in regions whose fiscal policy is characterized by increased tax rates. It is clear that the authorities cannot ignore popular discontent - especially when the next one looms on the horizon. Discussions continue in the government about what solutions can be applied when reforming the transport tax.
Among the possible options, both the possibility of completely abolishing this fee and its transformation, as well as the introduction of alternative types of fiscal fees, are being considered. It is still impossible to predict which option the deputies will ultimately come to. But you can find out what potential tax transformations can be implemented in 2018!
The essence of the transport tax
This fee, as its name implies, is levied on vehicle owners. The amount of deductions depends on the number of “horses” under the hood, as well as the time during which the vehicle is in use. For owners of high-quality vehicles, the tax is adjusted - a percentage is added to the amount of the fee, which must be paid for the fact that the car has become not just a means of transportation, but also a luxury item. The criterion is the cost of the car, if it is more than 3 million rubles.
We also note that in different administrative regions of the Russian Federation the basic tax rate may differ. The final rates are approved by representatives of local authorities, so owners pay differently for the same car in different regions of the Russian Federation. In addition, local authorities have the right to exempt from paying the fee or reduce its rate for preferential categories of citizens - large families, pensioners, disabled people, Chernobyl victims. Enterprises belonging to the municipality are often exempt from paying the transport tax.
The main purpose of introducing this fee is to accumulate funds necessary for repairing road surfaces and laying new roads. The money collected from car owners goes to regional budgets. Moreover, it is worth noting the fact that the funds obtained by levying this tax often constitute a significant part of income items.
Transport tax will be used to repair roads damaged by cars Although this fee is often referred to as a car tax, it is not only cars that are subject to taxation - the fee is levied on motorcycles, motor boats, ATVs, helicopters, buses, tracked vehicles, yachts, snowmobiles, etc. Some vehicle owners have tax benefits. The preferential modes of transport include:
- cars received under social programs and converted for drivers with disabilities. Separately mentioned is the engine power of such a car, which should not exceed 100 horsepower;
- vehicles that are reported stolen. This fact must be registered with the police;
- industrial watercraft related to sea and river transport;
- machines designed for transporting livestock, fertilizers, milk, hay, as well as tractors;
- boats (motor and rowing) that are equipped with an engine with a power of no more than 5 horsepower.
Reasons for car owners' dissatisfaction
The main subject of criticism in transport tax is the principle by which payment amounts are calculated. The tax depends on the power of the vehicle, but the fact of its use throughout the year is not taken into account at all. Experts and car owners believe that this approach does not reflect the intended purpose of the fee - to receive money for road repair work. The damage caused to the coating does not depend on the power of the car, but has a direct relationship with the intensity of travel.
It is no secret that many pensioners use their Volga or VAZ only to go to the dacha a couple of times a season. The rest of the time the iron horse sits idle in the garage, but you still have to pay the full tax amount for it. Another important point is the power of the car. Not every car hiding a “herd of horses” under the hood is new, and owners of new and old cars are forced to pay the same amounts.
In addition to transport tax, you will have to pay excise tax on gasoline! In addition, when buying a car, a person becomes a payer of excise duty on gasoline, and in combination with the transport tax, this leads to double fiscal taxation. Moreover, this situation is paradoxical for most countries, but in Russian practice it does not surprise any of the deputies. Owners of cars with damage due to which the car is not in use also express their indignation.
Not every car enthusiast can instantly restore his iron horse - most Russians need to first raise money, so repairs often take a year or more. However, there are no benefits for such cases - the tax still has to be paid in full. Some drivers try to avoid the fiscal fee by deregistering the car, but in this case, you must first compare the fees for registering the car and the amount of the tax, so as not to exchange money for soap.
How might taxes change in 2018?
Government circles have put forward several alternatives to the transport tax, which may be put into practice over time.
- Cancellation of transport tax with a simultaneous increase in excise tax on fuel. It is assumed that this particular solution will help to fairly distribute the tax burden, because motorists who drive more often and violate the integrity of the coating will pay more. However, the government has not only supporters, but also opponents of such a decision. They believe that excise taxes will have to be increased gradually, so that over several years local budgets will lose a significant amount. In the first year of the abolition of the transport tax, it will reach 146 billion rubles;
- Linking the fee to the environmental friendliness of the vehicle. The initiators of this decision were representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. They emphasized that in European countries, environmental emissions are strictly controlled by the relevant authorities. Car owners are gradually abandoning harmful types of engines, which has a positive effect on nature. A smaller fee will encourage Russian drivers to purchase innovative cars that do not harm the environment;
- Revision of the method of calculating tax amounts. According to this initiative, it is proposed to charge a fee based not on the number of horses under the hood, but on the engine volume.
Will the transport tax be abolished in 2018?
Several years ago, deputies representing the LDPR political bloc proposed abolishing the transport tax starting in 2017. However, the initiative did not receive adequate support. As mentioned above, the main government argument in favor of the transport tax is that this fee significantly fills regional budgets.
