November 19, 2014. Only 800 new taxpayers have registered in Sverdlovsk Region since the start of the year, while over a thousand legal entities chose to quit the area and get a new registered office, Deputy Head of Russia’s Federal Tax Service Sverdlovsk Region division Marina Ryabova announced at a press conference.

According to Ms Ryabova, taxpayers’ migration typically has to do with a business’s wish to avoid an on-site inspection or payment of taxes or fines.

‘However, a change of address doesn’t mean a company is not subject to inspections. All the fiscal authorities make a schedule of on-site inspections in advance, so an inspection will take place in whichever case, regardless of a new address. A change of address is not a way to escape enforcement of debts, either,’ she said.

There have also been cases when the so-called ‘address-mongers’ would buy a piece of property and register too many legal entities at this one and the same office.

The official also mentioned the changes in the fiscal regulations that businesses would face the following year. For one, a company director will be obliged to inform the tax authorities about an address change at least twenty days prior to re-registering the business in a different location.

‘This is a step that aims to prevent a formal change of address. Last year, the fiscal authorities were allowed to inspect the legal entities’ registered locations, so now we see to every case of an address change, especially if it looks suspicious,’ Ms Ryabova said.