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When incorporating a company, it is necessary to determine who will be the founder, how the profit will be reinvested and where the dividends will be transferred. Solution of all these issues is associated with the tax burden determination and incorrect calculation can cause to additional financial expenses.

The lawyers of Arzinger tax practice know how to arrange the business so that to reduce your expenses and increase revenues. 

It is important for a company to perform a full check on compliance with its tax obligations periodically. Timely revealing of underpaid taxes, incorrect accounting of funds and non-submitted tax returns will help avoid unforeseen expenses and liability for the organization and its managers in future.

Lawyers will analyze the tax policy of the organization and give useful recommendations on its improvement.

By monitoring the company’s activities, tax authorities can reveal the facts of underpayment of taxes to the budget, delays in their payment or incorrect displaying of certain economic transactions in accounting.

It can cause such negative consequences as penalties, forced suspension of economic activities and assignment of the status of an organization with the increased risk of committing offenses in the economic sphere to the organization.

Arzinger experts are ready to get involved into the dispute at the stage of inspection performed by the tax authority, so as not to bring the situation to court. And if it comes to resolving the dispute in court, they are ready to help finalize the situation with the minimum consequences for the client.

The more complex is the proposed transaction, the more thorough preliminary calculation of the tax liabilities arising from it is required. The company must consider the transfer pricing and thin capitalization aspects, determine the obligations to pay VAT and other taxes in advance. If a non-resident acts as a party to the transaction, the number of aspects to be taken into consideration is increased.

Arzinger will help calculate the risks of arising of a permanent representation in Belarus for tax purposes when making a deal, determine the country where goods, works and services are sold under the agreement and the need for a resident to act as a tax agent for a foreign business partner.

The Republic of Belarus has concluded treaties on avoidance of double taxation with more than 70 countries. Their proper use makes it possible to avoid the obligation to pay taxes twice in different countries when receiving salaries, dividends, interest on loans and other income.

Arzinger will analyze the category of income received by the client and the conditions of its taxation in Belarus and abroad to minimize the costs.

The tax residency of an individual may not coincide with their citizenship. It is important to correctly determine the tax resident status in order to know in which country, from what incomes and in what terms to pay the income tax.

Lawyers will help correctly determine the tax residency country, as well as to confirm it with the tax authorities of Belarus, including confirmation with the help of the electronic tax residency certificate.

Upon gaining income in Belarus and abroad, the client may need to report to the tax authorities on the funds gained and pay the income tax within the established terms. Missing such terms may cause imposition of penalties.

Lawyers will help fill out and file your tax return in a hardcopy or electronic form and calculate the amount of income tax payable.

There is a number of preferential legal regimes for investors in Belarus: High-Tech Park, Great Stone China-Belarus Industrial Park, free economic zones, and doing business in rural areas.

All these regimes have their own requirements for investors in terms of the level of investments required and types of business, as well as provide various tax preferences to their residents.

Lawyers will help understand the peculiarities of taxation regimes and choose the most convenient business model.

The antitrust law of Belarus impose special restrictions on certain market participants. Some deals (reorganization, sale of a part or shares, etc.) cannot be performed without the antitrust body’s consent, and without such consent it can be declared null and void. With that, it applies not only to entities that hold dominant positions in the market, but to the companies that have exceeded certain indicators in terms of revenue or assets as well.

Lawyers will advise on the need to obtain the consent in such situations and will also help obtain this consent if necessary.

Competitors illegally use your trademark, send letters indicating poor quality of your products, try to affect the lessor and get your premises, or, vice versa, accuse you of unfair competition?

Lawyers will ensure representation of your interests at the antitrust body, in courts, within the scope of administrative proceeding, suggest what actual measures will help avoid such situations and provide protection against unfair counterparties’ actions.

Antitrust laws prohibit coordination of the bidder’s activities by the tender organizer and (or) customer, creation of preferential conditions for certain bidders as well as other actions. If you believe that the question of the tender winner has been resolved before the tender, or if you want to receive advice on compliance of the procurement procedure with the law, Arzinger lawyers will be able to help.

