Accreditation of Representative Offices and Branches of Foreign Firms

You are a foreign legal entity and want to create a branch / representative office in the territory of the Russian Federation. To do this (from January 1, 2015) you need to contact the Interdistrict Inspectorate of the Federal Tax Service of Russia No. 47 (in Moscow). All accreditation powers are now assigned to it. This is reported in the Order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia.

(* if you represent a foreign credit organization or a foreign legal entity operating in the field of civil aviation, this does not apply to you).

You are a branch / representative office of a foreign legal entity, which was accordingly accredited, carried out activities on the basis of permission to open representative offices / branches in the territory of the Russian Federation until January 1, 2015. That is, before the Federal Law of 05/05/2014 N 106-ФЗ came into force.

In this case, it was necessary for you to submit information on accreditation to the FTS. In accordance with them, you should have been entered into the state register of accredited branches / representative offices of foreign legal entities.

If you have not fulfilled this requirement, then the accreditation of a foreign representative office / branch was terminated for you on April 1, 2015.

You have successfully passed the accreditation procedure and can conduct activities in the territory of the Russian Federation. If you plan to hire foreign employees, then for each of them you need to obtain a certificate of personal accreditation. This certificate is issued by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation for a period of up to 3 years.

Personal accreditation is carried out according to the number of employees, information about which is contained in the state register. Wherein you can engage up to 5 foreign employees. If the branch / representative office needs more foreign specialists, it is required to contact the Chamber of Commerce with a written justification for the required number and obtain the appropriate permission.

List of documents

The list of documents required for submission to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for obtaining a certificate of personal accreditation:

• Certificate of entry in the state register of accredited branches, representative offices of foreign legal entities;
• Information sheet on an entry in the state register of accredited branches, representative offices of foreign legal entities;
• Information card on the branch, representative office;
• Letter requesting personal accreditation;
• Autobiographical reference for each employee with attached photos;
• Two color photos on a light background 3 * 4;
• Document proving the identity of a foreign citizen;
• Power of Attorney vesting the head of a foreign branch / representative office in the territory of the Russian Federation with the necessary powers;
• Document confirming payment for registration certificate.

The procedure for passing personal accreditation takes 6 months.

In order to enable your foreign employees to start work as soon as possible, a temporary certificate of personal accreditation for up to 6 months will be received within two weeks from the day you submit your documents.

The cost of services for obtaining a certificate of personal accreditation of an employee is 15,000 rubles.

Important Accompanying required documents:

• Payment for registration of a certificate of personal accreditation of employees of branches / representative offices of foreign legal entities according to the tariff of the RF CCI is 5,000 rubles for each employee.
• Payment for apostillation of documents of a foreign legal entity (in accordance with the tariffs of the legal entity’s country of origin).
• Payment of services for translation of documents of a foreign legal entity.

The State Register of Accredited Branches and Representative Offices of Foreign Legal Entities is a register that contains information on representative offices and branches of foreign companies that have passed the accreditation procedure in the Russian Federation and operate in accordance with the current legislation of the Russian Federation.

The cost of the service is 3,500 rubles.

The deadline for receipt of the extract is up to 10 working days.

If your foreign company has decided to close a branch / representative office in the Russian Federation, or has itself ceased its activities, you need to inform the accrediting body (MIFNS No. 47 in Moscow). This should be done no later than 15 calendar days from the date of such resolution.

The following documents are submitted to the tax office:

• application for termination of accreditation (prepared by us);
• resolution of a foreign legal entity (prepared by us);

Power of Attorney vesting the head of the branch / representative office with the necessary powers.

On the basis of the submitted documents, the accreditation of a separate division of a foreign organization will be terminated within 10 working days. An information sheet will be issued within a period not exceeding 5 working days from the date of the record of the termination of the accreditation.

The cost of this service is 15,000 rubles.

Withdrawal from registration with the tax authority, the Pension Fund, the Social Insurance Fund – 5 000 rubles.

Accompanying required documents:

1) payment for apostillation of documents of a foreign legal entity (in accordance with the tariffs of the country of the legal entity).

2) payment for the translation of documents of a foreign legal entity.