The Ministry of Economic Development believes that it is impossible to abandon this income item. Statistics have shown that the total debt of the regions already reaches 2 trillion rubles, and 5 Russian administrative entities have long exceeded the standard stating that the debt should not exceed 50% of the budget revenue. Losing another 150 billion means exacerbating the already significant problems of financing expenses.
The only category of car owners to whom they decided to apply the benefit were those who have cars weighing over 12 tons. Until this moment, owners of large vehicles paid both compensation for the damage they caused to federal highways and made contributions to the Platon system, that is, they came under a serious financial burden. Now the tax levied on heavy truck owners is adjusted to the amount of contributions to the Platon system. If this fee is greater than or equal to the transport tax, the car owner is generally exempt from the fiscal fee for the vehicle.
Tax innovations 2018
Let us remind you that over the past few years, amendments have been made to the transport tax law every now and then. Thus, since 2014, the buyer of a car is obliged to report this to the registration and fiscal authorities. From 01/01/2017, concealment of the fact of purchasing a car leads to penalties in the amount of 20% of the tax amount. Those citizens to whom the payment was not delivered must also pay the tax. If you haven’t received a receipt, don’t be happy - you definitely haven’t been released from the need to make payments to the budget.
Amounts and terms of payments
Car owners should remember that tax payments for 2018 must be paid before the end of 2019. Car owners who belong to the category of individuals do this once, and legal entities are required to make quarterly payments to the budget in the form of advance payments.
As mentioned above, not all owners of the same cars pay the same amount. Everything depends on the final decision of the regional authorities. If we talk about the situation in individual administrative units, then we can operate with the following data (for example, let’s take a car whose engine power is 100 horsepower).
The amount of tax depends on what region of the Russian Federation the car owner lives in. - The heaviest tax burden falls on the shoulders of car owners who have registered their car in the capital or St. Petersburg. They will have to pay from 12 to 24 rubles for each horse under the hood;
- residents of the Tomsk region contribute 6.5 rubles per unit of power to the budget;
- citizens who registered a car in Tatarstan or Bashkortostan, as well as the Republic of Mari El, Sakhalin or Vologda regions must pay 25 rubles;
- Crimeans contribute 5 rubles to the local budget per horse under the hood;
- residents of the Kaliningrad and Kaluga regions are subject to charges of 14 rubles;
- in the Orenburg region a tax of 20 rubles is provided;
- Rostovites and residents of the region pay 12 rubles per unit of power if the car is not yet 10 years old, and 8 for cars with an older year of manufacture;
- in the Komi Republic a rate of 15 rubles was introduced;
- in the Republic of Tyva, motorists pay 5 rubles per horse;
- car owners in Karelia calculate the tax based on a rate of 6 rubles;
- the population of the Chelyabinsk region is taxed at 7.7 rubles;
- the administrations of the Ulyanovsk and Tula regions introduced a fiscal tax of 10 rubles;
- the authorities of the Yaroslavl region approved a fee of 13.1 rubles;
- in the Jewish Autonomous Okrug, residents need to pay based on a rate of 8 rubles;
- residents of Khakassia are subject to transport taxation based on a rate of 6 rubles per horse;
- car enthusiasts in the Krasnodar region are forced to evaluate every hp. at 12 rubles;
- a completely feasible tax is paid in the Republic of Ingushetia - the authorities set a tax of 5 rubles per horse;
- citizens who registered a car in the Samara region will have to pay 16 rubles per unit of power;
- Arkhangelsk residents and residents of the region - 14 rubles each;
- for car owners in the Nizhny Novgorod region, the authorities approved a fiscal rate of 13.5 rubles;
- The situation in Chechnya is very interesting. Despite the fact that the region is traditionally considered subsidized, the authorities are in no hurry to replenish the budget through transport taxes. For designated cars with a capacity of up to 100 horsepower, the tax is zero. Only for car owners whose car power exceeds 150 horses, a tax of 5 rubles per 1 hp has been introduced, and for motorists whose vehicle has at least 250 horses under the hood, the tax increases to 15 rubles per 1 hp. With.
It's also worth looking into the issue of luxury car tax ratios.
- A coefficient from 1.1 to 1.5 is applied if a car whose cost exceeds 3 million rubles was produced less than 3 years ago;
- Coefficient 2 is used for cars that cost 5-10 million rubles and were produced no more than 5 years ago;
- Coefficient 3 is used for cars whose age is estimated at 10-20 years, and the cost is 10-15 million rubles.
The situation in Crimea
Let us remind you that since 2016, more than 200 thousand residents of the Crimean Peninsula had to pay a tax on vehicles for the first time. In August 2017, information appeared in the press that the authorities of this territory were thinking about increasing the tax burden. Allegedly, the local transport tax is already one of the lowest in the Russian Federation. It is quite possible that in 2018 the tax amount will be increased to the level that is recorded in other regions belonging to the Southern Federal District.
As an example, the following data is given: from owners of cars with a power of less than 100 hp. in Crimea they charge 5 rubles per horse. Car owners in the Krasnodar Territory pay for the same car based on a rate of 12 rubles, and Rostov residents pay 8-12 rubles (the tax also depends on the year the car was produced). For a vehicle with a capacity of 100-150 horses, Crimean car owners pay 7 rubles per 1 hp. For the Rostov Region and Krasnodar Territory, these figures are measured at 25 and 15 rubles, respectively.
