The name of an insurance company must identify the companys activity and include words like insurance, reinsurance, mutual insurance or insurance broker. The head and the chief accountant of the insurer must have an economics or financial education and two years work experience in insurance. The actuary must have mathematical or economics education and an actuarial diploma in actuary. The head and the chief accountant of an insurance company must be citizens of the Russian Federation.
Insurance companies of which more than 49 per cent of shareholders are foreign entities or individuals and subsidiaries of foreign insurance companies may not provide the following insurances:
life insurance;
obligatory State insurance (e.g. mandatory health insurance);
property insurance, related to supply goods and services for the state needs;
property insurance for state and municipal organisations.
Solvency requirements
The minimal charter capital of an insurance company depends on the kind of insurance the company is involved in and is between RUR 60 million (653,700) and RUR 480 million (5,229,600).
Insurers must comply with the solvency requirement established by law as related to reserves, an assets structure, reinsurance quotas, obligations against own capital ratio, etc. Also, in some cases (e.g. life insurance, health insurance) insurance company activities shall be limited to only one type of insurance.
Please note that new requirements and rules for establishing financial sustainability come into force on on July 1, 2021. Under those requirements and the rules for calculation of assets and liabilities, inter alia, it is set that the allowed total amount of securities, loans and alike assets shall not exceed 40 percent of the Insurance Company total asset value.
Taxation
IndividualsRUS-500
Personal income tax is imposed on the income of Russian residents and individuals who have sources of income in Russia. Individuals are deemed residents of Russia, for tax purposes, if they are present within the Russian Federation for at least 183 days in the calendar year (which is from January 1 to December 31). In this case they are subject to Russian tax on their worldwide income. Non-residents pay tax on the Russian-source income only, at a rate of 30 per cent, as against a flat rate of 13 per cent for residents. Residents also pay tax at the rate of 13 per cent (against 15 per cent for non-residents) on dividends received. However, from January 1, 2021, a progressive taxation scale will be used (so-called wealth tax), so resident individuals whose total personal income exceeds RUR 5 million (EUR 54,555) subject to income tax of RUR 650,000 (EUR 7,092) plus 15 per cent of their income.
Russian source income is deemed to be any income from activities carried out in Russia and passive income which originates in Russia, for instance:
dividends and interest, paid by a Russian company or individual entrepreneur, or by a foreign entity in relation to its permanent establishment in Russia;
insurance payments from a Russian company or a foreign entity in relation to its permanent establishment in Russia;
royalties and copyright income;
rent and similar income from property in Russia;
income from the disbursement of real estate, stocks, shares, rights of a claim to a Russian entity, other property and property rights; and