Employers must file HQS salary notifications by April 30

IMPACT – MEDIUM

What is the change? Employers must report the first quarter salaries of highly qualified specialists no later than April 30.

What does the change mean? While this is a regular quarterly requirement, employers should remember that under a new law, they must meet salary thresholds that are calculated monthly, not yearly.

• Implementation timeframe: Now until April 30.
• Visas/permits affected: Work visas.
• Who is affected: Companies employing highly qualified specialists.
• Business impact: Companies should track salaries on a monthly basis to comply with the new rules and to make reporting easier.
• Next steps: Employers should plan to file the salary notifications before the end of the month. Failure to do so will incur government fines.

Background: April 30 is the deadline for companies to report salaries paid to foreign highly qualified specialists during the first quarter, Jan. 1 through March 31.

Employers should also note that under new rules, HQS salaries must meet thresholds each month, rather than on a yearly basis. For example, employers must show that they are paying a 2-million-ruble annual minimum salary proportionately by paying the employee 167,000 rubles per month.

Companies that violate salary reporting requirements face administrative fines that range from 400,000 to 1 million rubles. Individual company officers may also be fined 35,000 to 70,000 rubles.

BAL Analysis: Companies are encouraged to work with their BAL attorney to prepare the salary notifications and observe the new monthly minimums.

This alert has been provided by the BAL Global Practice group and our network provider located in Russia. For additional information, please contact your BAL attorney.

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