In 2018, the Russian government is going to revise the transport tax for individuals and legal entities. It is possible to completely abolish it with the introduction of a new method of filling the budget.
New information about transport tax in 2018
- In 2018, the transport tax must be paid by the end of 2019;
- Drivers of freight vehicles weighing more than 12 tons will receive benefits that exempt them from paying;
- Cars undergoing repairs will not be exempt from payment;
- A number of proposals have been put forward to replace the transport tax;
- Every year, automobile taxpayers contribute 146 billion rubles to the budget.
Transport taxes in 2017
Statements have been made many times that the abolition of the tax will lead to bad consequences for the country’s economy, so officials are trying to create the best conditions for taxpayers.
The amount is calculated in rubles, while observing the rules of mathematics. Anything less than 50 kopecks is considered insignificant and not taken into account; Anything higher is rounded to the nearest whole value. All this is clearly stated in Article 52 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. Although we note that in practice this procedure has been in effect for a long time.
Messages and links to pages on social networks with approximately the same sensational content are pouring into instant messengers from friends and acquaintances. They all boil down to the fact that the authorities are allegedly preparing amendments to the tax legislation, according to which the amount of transport in 2018 will increase quite radically. True, the announced tax increase is mainly about cars with a capacity of 200 hp. With. and above.
The fact is that throughout the entire country it is possible to change at once only the range within which the regions will then, by the beginning of next year, determine their “transport wishes” in relation to the wallets of car owners. In this regard, we were also bothered by the fact that “increasing transport” is supposedly planned for 2018. That is, in the remaining three weeks of December 2017, the government must have time to prepare and submit a corresponding bill to the State Duma, its deputies and the Federation Council to accept in all readings, the president to approve... Such a scenario is suitable for a fairy tale, but not for domestic realities.
Having dug a little into the materials about the latest innovations, we discovered the original source of the tax “sensation”. The fact is that in November the State Duma adopted amendments to tax legislation, which increased excise taxes on motor fuel and (attention!) on the purchase of new cars in 2018. It turned out that in the original version, the government proposed to set the price, which the happy buyer of a powerful car would have to pay at a time, at exactly the level of: 897 rubles/l. With. - per engine 200-300 hp. s., 925 rubles/l. With. - for an engine 300-400 liters. With. and so on. During the adoption of this bill in the State Duma, the rates were slightly reduced. But now a certain merry fellow has dragged them into the light of day, wrapped them in “increased transport tax” and launched the fake news on social networks. And the people believed, were frightened and, apparently, greatly amused the author of the simple joke.
In 2018, there were quite a few changes in tax and accounting legislation. We reviewed all of them in. What changes have taken place regarding transport tax? You can learn about this from this article.
The following changes came into force in 2018:
- A new declaration form has come into effect;
- The increasing coefficient for expensive cars has decreased;
- The procedure for providing benefits to individuals has become simpler.
Let's look at each of these changes in more detail.
New declaration form
Let's look at the first change to car tax in 2018 - a new declaration form.
Before February 1, 2018, companies recognized as transport tax payers must submit a declaration for the past 2017 to the tax office. This will need to be done using a new form.
The taxpayer does not have to put his stamp on the new form. Also, in the updated form, the payer will be able to register a deduction or tax benefit for a transport facility that is registered in the Platon system.
In addition, if before the beginning of 2017 the taxpayer received consent from the tax service to indicate in the declaration the total amount of tax for all existing vehicles, in 2018 he will be able to exercise this right.
Reduced tax on expensive cars
Another change in the transport tax from 2018 was a reduction in the increasing coefficient for expensive cars. Thus, in November 2017, Federal Law No. 335 was put into effect, which, from January 1, 2018, reduced the increasing coefficient for calculating tax on cars with an average cost of 3 to 5 million rubles to a minimum value of 1.1, regardless from the age of the car.
To make it clearer, consider the table of changes in transport tax 2018:
As a result of the introduced amendments, the tax will be reduced by approximately 20-40%.
It is worth recalling that these coefficients are used only in relation to cars listed in the special. list.
Transport tax rates changes 2018 years were not affected. However, they can be adjusted by regional authorities, since the tax in question is regional.
To calculate transport tax, you can use ours, which has been updated to comply with changes in 2018.
Simplification of the procedure for providing benefits to individuals
Previously, in order to receive a transport tax benefit, a citizen had to submit to the tax service an application for benefits, as well as documents that could confirm the right to receive them. Starting from 2018, there is no requirement to submit supporting documentation; one application is sufficient.
In connection with this change in car tax in 2018, new application form for benefits. It is similar to a tax return. In any case, the structure and filling principle agree.
That is, since 2018, a payer entitled to receive a tax benefit has the right to choose one of two options:
- Submit to the tax office both an application for the benefit and documents confirming the right to receive it;
- Submit to the Federal Tax Service only an application for receipt, in which you indicate the details of the supporting documents.
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