There is no need to explain that paying taxes is the duty of every citizen, and it is unlikely that you will be able to sleep well without solving your problems with the tax office. However, in this matter, and in particular for seafarers, it is necessary to act deliberately. Before repaying the debt to your native state budget, it is better to find out how much you actually owe. And in this case, it would be nice to remember the magic and long-familiar for a sailor alphanumeric combination “183 days” . It should be noted right away that over the last time amendments were made to the Tax Code of the Russian Federation regarding “183 days”, which added misunderstandings to the minds of normal people reading it, since in connection with them this document did not become more accessible for perception. But there are still advantages: the procedure for taxation with tax on the income of individuals whose activities are associated with long periods of work abroad is established in a quite definite way. According to Art. 209 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation personal income tax – personal income tax – is imposed on all incomes of citizens, regardless of where they received them – whether in the Russian Federation or abroad. However, this rule – when income from both sources (if any) is taxed – applies only to an individual who is a tax resident of the Russian Federation. Therefore, the most important thing here is to find out who this unfortunate tax resident is. So who is this? These are individuals who actually stay in the Russian Federation for at least 183 calendar days within 12 consecutive months. It is easy to guess that persons who are on the territory of the Russian Federation for less than 183 calendar days within 12 consecutive months are not tax residents of the Russian Federation. Persons who are not tax residents of the Russian Federation are recognized as payers of personal income tax only in relation to income received by them from sources in the Russian Federation. Personal income tax is not paid on income received by non-residents from sources outside of Russia. Tax residents of the Russian Federation pay personal income tax in the amount of 13% from all types of their salaries received from both Russian and foreign organizations. In most cases, personal income tax from residents is withheld by tax agents – organizations that make payments or make transfers. Non-residents on the territory of the Russian Federation pay personal income tax in the amount of 30% of their income received from sources in the Russian Federation. Not only from salary, but also from the sale of a car, apartment or land. The income of non-residents received by them from sources outside the Russian Federation is not subject to personal income tax. At the same time, the presence or absence of a natural person of the citizenship of the Russian Federation does not matter when determining his status as a tax resident of the Russian Federation. Both a foreign citizen and a stateless person can be recognized as tax residents or non-residents of the Russian Federation. So a Russian citizen, quite naturally, may not be a tax resident of the Russian Federation. With this sorted out. Now is the time to deal with the calculation of the twelve-month period within which the residence is determined. The following questions may arise here:

1. Should these twelve months fall within one calendar year?
2. On what date should the period of twelve months be determined?

When determining a twelve-month period, it does not matter at all whether these twelve months fall within one calendar year or not. It is important that they go sequentially, one after the other. That is, the specified period can start in one calendar year and end in another. For example, in order to determine as of May 31, 2017 whether a seafarer is a tax resident of the Russian Federation, you need to count twelve months ago and consider the period from June 1, 2016 to May 31, 2017 inclusive , and then calculate the number of days of his stay in the Russian Federation. for this period of time. That is, you need to understand that during a calendar year, the status of an individual can change from resident to non-resident and vice versa. And this flexibility greatly complicates the matter: if earlier a seaman could be recognized as a resident or non-resident once a year, and according to the result, taxed or not taxed, now the status determination is carried out monthly, as of the last day of the month. As you can see, this is necessary in order to determine for which month of the reporting period to take taxes from the seafarer, and for which not. Until a citizen is recognized as a tax resident during the tax period, his remuneration for performing labor duties in a foreign state arising from employment contracts concluded with foreign companies is subject to personal income tax at the rate of 13 percent. In this case, the income received is converted into rubles at the exchange rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation on the day the income is received. In addition, you should pay attention to the following information: in accordance with Art. 6.1 of part 1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation during the period of actual stay in the territory of the Russian Federation begins on the next day after the calendar date, which is the day of arrival in the territory of the Russian Federation. The calendar date of the day of departure from the territory of the Russian Federation is included in the number of days of actual stay in the territory of the Russian Federation. In other words, the day of arrival is not counted, the day of departure is counted. Dates of departure and dates of arrival of individuals on the territory of the Russian Federation are established according to the marks of access control in the document proving the identity of the citizen. It is also important that the income of a non-resident citizen received by him from sources in the Russian Federation is subject to taxation in the Russian Federation at a rate of 30 percent. That is, if, for example, in June a seaman is recognized as a non-resident , he is exempted from paying 13% of income tax on salaries for June received abroad . But if in the same June he received some kind of income in Russia , then from this income he must pay 30% tax. Here it should be noted that with such an approach, you will have to pay tax even for a month – there are no contracts that would make a seaman a permanent non-resident, unless, of course, the seaman does not work at all without a vacation. One good thing is that the tax is paid once a year. And in conclusion, it must be added that in accordance with paragraphs. 3 p. 1 of Art. 228 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, individuals – tax residents of the Russian Federation, receiving income from sources located outside the Russian Federation, must calculate and pay tax on income of individuals independently. That is, independently determine your tax status, calculate the amount of tax payable, fill in the personal income tax declaration no later than April 30, send it to the tax office and pay the calculated amount of personal income tax.