Small, medium and large businesses: concepts and main features. The concept of large, medium and small businesses. Small businesses. Microenterprises Small and medium-sized businesses: income criteria

When taxed, they can count on government support in some areas of activity. Last year, the requirements that organizations and individual entrepreneurs must comply with as small and medium-sized businesses changed. The 2017 criteria determining whether an entity belongs to a small business are contained in the updated provisions of the law dated July 24, 2007 No. 209-FZ and Government Decree of the Russian Federation dated April 4, 2016 No. 256 on income limits. In our article we will look at these criteria and how to apply them.

Law 209-FZ: criteria for classification as small enterprises

Individual entrepreneurs, organizations, peasant farms, production and consumer cooperatives can be classified as small and medium-sized enterprises if they meet certain conditions and limits established by Law No. 209-FZ, and their income does not exceed the limits established by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 265. The system they apply taxation does not affect this status in any way.

The main criteria for a small enterprise are:

share of participation of other organizations in the capital (does not apply to individual entrepreneurs),
last year's average number of employees (does not apply to individual entrepreneurs without employees),
the amount of income for the previous year.

The first criterion for classifying an enterprise as a small business is participation limit- does not apply to the following enterprises:

JSC whose shares belong to the shares of the innovative sector of the economy,
organizations that apply in practice the results of intellectual activity, the rights to which belong to their founders - budgetary, educational and scientific institutions,
enterprises participating in the Skolkovo project,
organizations whose founders provide state support for innovation activities.

Such criteria for classification as small enterprises, such as the number of employees and income, from 08/01/2016. are defined in a new way:

instead of the average number of employees, it is now necessary to take into account the average number of employees, which does not include external part-time workers and employees under GPC contracts;
revenue as an independent criterion for classifying an enterprise as a small business is no longer applied - now it is necessary to take into account the total amount of income of the enterprise: revenue, non-operating income, the cost of property received free of charge, dividends and other income listed in Art. 250 Tax Code of the Russian Federation. The income indicator is taken from the tax return.

Small business criteria 2017 (table)

Criterion	Maximum value limit
Criterion	Microenterprise	Small business	Medium enterprise
Total share of participation in the authorized capital of LLC: Russian Federation, constituent entities of the Russian Federation, municipalities, public, religious organizations, charitable and other foundations; Foreign legal entities, legal entities that are not small and medium-sized enterprises (clause “a”, paragraph 1, part 1.1, article 4 of Law No. 209-FZ)
Average number of employees of individual entrepreneurs and organizations for the past year (clause 2, part 1.1, article 4 of law No. 209-FZ)		up to 100 people
Income of individual entrepreneurs and organizations received over the past year (Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation dated April 4, 2016 No. 265)	120 million rub.	800 million rub.	2 billion rubles.

What criteria for small businesses does the Federal Tax Service apply in 2017?

In 2016, the Tax Service created a unified register of small businesses, which can be viewed on the Federal Tax Service website. It is formed on the basis of data from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs, declarations, a report on the average headcount and other indicators. Tax officials explained how the register will be formed taking into account the new criteria for classifying enterprises as small businesses in their letter dated August 18, 2016 No. 14-2-04/0870.

The category of a small business entity may change if, for 3 years in a row, the threshold values of the income criteria and the number of employees are higher or lower than the established ones. This means that the status of a small business entity will remain, even if the criteria for medium, small and micro enterprises are exceeded within a year or two.

In 2016, small enterprises were recognized as individual entrepreneurs and organizations whose revenue and number of employees did not exceed the limits during 2013-2015. The Federal Tax Service takes into account new criteria for classifying an enterprise as a small enterprise in 2017 when including newly created individual entrepreneurs and organizations in the register, and the first changes in the status of current small enterprises will occur only in 2019.

Small businesses do not have to confirm their status if they are included in the unified register.

JSC – small enterprise (qualification criteria)

A joint stock company may also be classified as a small business sector if it meets the requirements of Art. 4 of Law No. 209-FZ. For a joint-stock company, the criterion that determines belonging to a small enterprise is income, as well as the number of employees, corresponding to the same limits as for other organizations (clauses 2 and 3, part 1.1, article 4 of Law No. 209-FZ, Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 04/04/2016 No. 265).

