I. Metshin: “We will create a program of self-employed support in Kazan”

(KZN.RU, April 10, Alina Berezhnaya). In Kazan, it is planned to create a program to support the self-employed, which will be valid until a federal law appears regulating their activities. Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, announced this today at a meeting with the self-employed. The event was held in an open dialogue on the basis of the marketplace “KazanExpress”.

Welcoming the participants, the Mayor of Kazan reminded that Tatarstan was among the four pilot regions, where an experimental tax regime for self-employed is in effect from January 1, 2019. He noted that such meetings help to understand how the city and municipal authorities can help self-employed people to develop their activities.

“We would like to understand what our starting positions are, what questions you have. It’s important for us that Kazan becomes a point of growth for the self-employed so that you and your business develop. We need to agree on how we will interact”, said I. Metshin.

Timur Nagumanov, the ombudsman for the President of the RT to protect the rights of entrepreneurs, also attended the meeting. He added that today the number of registered self-employed is actively growing in Tatarstan. There are about 7 thousand people, more than 3 thousand of them live in Kazan. “There are a huge number of self-employed people in the republic, people who work for themselves, earn their living by their work, this is a huge unit that needs support”, added T. Nagumanov.

Today, a self-employed support center is operating in Kazan, which is involved in popularizing a project to introduce tax levies for self-employed citizens. Liana Pakhareva, one of the organizers of the center, explained that she herself, being a self-employed pastry chef, had often faced problems when working with legal entities before registering her own business. In particular, she could not provide a check, give an invoice, and so on. So, switching to the tax regime and paying the tax at a preferential rate of 4%, Liana can legally conduct business and receive income from part-time work without the risk of being fined for illegal business activities.

Most self-employed products are sold through the Internet, as the cost of renting outlets is too expensive, said the entrepreneurs. Self-employed Yulia Raivain addressed the Mayor of Kazan with the proposal to provide a platform for the sale of products with a preferential rent.

“On the eve of the summer season, this would be very important. We could even come up with exclusive souvenirs with other self-employed people”, the entrepreneur addressed I. Metshin.

Ilsur Metshin supported the initiative, assuring the woman that such sites would be created by the end of May. “We will pick up sites, we will bring them into a single format, define places, for example, these will be parks and squares, by the end of May such a fair can be arranged”, said the Mayor of Kazan.

The issue of signage design was of great importance to the self-employed as well. In particular, Egor Popov, who moved to Kazan from the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District in 2018, became the representative of KazanExpress, which is engaged in fast delivery of goods. The office of the company is located in the historical part of the city. Therefore there are problems with the approving of the sign, besides there are no regulations that would set standards.

Ilsur Metshin noted that he is always happy when creative, promising people move to Kazan from other cities. “We create such conditions in the city that the most courageous, creative people who are ready to change the city come here”, said I. Metshin. He added that until the rules for signage are developed, the Office of Administrative and Technical Inspection of the city will not fine the self-employed.

“I can promise that by the end of 2019 we will take a moratorium, and there will be no fines from the city through the administrative commission. We will work with the warning”, reassured I. Metshin.

Those who have long been engaged in their work were at the meeting. For example, Laysan Yarullina makes fruit chips for 2 years. The girl registered as self-employed, but since she does not have the status of an entrepreneur, she cannot use preferential loans. “The banks have no offers for us. However, the issue of replenishing working capital is very important for small producers. But due to the fact that our production volume is lower, we cannot take loans at the average market rate”, explained Laysan.

The Mayor noted that this issue is very relevant and requires detailed study. Thus, the Mayor of Kazan instructed to work out a project, according to which the self-employed will receive a loan at a subsidized rate. “We will support those sectors that are of priority for us today, for example, the sphere of tourism. We will try to make you become participants in the program by June 1”, said I. Metshin.

In the end, the Mayor said that a program of support for the self-employed would be created in Kazan, which will remain in effect until federal law appears regulating their activities. “We will create in Kazan a program of support for the self-employed, while you are experiencing the becoming stage. We will put this work on the system flow and will be in dialogue until there is a federal law. The most terrible thing in the long road is to take the first step, let's make it together”, said I. Metshin and thanked everyone who came for the open dialogue.

During the event, the Mayor got acquainted with the products of the self-employed.

Ildar Shakirov, the deputy head of the Kazan Executive Committee, Artur Valiakhmetov, the chairman of the Economic Development Committee, Zhanna Belitskaya, the deputy head of the Architecture and City Planning Department of Kazan, Marat Zakirov, the head of the Directorate of Parks and Squares, representatives of banks, and others also participated in the meeting.