Enterprises and organizations carrying out commercial activities on the territory of the Russian Federation differ from each other in organizational and legal forms. In addition, individuals who have registered as individual entrepreneurs have the right to carry out such activities.
Unitary enterprises are divided into state (GUP) and municipal (MUP). Their main distinguishing feature is that all their property does not belong to themselves, but, accordingly, to a constituent entity of the Russian Federation or a municipality. There are also federal state unitary enterprises (FSUE), the property of which is the property of the Russian Federation.
Enterprises of all other organizational forms are not state-owned, but private. Small shops, workshops, etc. rationally register as limited liability companies (LLC). In the past, they were called limited liability partnerships (LLP) - this name has survived in some CIS countries. In the event that a company has obligations to other organizations, this responsibility is not shifted to its participants, and therefore this organizational form received such a name. The participants of the LLC bear financial risks only within the limits of their shares in it.
Joint-stock companies are divided into open (OJSC) and closed (CJSC). In the past, they were called, respectively, open joint stock companies (OJSC) and closed joint stock companies (CJSC). They differ from each other in that in the first case, everyone can buy shares in the enterprise, and in the second, only the founders or persons whose circle is specified in the charter (for example, only employees). The principal legislative limitation established for a CJSC is a quota for the number of shareholders - no more than fifty inclusive. If it exceeds this number, the CJSC is subject to compulsory transformation into an OJSC, after which its shares become available to everyone.
Individual entrepreneurs (IE) are individuals who, through compliance with a number of formalities, have the right to independently engage in commercial activities. The number of formalities required to obtain the status of an individual entrepreneur is decreasing every year. He can use the simplified taxation system and pay taxes only on income, but not on property. Moreover, the personal property of an individual entrepreneur, for the possession of which he would normally have to pay tax (for example, a car), may not be taxed if the entrepreneur proves that he uses this property in his business.