Statutory audit: 2017 criteria for small businesses

Should small businesses undergo mandatory audits? According to the law of December 30, 2008 No. 307-FZ, in particular, the following are subject to mandatory audit (Article 5 of Law No. 307-FZ):

all joint stock companies,
organizations whose revenue excluding VAT for the previous reporting year exceeded 400 million rubles, or the amount of assets on the balance sheet as of December 31 of the previous year exceeded 60 million rubles.

Small enterprises whose criteria in 2017 correspond to those listed are required to undergo an audit.

Benefits of SMEs

The 2017 criteria, if met, allow you to remain a small business entity for an unlimited time. This status gives individual entrepreneurs and organizations, in particular, the following advantages:

application of reduced tax rates when using special regimes, if provided for by regional law,
maintaining simplified accounting, using the cash method, submitting simplified forms of balance sheet and financial results report to the Federal Tax Service (except for small enterprises subject to mandatory audit),
until December 31, 2018, small businesses are not threatened with scheduled inspections by supervisory authorities: fire inspections, licensing control and others (Article 26.1 of Law No. 294-FZ dated December 26, 2008),
receiving government subsidies, participating in government projects to support small businesses.

Small and medium-sized businesses - this legal status gives its owners a number of advantages in relation to other business entities. We will tell you who belongs to them and based on what characteristics in this article.

SME criteria in 2018 - 2019 - summary table

To understand who belongs to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), you need to refer to Art. 4 of the Law “On the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises in the Russian Federation” dated July 24, 2007 No. 209-FZ (hereinafter referred to as Federal Law No. 209). Let's present the criteria in the form of a table.

Small businesses - criteria for 2018 - 2019

Criterion			Additional criteria, features
State registration of legal entity/individual entrepreneur	Mandatory for all subjects		Inclusion in the unified register of SMEs
Organizational and legal form	Household society Household partnerships Household partnership	Ownership of shareholders/participants: the Russian Federation or its constituent entities, municipalities, public, religious or charitable foundations and organizations, no more than 25% of shares/shares; Foreign legal entities and (or) legal entities that are not SMEs, no more than 49% of shares/shares.	On household companies are not subject to mandatory criteria for the mass share of participation of the Russian Federation and foreign legal entities if the company meets at least one of the following criteria: Attribution of shares issued by them to the innovative sector of the economy in the manner established by the Government of the Russian Federation; Participation in the Skolkovo project; Practical application of the results of inventions, achievements, know-how, etc., belonging to budgetary/autonomous scientific or educational institutions; Being on the list of organizations that support the development of innovation.
	Foreign legal entities
	Cooperatives (consumer, production


Staff size	Up to 15 people - micro-enterprise; From 15 to 100 people. - small business; From 100 to 250 people. - medium enterprise.
Annual income	Up to 120 million rubles - micro-enterprise; From 120 million to 800 million - small enterprise; From 800 million to 2 billion - a medium-sized enterprise.

Since December 1, 2018, the range of SMEs has expanded (see paragraph 2 of Article 1 of the Law “On Amendments...” dated August 3, 2018 No. 313-FZ) due to:

business partnerships, the share of the Russian Federation, its constituent entities, municipalities, public and religious organizations in the share capital of which does not exceed 25%, and the share of foreign participation and legal entities that are not SMEs is within 49%;
foreign legal entities (except for offshore ones) subject to the conditions for annual income and headcount established for medium-sized enterprises without presenting a requirement for participants.

Who belongs to SMEs - legal characteristics

First of all, the legislator draws attention to the need for state registration of an enterprise and its inclusion in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities or Individual Entrepreneurs (Clause 1, Article 4 of Federal Law No. 209). In addition, a SME must have one of the following organizational and legal forms (clause 1.1 of article 4 of Federal Law No. 209):

a business company or partnership (from 12/01/2018 also a business partnership);
cooperative - production or consumer;
peasant farming;
individual entrepreneur.

IMPORTANT! Organizations of other forms (for example, state and municipal unitary enterprises) cannot be classified as SMEs.

Additional requirements for business entities and partnerships

Additional selection criteria have been established for business entities/partnerships (Part 1, Clause 1.1, Article 4 of Federal Law No. 209). The decisive factors allowing them to be classified as SMEs will be:

participation in the Skolkovo project;
the use of various inventions, achievements, know-how belonging to budgetary/autonomous scientific or educational institutions;
being on the list of organizations supporting the development of innovations in accordance with the Law “On Science and State Technical Policy” dated August 23, 1996 No. 127-FZ.

