From April 15 to 18, the 6th training seminar “Intellectual Property Protection Strategy for the Successful Development of a Company” was held in Moscow, organized by the leading Russian firm in the field of intellectual property, Gorodissky and Partners.  Managing partner of the law firm Levant and Partners, Valery Narezhny, gave a presentation on “Intellectual Property Objects as a Tool for Tax Optimization” at the invitation of representatives of Gorodissky and Partners.
 Mr. Narezhny spoke about the specifics of using intellectual property in the tax planning process, the difficulties in optimizing taxes and the concept of intangible assets for tax purposes. The main attention was paid to the concept of royalties as a form of distribution of profits and tax burden in multi-level business structures.

“Royalty – (English royalty) payments of any kind received as compensation for the use or grant of the right to use any copyright in works of literature, art or science, any patent, know-how, computer programs, trademark, design, plan, secret formula or process, etc.”

“Payment of royalties is a convenient form of tax optimization for Russian organizations, since, according to paragraphs. 37, paragraph 1, art. 246 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, royalties are other expenses associated with production and sales and reduce the tax base for income tax. Moreover, from January 1, 2008, the implementation of exclusive rights to use intellectual property, payments for which are royalties, will not be subject to VAT,” Mr. Narezhny said at the event.

The seminar was attended by representatives of the following companies: Schlumberger – a leader in the field of technologies for the oil and gas industry, Adidas, the management company “United”