A certificate of conformity is a must to render services in construction, design, and engineering in Belarus. A number of action must be performed and certain necessary documents must be developed to obtain it.  

We will prepare all documents to obtain qualification certificates for personnel, will assist in assessment of the production supervision system and to obtain certificates of conformity of construction works.

We will also help to create the occupational safety service and the production supervision system in the organization, to acquire the equipment required for certification, and will also take on all the functions for interactions with governmental bodies in the course of certification.

Permit documents are a must to arrange construction activities: the resolution of forfeiture and allocation of a land plot, technical specifications for engineering and technical support of facilities, the notice of commencement of construction and installation works, etc. Moreover, construction works must be performed on the basis of the design documents after passing the state expertise.

Correct and timely registration of permits and documents helps the client to avoid penalties and other sanctions, allows avoiding potential problems at further commissioning of the facility.

We will assist in obtaining the required permit documents for arrangement of design and construction.

If third parties’ funds (funds of banks, investors, equity holders) are raised for implementation of a project, determination of the terms of funding is not less important than determination of the terms of cooperation with the contractor.

Arzinger’s experience in raising external funds for projects (including foreign banks, such as the BGK) may be useful. The lawyers’ part will be in holding negotiations with the bank and investors, in developing the required agreements including security agreements, representation of interests during negotiations.

To perform construction in Belarus legally, it is importatnt to verify that your conterparty (general contractor, subcontractor, supplier of works and equipment) meets the established requirements as well. Unless you do it, you can face the risk of overrunning the project implementation schedule, continuous checks by governmental bodies and other problems.

We will verify the following for you: partner’s solvency, observance of the law (particularly of the tax law) by it, availability of enforcement proceedings against it, availability of debts to the budget, as well as availability of the documents required to perform construction activities (certificate of conformity of a construction organization).

Taking into consideration the degree of the designer’s influence on the terms of implementation of a construction project and on the building commissioning success, we recommend treating this issue particularly carefully. A proper agreement for design works will be the quality guarantee of the future design documents. High-quality design documents are the prerequisite of the minimum number of disputes between the customer and the construction contractor.

We will help you develop the agreement that ensures that the designer clearly realizes the customer’s requirements, and the customer clearly realizes what it will have to pay for.

According to our experience, many disputes between the contractor and the customer arise because the contractor receives the design documents that do not conform the design basis or the design documents that have not passed the state expertise in accordance with the procedure established.  Such disputes cause overrunning the deadlines for implementation of projects.

An alternative: to approve and register design documents with assistance of lawyers.

We recommend taking into consideration not only interests of the two parties but also the potential problems in project implementation when developing an agreement. It will help end disputes and continue working.

Remember that each new agreement means a new counterparty, hence, new risks. We recommend using individually developed agreement, and the role of our experts is indispensable in this case. For example:

• One must clearly determine the pricing mechanism and the contractual price composition in the agreement.
• It is necessary to determine the procedure and the terms of provision construction design documents, supply of construction materials, as well as the responsibilities of the parties for non-performance of these obligations, as well as the term and the procedure of revising the terms of construction.
• It is also necessary to determine the procedure of making amendments to the terms and the procedure of the project implementation, distribution of responsibility between the parties in this case.
• Finally, it is important to determine the procedure of acceptance of the works performed, unused construction materials, procedure of releasing the construction site on completion of works, etc.
  

All these seemingly simple things often turn out to be quite complex. That is why it is better to engage professional for development of the construction contract agreement.

Lawyers can register legal relations with subcontractors, advise on the agreement performance issues, properly register acceptance of construction works performed, and, if necessary, terminate the agreement and engage another subcontractor, as well as resolve other issues that arise in the course of work on the project.

If you start construction in Belarus, you are to complete it within the stated term.

If you expect not to be on time to complete your project within the coordinated terms for any reason, we will develop the legal and contractual documents required for prolongation of the terms, hold negotiations (including negotiations with governmental bodies) and register the updated agreements.