If we are talking about LLCs, then in their authorized capital the share of state or municipal participation or the participation of public, religious, charitable organizations or foundations cannot be more than 25%, and the share of foreign participation of entities that are not SMEs cannot be more than 49%.

For a JSC, it is necessary to comply with at least one of the above general requirements for business entities or two special requirements:

assignment of shares issued by them to the innovation sector of the economy in the manner established by the Government of the Russian Federation;
ownership by such shareholders as the Russian Federation or its constituent entities, municipalities, public, religious or charitable foundations and organizations, no more than 25% of the shares, and foreign persons who are not SMEs, no more than 49% of the shares.

Determination of belonging to an SME based on the number of staff

The most important criterion for determining who is a small business is the number of staff. If the number of employees in an organization does not exceed 15 people, this allows it to be classified as a micro-enterprise; number of no more than 100 people - small enterprises; the number of employees from 100 to 250 people is considered medium (clause 2.1, article 4 of Federal Law No. 209).

For business entities/partnerships whose main activity is light industry, a maximum number of employees has been established for medium-sized enterprises in the amount of 1 thousand people. The rules for creating a list of enterprises falling under this rule are established by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated November 22, 2017 No. 1412.

Which organizations are SMEs based on profit criteria?

The next criterion for belonging to a small and medium-sized enterprise is the amount of profit received by the entity in the process of its commercial activities. The criterion applies to organizations of any legal form. Government Decree No. 265 dated April 4, 2016 established the following differentiation:

with an annual income of up to 120 million rubles. the enterprise is classified as a micro-enterprise;
from 120 to 800 million rubles. — to small enterprises;
from 800 million to 2 billion rubles. - to the average.

To calculate the above value, the total income from all types of activities carried out by the enterprise is taken, regardless of tax regimes. The profit received by the organization for the previous calendar year is taken into account.

How to correctly determine the business category

Due to the complex system of criteria, in practice problems may arise in determining which organizations belong to which category of small businesses (micro, small or medium-sized enterprises).

If there are contradictions between the signs, the one that has the greatest significance is taken into account (Part 3 of Article 4 of Federal Law No. 209).

Additional rules also apply:

If an individual entrepreneur does not use the labor of hired workers, then its classification into one or another category of SMEs is carried out according to the criterion of income.
Individual entrepreneurs operating under the patent system, as well as enterprises of all organizational and legal forms and individual entrepreneurs created in the period from August 1 to July 31 of the next year are classified as micro-enterprises by default.
Enterprises participating in the Skolkovo project, exempt from the obligation to submit tax reports on the amount of income, belong to one or another category of SMEs according to the criterion of staff size.

SME Register

All small and medium-sized businesses are included by the Federal Tax Service in a special register. The register is updated on August 10 of each year based on data from the Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs, the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, as well as information provided by enterprises on the number of staff, income, and tax regimes; information supplied by exchanges, government agencies, holders of registers of securities holders in accordance with paragraphs. 6, 6.1 Art. 4.1 Federal Law No. 209. Newly created legal entities and registered individual entrepreneurs are included in the register no later than the 10th day of the month following the month of their state registration, as well as information about the enterprise data if they change.

The register contains the following information (clause 3 of article 4.1 209-FZ):

Organization name or full name. IP, address, TIN.
Date of entry of information into the register.
Assigned category of SME subject.
OKVED codes.
Information about enterprise licenses and manufactured products.
Information about participation in procurement and concluded contracts, etc.

Information from the register is publicly available and is posted on the website of the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation every month on the 10th (clause 9 of Article 4.1 209-FZ).

