The Ministry of Labor of Russia has published draft orders aimed at strengthening regulation of the status of companies and individual entrepreneurs (IEs) working with self-employed persons. The Ministry proposes introducing a new risk indicator to guide the Federal Tax Service (FTS) and the State Labor Inspectorate in their inspections:

Companies and IEs engaging with more than 10 self-employed individuals, each of whom previously had an employment relationship with the same organization and receives an average monthly income exceeding 25,000 rubles, will be subject to scrutiny by interdepartmental commissions.

An additional risk criterion is cooperation with 35 or more self-employed persons, each earning over 35,000 rubles monthly from such cooperation, with a relationship duration of more than three months and over 90% of their income derived from the same organization or IE.

The information collected will be used to identify signs of bypassing labor laws and substituting employment contracts with civil law arrangements.

Under a second draft order, the Ministry of Labor plans to extend the current list of labor law risk indicators, which officials use in planning company inspections. These indicators are established by Ministerial Order No. 838n dated November 30, 2021, currently effective until December 31, 2025; the Ministry proposes extending its validity for another year, until December 31, 2026.

Source: "Kadrovoe Delo" (HR Affairs)