Advantages of SMEs

What advantages do business entities that meet the above criteria for SMEs and are included in the Unified Register of SMEs have? They are mainly related to the financial component of their activities and consist of:

In providing tax benefits. First of all, we are talking about special tax regimes, such as the simplified tax system, UTII, patent system and others, as well as tax holidays (from 2015 to 2020, individual entrepreneurs using the patent system and simplified tax system have the right not to pay tax for two years). In addition, from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2018, a number of SMEs were exempted from tax audits (Article 26.1 of the Law “On the Protection of Rights...” dated December 26, 2008 No. 294-FZ).
Financial assistance from the state in the form of targeted subsidies and support.
Simplified financial statements in accordance with Part 4 of Art. 6 Law “On Accounting” dated December 6, 2011 No. 402-FZ (the right of the head of an organization to independently conduct accounting, a simplified form of balance sheet and report, etc.).
Less strict cash discipline (see instructions of the Bank of Russia dated March 11, 2014 No. 3210-U).
Rental benefits. Thus, the law “On the Peculiarities of Alienation...” dated July 22, 2008 No. 159-FZ provides for the pre-emptive right to purchase state or municipal property leased by SMP into ownership.
Preferences for participation in government procurement, etc.

So, in our article we looked at what criteria in 2018 - 2019 allow us to classify an organization as a small and medium-sized enterprise and what advantages and benefits they have. The system of criteria is quite complex, and all entities corresponding to it are entered into the Unified Register of SMEs. How to become a small/medium enterprise is described in the article

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) are organizations and individual entrepreneurs that, in accordance with certain conditions, belong to small and medium-sized enterprises and information about which is indicated in the unified register of such entities (clause 1, article 3 of Federal Law dated July 24, 2007 No. 209-FZ). Being an SME and especially a small enterprise is convenient, because small enterprises, for example, can generally conduct and compile . Small enterprises may not approve the cash balance limit (clause 2 of the Central Bank Directive dated March 11, 2014 No. 3210-U). At many small enterprises, scheduled inspections cannot be carried out in 2019 (but we are not talking about inspections by the Federal Tax Service, Pension Fund or Social Insurance Fund) (Part 3.1, Article 1, Article 26.2 of the Federal Law of December 26, 2008 No. 294-FZ).

Medium and small enterprises: criteria 2019

The criteria for small enterprises in 2019 are established by Art. 4 of the Federal Law of July 24, 2007 No. 209-FZ.

For small and medium-sized businesses, we will group the 2019 criteria in tables.

At the same time, we will divide such criteria into 3 groups: legal criteria, size criteria and income criteria. If a business entity or business partnership meets at least one of the legal criteria, it is necessary to verify their compliance with the headcount criterion (more precisely, the average number of employees for the previous calendar year) and the income criterion. But for production and consumer cooperatives, peasant (farm) enterprises and individual entrepreneurs, only the criteria of size and income are important. Other conditions are not taken into account for them.

Legal criteria

For business entities and partnerships, the legal criteria for classifying an enterprise as a small business are as follows.

Form (features) of organization	Conditions	Note
Any LLC	Condition 1: 1a) The total share of participation of the Russian Federation, constituent entities of the Russian Federation, municipalities, public and religious organizations (associations), charitable and other funds (except for the total share of participation included in the assets of investment funds) in the authorized capital does not exceed 25%; 1b) the total share of participation of foreign organizations or organizations that are not SMP does not exceed 49%	An LLC that satisfies Condition 1a) but does not satisfy Condition 1b) is recognized as an SMP if such LLC complies with Condition 4, 5 or 6
Any JSC	Condition 2: Shares traded on an organized securities market are classified as shares of the high-tech (innovative) sector of the economy	—
Any JSC	Condition 3: Shareholders - the Russian Federation, constituent entities of the Russian Federation, municipalities, public and religious organizations (associations), charitable and other funds (except for investment funds) own no more than 25% of voting shares, and shareholders - foreign organizations or organizations that are not SMP, own no more than 49% of voting shares	—
Organizations-"intellectuals"	Condition 4: The activity consists of the practical application (implementation) of the results of intellectual activity (computer programs, inventions, breeding achievements, etc.), the exclusive rights to which belong to the founders (participants)	Founders (participants) are budgetary, autonomous scientific institutions or educational organizations of higher education that are budgetary, autonomous institutions.
Skolkovo organizations	Condition 5: They have the status of “Skolkovo member”	—
Organizations with a “special” founder	Condition 6: The founders (participants) are JSC RUSNANO or the Fund for Infrastructure and Educational Programs	—

Small and medium-sized enterprises: 2019 criteria by number

Small and medium-sized businesses: income criteria

Please note that the category of SMP is determined in accordance with the most significant condition (Part 3 of Article 4 of the Federal Law of July 24, 2007 No. 209-FZ). If, for example, in terms of the size of an LLC that meets the legal criterion, it can be considered a micro-enterprise, but its revenue for the past year is in the range of over 800 million rubles to 2 billion rubles inclusive, such an LLC will be considered a medium-sized enterprise.

Not many people know the difference between small, medium and large businesses. Especially a novice entrepreneur should understand the differences between these concepts. In the case of identifying a business idea and writing a business plan, you should have ideas about your future occupation.

What it is

Small business is the most common form of entrepreneurship, chosen by most aspiring businessmen.

Medium business̶ this is a form of entrepreneurial activity that, compared to a small business, has a more impressive annual income and more extensive and varied resources for commercial activities.

Big business is a form of entrepreneurship that includes popular companies that cover an entire country or more than 2 countries of the world, and also have great demand among consumers.

Main characteristics of entrepreneurship

Each form of commercial activity - SME or large business - has its own characteristics, which is why they differ from each other.

Features of a small

Small businesses are not only individual entrepreneurs, but also companies whose average annual number of employees is at least 50 people.

The territorial activities of these companies are small, and the list of their areas of activity may include:

the shops;
firms with small production that produce small volumes of goods;
companies with tourism activities;
medical offices (dental, etc.);
various training courses, etc.

For small businesses, the period for conducting inspections has been reduced and annually is no more than 50 hours.

Until December 31, 2018, these businesses have been granted a two-year supervisory holiday, during which no supervision will be carried out. There will be no risk of visits from the Sanitary and Epidemiological Inspectorate and the fire inspectorate, and the activity license will not be checked.

According to Part 2 of Article 10 of the Federal Law “On the protection of the rights of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs in the exercise of state control (supervision) and municipal control”, when complaints are received from consumers regarding violations of the law, an audit will be carried out.

In 2018, entrepreneurs who:

register for the first time;
carry out production, social or scientific activities;
provide services to the population.

Small businesses do not need status confirmation. You only need to adhere to the above limits (income, number of employees and share in the authorized capital). If the limits were exceeded within 1 or 2 years, this is not grounds for loss of status. In this case, it will be retained for 3 calendar years.

Signs of average

Compared to a small enterprise, medium-sized businesses include entire networks of enterprises working for a large consumer audience. This entrepreneurial form can carry out its activities not only within the whole city, even within the region.

Compared to small businesses, where a larger role is assigned to personnel, on average - the quality of the product (service) is put in the foreground. Since a medium-sized enterprise is small in size, it will not be difficult for it to adapt to changing market conditions.

Big or big business

Large businesses can spend money on advertising commercials for their products on the most popular television channels. In different cities and countries, this form of business has its own branches and representative bodies employing hundreds of thousands of employees.

Large business entities are large companies that:

engaged in the production of equipment: Apple, Bosch, Samsung, Lenovo, etc.;
produce food products: MC.Donald, Nestle, Coca Cola, etc.;
produce vehicles of automobile brands: Ferrari, Bogati, Alfa Romeo, BMW, etc.

The criteria are simple. In order to be a major entrepreneur you must meet the following:

have at least 251 employees:
receive an income of at least 2 billion rubles;
Conduct timely inventory and revaluation of fixed assets.

Since 2016, a unified register of SMEs has been in operation, which contains enterprises that have received SME status.

These forms of entrepreneurship acquire the status of SMEs if they meet the criteria below:

have a certain amount of income;
have a certain number of employees;
have a certain share of participation of other companies in the authorized capital.

According to Article 4 of the Federal Law “On the development of small and medium-sized businesses in the Russian Federation”, these limits do not apply:

persons holding shares in the economic high-tech sector;
persons participating in the Skolkovo project;
companies that practically apply the latest technologies developed by their owners - budgetary and scientific institutions;
companies whose founders are included in the government list of persons who provide state support for innovation activities.

If an individual entrepreneur does not have employees, then its status is determined by the criterion of their annual income. If individual entrepreneurs and LLCs were included in the unified register of SMEs for the first time, then their status should be determined by the criterion of the number of employees.

If an enterprise receives the status of an SME, it is provided with certain benefits, namely:

you are given the right to keep as much money in the cash register as you want and no fine will be imposed for this.
the ability to conduct simplified accounting. This does not apply to individual entrepreneurs, since they are not responsible for accounting. And companies are required to charge depreciation annually, and not once a month.
are given an advantage in the purchase of state and municipal real estate, etc.

List of enterprises that meet the specified criteria, annually formed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation. This list is submitted to the Federal Tax Service of Russia, after which the tax authorities enter certain information in the register.

We bring to your attention a video that explains why big business wins.

Main advantages

Both SMEs and large companies have their advantages and disadvantages.

The list of advantages of small business is as follows::

the presence of a small need for initial capital;
relatively low expenses during business activities;
the ability to quickly respond to changes in the market;
the presence of a relatively fast turnover of equity capital;
there is a tendency for vacancies to increase, which has a beneficial effect on the increase in population employment.

The main advantages of medium-sized businesses include:

creation of new employment opportunities;
high productivity of capital investments;
relatively high profitability;
high ability to compete and mobility.

Large business is also endowed with positive qualities, namely:

the ability to ensure economic stability in the country;
ability to change the external business environment;
the opportunity to save on production costs;
introduction of modern technologies into business, etc.

Cons and risks

In order to start building your business, an entrepreneur must become familiar with the main disadvantages of various enterprises. For example, a small business has the following negative aspects:

relatively high level of risk;
dependence on big business;
the presence of a low professional level of managers;
difficulties in obtaining loans and subsidies.

The size of the initial capital also matters. For example, if this size is large, then the company will be able to survive during the crisis period.

Medium-sized businesses also have certain disadvantages, namely:

the presence of fierce competition and the threat of being swallowed up by large companies;
the presence of barriers and difficulties in obtaining licenses and patents;
frequent shortage of working capital;
difficulties in obtaining loans due to mistrust of banks.

Big business is also not without problems. The main disadvantages of this business are the availability:

excessive economic concentration;
localization of economic relations;
blocking horizontal commercial ties that do not extend beyond the boundaries of a particular company.

Differences between each other

For a clear example of the differences between small medium and large businesses, the following table can be given.

The basis of success

Despite the dependence on the external environment, small businesses can also be successful. Only the best employees in their field work here. The success of this business is determined by having a strategic plan for the development of the enterprise.

Medium-sized businesses can easily adapt to changing market conditions. Success also depends on having effective management.

The main success of a large enterprise is the presence of effective business models that are built in such a way that even after 10 years they continue to work, surviving crisis situations and generating huge income.

Regulatory regulation

Questions regarding the implementation of business activities of SMEs and large companies, are regulated by a number of legislative acts, namely:

Federal Law “On the protection of the rights of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs in the exercise of state control (supervision) and municipal control” dated December 26, 2008 No. 294-FZ.
Federal Law “On the development of small and medium-sized businesses in the Russian Federation” dated July 24, 2007 No. 209-FZ.

The fundamental constitutional principle in the economic sphere is the principle of freedom of economic activity.

Everyone has the right to engage in entrepreneurial activities and other not prohibited economic activities.

Entrepreneurial activity is an independent activity carried out at one’s own risk, aimed at systematically obtaining profit from the use of property, sale of goods, performance of work or provision of services.

Small business is an active factor in a competitive market. The basic principle of entrepreneurship is to find a need and fill it.

In the Russian Federation The criterion for classifying an enterprise as small is the number of all personnel both on staff and working under civil contracts.

Small businesses are commercial organizations in the authorized capital of which the share of participation of the Russian Federation, constituent entities of the Russian Federation, public and religious organizations, charitable and other foundations does not exceed 25% and in which the average number of employees for the reporting period does not exceed the following maximum levels:

in industry, construction and transport: 100 people.
in agriculture and science and technology: 60 people.
in wholesale trade: 50 people.
in retail trade and consumer services: 30 people.
in other industries: 50 people.

Small businesses also mean individuals engaged in entrepreneurial activities without forming a legal entity.

Small businesses for which a simplified system of taxation, accounting and reporting is being extended, only individual entrepreneurs and organizations with a maximum number of employees of up to 15 people are recognized, regardless of the type of activity performed.

An enterprise can be recognized as a small one only if the amount of revenue from the sale of goods (work performed, services rendered) during the previous four quarters did not exceed an amount equal to 1000 times the minimum wage.

The development of small enterprises is stimulated by tax incentives for the production of goods and services, preferential lending, and the provision of equipment under leasing agreements.

In the Russian Federation, support for small businesses is provided in the following areas:

Formation of infrastructure for support and development of small businesses.
Creation of preferential conditions for the use by small businesses of state financial, material, technical and information resources, as well as scientific and technical developments and technologies.
Establishing a simplified procedure for registering small businesses.
Support for foreign economic activities of small businesses, including assistance in the development of their trade, scientific, technical, production, and information relations with foreign countries.
Organization of training, retraining and advanced training of personnel for small businesses.

Financial support for state and municipal programs to support small businesses is carried out annually from funds federal budget, budget funds of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, local budget funds, as well as other sources.

The essence and criteria for determining small businesses

- this is a business activity carried out by subjects of a market economy according to criteria (indicators) established by laws that constitute the essence of the concept. The main criterion for classifying market economy entities as small businesses is, first of all, the average number of workers employed at the enterprise during the reporting period. The following criteria for classification as small businesses are most often used: the average number of employees employed at the enterprise, the size of the authorized capital, the annual turnover received by the enterprise, usually per year, and the amount of assets.

In Russian practice, small businesses were allowed in 1988. Initially, state-owned enterprises were considered small enterprises, where the average number of employees annually did not exceed 100 people. Thus, in accordance with the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of August 1990, enterprises with the number of annual employees not exceeding: in industry - 200 people, in science and scientific services - 100, in other sectors of the production sphere - 50, were classified as small. in non-production sectors - 25, in retail trade - 15. Along with this, the volume of economic turnover was also taken into account, the right to determine the quantitative value of which was granted to the Union republics. However, the value of economic turnover was practically never established. The principle of classifying enterprises as small based on the number of employees has been preserved in modern Russian legislation.

In accordance with the Federal Law of the Russian Federation dated July 24, 2007 No. 209-FZ “On the development of small and medium-sized businesses in the Russian Federation,” small and medium-sized businesses include consumer cooperatives and commercial organizations included in the unified state register of legal entities (with the exception of state and municipal unitary enterprises), as well as individuals included in the unified state register of individual entrepreneurs and carrying out entrepreneurial activities without forming a legal entity (hereinafter referred to as individual entrepreneurs), peasant (farm) enterprises that meet the following conditions:

1. for legal entities - the total share of participation of the Russian Federation, constituent entities of the Russian Federation, municipalities, foreign legal entities, foreign citizens, public and religious organizations (associations), charitable and other funds in the authorized (share) capital (share fund) of these legal entities persons should not exceed 25% (except for the assets of joint-stock investment funds and closed-end mutual investment funds), the share of participation owned by one or more legal entities that are not small and medium-sized businesses should not exceed 25%;

2. the average number of employees for the previous calendar year should not exceed the following maximum values of the average number of employees for each category of small and medium-sized businesses:

from 101 to 250 people inclusive for medium-sized enterprises;
up to 100 people inclusive for small businesses; Among small enterprises, microenterprises stand out - up to 15 people;

3. revenue from the sale of goods (work, services) excluding value added tax or the book value of assets (residual value of fixed assets and intangible assets) for the previous calendar year should not exceed the limit values established by the Government of the Russian Federation for each category of small and medium entrepreneurship.

The maximum values of proceeds from the sale of goods (works, services) and the book value of assets provided for in paragraph 3 are established by the Government of the Russian Federation once every 5 years, taking into account data from continuous statistical observations of the activities of small and medium-sized businesses.

The category of a small business entity is determined in accordance with the highest value condition established by paragraphs 2 and 3. The category of a small business entity is changed only if the limit values are higher or lower than the limit values specified in paragraphs 2 and 3 within two calendar years following one after another.

Newly created organizations or newly registered individual entrepreneurs and peasant (farm) enterprises during the year in which they are registered can be classified as small businesses if their indicators of the average number of employees, revenue from the sale of goods (work, services) or balance sheet the value of assets (residual value of fixed assets and intangible assets) for the period elapsed from the date of their state registration does not exceed the limit values established in clauses 2 and 3.

The average number of employees of a micro-enterprise and small enterprise for a calendar year is determined taking into account all its employees, including employees working under civil contracts or part-time, taking into account the actual time worked, employees of representative offices, branches and other separate divisions of the specified micro-enterprise, small enterprise .

Revenue from the sale of goods (work, services) for a calendar year is determined in the manner established by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. The book value of assets (the residual value of fixed assets and intangible assets) is determined in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation on accounting.

It might be useful to read: