In accordance with Article 50 of the Civil Code, all legal entities in the Russian Federation are divided into and non-commercial.

The purpose of commercial organizations is to make a profit and distribute it among all participants.

The list of types of commercial organizations is closed. These include:

1) business companies and partnerships;

2) unitary, state;

3) production cooperatives.

Non-profit organizations are created Non-profit organizations do not aim to make a profit. They have the right to exercise but the profit cannot be distributed among the participants, it is spent in accordance with the purposes for which the organization was created. During the creation of a non-profit organization, a bank account, an estimate and a personal balance sheet must be formed. The list of non-profit organizations specified in the Code is not exhaustive.

So what legal entities are non-profit organizations?

Non-profit organizations include:

1) Religious, public organizations and associations.

Carry out activities in accordance with the purposes for which they were created. Participants are not liable for the obligations of organizations, and those, in turn, for the obligations of members;

2) Non-commercial partnerships - established by citizens or legal entities. individuals and non-profit organizations based on the principle of membership, to assist the members of the organization in the implementation of activities that are aimed at achieving the goals set;

3) The form of a non-profit organization is also an institution - an organization funded by the owner, which was created to carry out managerial and other functions of a non-profit nature. If the property of the institution is insufficient, the owner shall bear subsidiary liability for obligations.

4) Autonomous non-profit organizations. They are created to provide services in the field of education, culture, healthcare, sports, and other services on the basis of property contributions.

5) Non-profit organizations include various kinds of foundations. The Foundation is an organization that does not have membership, pursuing charitable, social, cultural goals and created on the basis of property contributions. It has the right to engage in entrepreneurial activities to achieve the goals of creation.

6) Associations and unions. They are created by commercial organizations in order to coordinate business activities and protect property interests.

7) Non-profit organizations also include consumer cooperatives - associations (voluntary) of citizens and legal entities created to meet material and other needs on the basis of combining share property contributions.

Each of the forms of a non-profit organization has its own characteristics that meet the goals of its creation.

Creation of a non-profit organization.

Registration takes place within 2 months. It is necessary to prepare documentation for registration:

Information about the address of the location;

Application for registration, notarized;

Constituent documents;

Decision to establish a non-profit organization;

State fees.

A non-profit organization was created from the moment of state registration, after which it can carry out its activities. Such an organization does not have a term of activity, so it may not re-register. In the event of liquidation of a non-profit organization, payments are made to all creditors, and the remaining funds are spent on the purposes for which the organization was created.

As you know, all organizations in Russia can be divided into three sectors: government, commercial and non-commercial. And if everything is clear with the first two types, then the last one makes us think. What objects are non-profit organizations? We invite you to reflect on this further.

Non-profit organizations are...

First a definition. NPO, non-profit organization - a structure that does not set its main goal to make a profit, and also does not distribute it among its participants.

The goals of the NPO are as follows:

• cultural;
• social;
• charitable;
• scientific;
• educational;
• managerial;
• political;
• protection of the health of citizens;
• development of sports, physical culture;
• satisfaction of non-material (spiritual) needs;
• protection of legitimate interests of individuals and legal entities;
• legal assistance;
• other things useful to society.

Objects that belong to non-profit organizations have the right to engage in entrepreneurial activities. But only if it is aimed at achieving the main public goal.

It is important to note that non-profit organizations that perform certain functions of self-government bodies, the state, and at the same time do not resort to the help of these, are called non-governmental.

Characteristics of NCOs

In order to more clearly present the structures that relate to NGOs, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the following characteristics:

1. Founder: any person.
2. Personnel: recruited staff and involved persons.
3. Monetary remuneration of participants: full-time employees - salary, work of volunteers, volunteers is not paid, services of involved persons - a contract for the provision of services.
4. The main objectives of the activity: as a rule, socially significant.
5. Funding sources: state budget (but only if the founder of the organization is the state), borrowed capital, business proceeds (with a number of restrictions), investments and donations. There are also membership fees. Moreover, the vast majority of NGOs exist at the expense of them, without resorting to the above sources. Grants are often used, including state ones. Also, many NGOs make them their sole source of funding.

Types of NGOs

Non-profit organizations include:

1. Cooperatives: garage-building, consumer (credit, housing, agricultural, marketing, horticultural, supply, livestock, gardening, processing).
2. Unions.
3. Associations.
4. Universities.
5. Autonomous non-profit associations.
6. State corporations.
7. Charity organisations.
8. State companies.
9. Cossack societies.
10. Natural, national parks, reserves.
11. Municipal and state budgetary, state and autonomous entities.
12. non-governmental associations.
13. Non-commercial partnership.
14. HOA, GK, ZhK.
15. Various kinds of social associations: political parties, public funds, movements, organizations, trade unions, foundations of public initiative.
16. Associations of legal entities.
17. Mutual insurance companies.
18. Unions of employers.
19. Communities of small indigenous peoples.
20. Religious association, group, organization.
21. Country, horticultural, horticultural non-profit association.
22. Territorial public association.
23. Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

NKO hybrid forms

Speaking about which organizations are non-profit, it is important to note hybrid forms with commercial (private) structures. These include:

1. Companies in the public interest (UK).
2. Public Benefit Corporation (USA).
3. Small-income limited liability company (USA).
4. Corporation with socially useful purposes (Germany).
5. Charitable Limited Liability Company (Germany).

NGOs in Russia

In Russia, more than 30 types of NPOs belong to the forms of non-profit organizations. Many of them have similar functions, and the differences are only in the names. All associations are regulated by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Chapter 4, paragraph 6), the Federal Law "On non-profit organizations". The specific activities of individual NCOs are controlled by relevant legislative acts.

We list some features of the activities of these organizations in the Russian Federation:

1. Foreign grants received are not taxed.
2. Since 2008, special presidential grants have been allocated to support NGOs.
3. In 2015, the so-called register of undesirable organizations was introduced. Any international or foreign NPO that poses a threat to the Russian state system can get there.
4. In 2017, a decree was issued requiring the issuance of grants to those non-profit organizations that conduct socially significant, civic activities.

NCOs in our country are a fairly common type of associations, numbering more than a dozen forms. They are united by common goals, combined characteristics of NCOs. In relation to such organizations, both general regulatory norms and specific ones apply.

A non-profit organization is not pursuing the goal of making profit as the main goal of its activities and does not distribute profits among its participants.

Non-profit organizations can be created to achieve social, charitable, cultural, educational, scientific and managerial goals, to protect the health of citizens, develop physical culture and sports, meet the spiritual and other non-material needs of citizens, protect the rights, legitimate interests of citizens and organizations, resolve disputes and conflicts, providing legal assistance, as well as for other purposes aimed at achieving public benefits.

A non-profit organization is considered to be established as a legal entity from the moment of its state registration in accordance with the procedure established by law, owns or manages separate property, is liable (with the exception of institutions) for its obligations with this property, can acquire and exercise property and non-property rights on its own behalf. , bear duties, be a plaintiff and a defendant in court.

A non-profit organization must have an independent balance sheet or estimate.

A non-profit organization is created without limiting the period of activity, unless otherwise established by the constituent documents of a non-profit organization.

At the same time, a non-profit organization has the right to:

In accordance with the established procedure, open bank accounts in the territory of the Russian Federation and outside its territory;

Have a seal with the full name of this non-profit organization in Russian;

Have stamps and letterheads with their name, as well as an emblem registered in the prescribed manner.

A non-profit organization has a name containing an indication of its organizational and legal form and the nature of its activities. A non-profit organization whose name is registered in accordance with the established procedure has the exclusive right to use it. The location of a non-profit organization is determined by the place of its state registration. The name and location of a non-profit organization are indicated in its constituent documents.

The list of organizational and legal forms of non-commercial legal entities, provided for by Art. 116-123 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, is not exhaustive. It has already expanded significantly due to the many special regulations governing the activities of certain types of organizations. Such a legislative decision seems to be quite correct.

The organizational and legal form of a legal entity is a set of specific features that objectively stand out in the system of general features of a legal entity and significantly distinguish this group of legal entities from all others. Therefore, if the features of the organizational structure of a legal entity, the ways of separating its property, its responsibility, the ways of acting in civil circulation (at least one of these aspects) distinguish it from the rest, then we are dealing with an independent organizational and legal form of a legal entity. Otherwise, we are talking about separate varieties of organizations within the same organizational and legal form.

The sources of formation of property of a non-profit organization in monetary and other forms are:

Regular and one-time receipts from the founders (participants, members);

Voluntary property contributions and donations;

Proceeds from the sale of goods, works, services;

Dividends (income, interest) received on shares, bonds, other securities and deposits;

Income received from the property of a non-profit organization;

Other receipts not prohibited by law.

Laws may establish restrictions on the sources of income of certain types of non-profit organizations.

The sources of formation of the property of a state corporation may be regular and (or) one-time receipts (contributions) from legal entities.

Non-profit organizations can be created in the form of:

1. Consumer cooperatives.

The association of persons on the basis of membership in order to meet their own needs for goods and services, the initial property of which consists of shares, is called a consumer cooperative.

The name of the consumer cooperative should contain an indication of the main purpose of its activity and the words “cooperative”, “consumer society” or “consumer union”, for example: “Meat procurement cooperative “Aleksey” or “Consumer society for the procurement of meat “Alex”.

According to the current legislation, both citizens and legal entities can be participants in consumer cooperatives, and the presence of at least one citizen is mandatory, otherwise the cooperative will turn into an association of legal entities.

The legal status of a consumer cooperative is in many ways similar to a production cooperative both in terms of organizational structure and in terms of the rights of participants. However, members of a consumer cooperative are not required to take personal labor participation in its activities and, as a general rule, are not liable for its debts. An exception is the case when members of a consumer cooperative are obliged, within three months after the approval of the annual balance sheet, to cover the resulting losses through additional contributions.

Consumer cooperatives are granted the right to distribute income from business activities among their members. Thus, the consumer cooperative occupies an intermediate position between commercial and non-commercial organizations.

2. Public associations.

Public and religious organizations (associations) are recognized as voluntary associations of citizens who, in accordance with the procedure established by law, have united on the basis of their common interests to satisfy spiritual or other non-material needs.

A public association is a rather voluminous and generic concept that includes a whole group of independent organizational and legal forms of non-profit legal entities. Among them, the law includes:

Public organizations;

social movements;

Public funds;

public institutions;

Organs of public initiative.

The founders of public associations are citizens (at least three people), as well as other public associations with the rights of legal entities (along with citizens). The Law on Public Associations clearly distinguishes between participants and members of public associations. Members of associations formalize their participation in them by individual applications and have the right to elect and be elected to their governing bodies. The legal basis of any public association is its charter.

A feature of the name of a public association is the need to include in it an indication of the territorial scope of activity (all-Russian, interregional, regional, local). At the same time, all-Russian associations can use the words “Russia”, “Russian Federation” and derivatives from them in their names without special permission from state bodies (which is impossible for other non-state legal entities). A means of individualization of a public association, unlike other legal entities, is also its symbols (flags, emblems, pennants, etc.), subject to mandatory state registration.

3. Religious organizations.

An association of citizens whose main goal is the joint confession and dissemination of faith, and which has signs corresponding to these goals, is called a religious organization. A religious organization is an independent organizational and legal form of a legal entity, which has its own varieties: monasteries, brotherhoods, missions, etc.

4. Fund Funds is a non-profit organization without membership, founded to achieve socially beneficial goals through the use of property transferred to its ownership by the founders.

Having formed a foundation and transferred certain property to it, the founders lose all property rights in relation to it. After that, the fund operates independently, guided only by the goals that the founders have determined for it in the charter, and the provisions of the law. It is even possible that the charter of the fund does not provide for the possibility of changing it by the bodies of the fund. This can serve as a strong guarantee that the property of the founders will be used properly, even when they no longer control it. In this case, making any changes to the charter of the fund is permissible only by a court decision.

The supreme body of the Foundation is its Board of Trustees, acting on a voluntary basis.

To achieve its statutory goals, the Foundation, like other non-profit organizations, has the right to engage in entrepreneurial activities, including through the creation or participation in business companies. Charitable foundations, however, have the right to participate in business companies only as their sole members.

5. Institutions.

Institutions is an organization created by the owner to carry out functions of a non-profit nature and financed by him in whole or in part.

A distinctive feature of the institution is the nature of its rights to the property used. Institutions are the only type of non-profit organizations that do not have the right of ownership, but only the right of operational management of property. This is due to the close property relationship between the institution and its founder.

Less than other non-profit organizations, the amount of rights to property is compensated by the subsidiary liability of the owner for the obligations of the institution. Collection of debts of an institution can only be levied on its funds and property independently acquired by it. Thus, the property transferred to the institution by the owner is reserved from foreclosures, which is quite natural.

The founding document of an institution is only its charter, approved by the owner. The name of the institution should include an indication of the owner of the property and the nature of the institution's activities, for example: “Private Museum of A. M. Vilin”.

6. Non-profit partnerships.

A non-profit partnership is a non-profit organization, whose members retain the rights to its property, created to assist its members in the conduct of generally beneficial activities.

Non-commercial partnerships are based on the principle of membership. These organizations play only the role of an auxiliary tool in achieving any goals. In addition, members of public organizations, as a general rule, do not have any rights in relation to the property of these organizations. Whereas in a non-profit partnership, the scope of the property rights of the participants is very large. In particular, in cases of withdrawal, exclusion from the partnership or its liquidation, the participant has the right to demand the issuance of part of the property that was previously transferred by the members to the ownership of the non-commercial partnership.

A non-profit partnership is the owner of the property transferred to it and is not liable for the obligations of its members, and the latter are not liable for the obligations of the partnership. Its supreme governing body is the general meeting of members.

7. Autonomous non-profit organizations.

An autonomous non-profit organization is an institution on the basis of voluntary property contributions, which aims to provide services to all interested persons.

In the field of management of autonomous non-profit organizations, the law contains a minimum of mandatory provisions (speaking only about the collegiate supreme governing body) and, thus, provides the founders with maximum freedom of choice. It is obvious that any management scheme chosen by the founders and not operating with the concept of membership will satisfy the norms of the law.

The founders of an autonomous non-profit organization may use its services only on equal terms with other persons.

The constituent document of such an organization is its charter and (or) constituent agreement.

8. Associations of legal entities.

Associations of legal entities is a non-profit organization formed by several legal entities to conduct activities in their interests, called an association of legal entities (association or union). Citizens or the state cannot act as participants in such an association. Either commercial or non-commercial organizations can unite in an association or union, but not both.

In the Civil Code of the Russian Federation there are no special rules on the formation of the property of associations, since the element of personal participation plays the main role in them.

The constituent documents of associations of legal entities are the charter and the memorandum of association.

The legislator provides the founders of associations with great freedom in choosing the organizational structure of the association, regulating the mutual rights and obligations of the participants.

The name of an association of legal entities must include an indication of the subject of activity of its members and the words “association” or “union”.

The participants do not have any property rights in relation to their associations, therefore, the transfer of the participant's contribution to other persons, as well as the requirement to allocate a share upon leaving the association, are impossible.

The liability of the members of the association for its obligations is subsidiary and continues even if the member withdraws from the association within two years from the date of withdrawal. As a general rule, a new person joining an association is not liable for the obligations of the association that arose prior to its entry, however, the founding documents may establish a different rule.

The number of non-profit organizations is growing every year in Russia. This allows us to improve the quality of life of the population, develop democratic values, and effectively deal with a complex of social problems with the “hands” of volunteers from non-profit organizations. The importance of choosing the creation of one or another type of non-profit organizations is due to their target and organizational differences. Let's take a closer look at this in the article.

What are non-profit organizations (NPOs) and what do they do?

Non-profit organizations (NPOs) are a type of organizations whose activities are not based on the acquisition and maximization of profits and there is no distribution of them among the members of the organization. NCOs choose and establish a certain type of activity that contributes to the implementation of charitable, socio-cultural, scientific, educational, and management goals to create social benefits. That is, socially oriented non-profit organizations in Russia are engaged in solving social problems.

Types of non-profit organizations and the purpose of their creation

In accordance with the law of the Russian Federation "On Non-Commercial Organizations", NPOs operate in the established forms:

• Public and religious organizations. They are created by a voluntary agreement of citizens to satisfy spiritual and other non-material needs.
• Communities of small indigenous peoples of the Russian Federation. Such peoples are united on the basis of kinship, territorial proximity in order to preserve culture and the traditionally accepted way of life.
• Cossack societies. Communities of citizens to recreate the traditions of the Russian Cossacks. Their participants undertake obligations to carry out state or other service. Such NGOs are formed by the farm, stanitsa, city, district and military societies of the Cossacks.
• Funds. They are formed at the expense of voluntary contributions of citizens or legal entities for the purpose of conducting charity, supporting cultural and educational events, etc.
• State corporations. The Russian Federation is established at the expense of a material contribution. They are formed for the implementation of socially important functions, including managerial and social ones.
• State companies. The Russian Federation is created on the basis of property contributions for the purpose of providing public services and other functions using state property.
• non-profit partnerships. They are created by individuals and legal entities for the formation of various public goods.
• Private institutions. They are created by the owner in order to implement non-commercial functions, including managerial, social and cultural ones.
• State, municipal institutions. Created by the Russian Federation, subjects of the Russian Federation and municipalities. They can be autonomous, budgetary and state-owned. The main goals include the implementation of powers in socio-cultural areas.
• Autonomous non-profit organizations. They are formed in order to provide socially necessary services in various social spheres.
• Associations (unions). They are created to protect the joint, often professional, interests of their members.

Non-profit organizations are performers of socially useful services and will receive financial and property support from the state.

Non-profit organizations that perform certain functions of the state or self-government bodies. There are many non-profit organizations that differ in form and main purpose.

The difference between non-profit organizations and commercial organizations

Consider the main differences between NPOs and commercial ones in the following points:

• goals of organizations. Unlike commercial organizations, whose main goal is to maximize profits, NPOs are based on various non-material goals (charity, cultural revival, etc.);
• profit. In a commercial organization, net profit is distributed among the participants and reinvested in the business processes of the enterprise for its further development and economic efficiency. The profit of a non-profit organization can only go to activities that are consistent with its non-profit goals. At the same time, NPOs can engage in relevant profitable activities, if this is necessary to achieve their good goals, provided that this is stated in their charters;
• salary. In accordance with the federal law "On charitable activities and charitable organizations", an NPO has the right to spend up to 20% of its total annual financial resources on wages. In NGOs, unlike commercial ones, employees cannot receive bonuses and allowances, in addition to their salary;
• source of investment. In commercial organizations, profits, funds from investors, creditors, etc. are used for reinvestment. Support for international grants, the state, social funds, volunteer fundraising, contributions from participants, etc. is widespread in NPOs.

Features of the application of the simplified system of taxation of NCOs

The annual financial statements of the NPO include:

• balance sheet;
• report on the intended use of funds;
• appendices to the balance sheet and report in accordance with regulatory enactments.

NCOs have the right to use the simplified taxation system (STS), if the following conditions are met:

• for nine months of activity, the income of NCOs is not more than 45 million rubles. (calculated for the year in which the organization draws up documents for the transition to the simplified tax system);
• the average number of employees is not more than 100 employees in the reporting period;
• NCOs do not include branches;
• the residual value of the assets is not more than 100 million rubles;
• absence of excisable products.

Recently, large and long-awaited changes were made to the accounting standards of the Russian Federation, which significantly changed the reporting rules. These changes also apply to the accounting reporting documentation of non-profit organizations that have switched to the simplified tax system.

The use of the USN in non-profit organizations will allow not to pay income tax, property tax and value added tax (VAT).

At the same time, the NPO is obliged to pay the so-called single tax, namely:

• according to the type of taxation "Income", you need to pay 6% from various receipts that are considered income;
• for the object of taxation "Income minus expenses" is 15% of the difference between income and expenses, or 1% if income does not exceed expenses.

Today, it is important for the country to promote the further development of NGOs as a powerful engine for the implementation of various social needs.

Entrepreneurial activity of non-profit organizations is one of the sources of cash receipts, allowing them to successfully solve problems aimed at achieving the goals of their functioning. In this article, the reader will find information on whether NCOs can carry out entrepreneurial activities, in which cases the legislator grants NCOs the right to conduct it, and also learns how to obtain the legal right to perform certain types of work that brings income to the association.

Non-profit organizations as business entities

In accordance with paragraph 1 of Art. 50 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, a non-profit organization (NPO) is an association that does not pursue profit as a goal and does not distribute the funds received among its members. NPOs are created to solve socially significant social, economic, cultural, scientific problems, protect the health of citizens and their physical development, as well as meet their non-material needs (clause 2, article 2 of the law "On Non-Commercial Organizations" dated 12.01.1996 No. 7).

According to paragraph 2 of Art. 2 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation under the entrepreneurial activity of non-profit organizations (as well as commercial ones) is understood as an activity aimed at the regular extraction of income and carried out by an entrepreneur (or legal entity) independently, at his own risk. Profit can be obtained from the use of property, the sale of goods, the provision of services or the performance of work. The main feature that allows you to qualify income-generating activities as entrepreneurial is the systematic receipt of funds. Thus, making a profit from one-time transactions cannot be the basis for recognizing the activities of an organization or individual as entrepreneurial.

NCOs do not have the right to set income generation as the goal of their operation, respectively, formally, as a general rule, they are not subjects of entrepreneurial activity. Meanwhile, people who establish NPOs often face the question of whether non-profit organizations can carry out entrepreneurial activities, in addition to their main activities. We will answer it further.

Can non-profit organizations carry out activities that generate income

In paragraph 2 of Art. 24 of Law No. 7 states that NPOs have the right to take actions that generate income, while simultaneously observing the following conditions:

• funds received in the course of income-generating activities are directed to finance its statutory goals (money can be used to pay for the labor of persons with certain physical disabilities, such as blindness, deafness, etc., to improve the material and technical base of the association and pay utility bills accounts, as well as to solve various socially significant tasks);
• the possibility of performing such actions is fixed in the constituent documents of the company.

At the same time, according to paragraph 3 of Art. 24 of Law No. 7, an NPO is obliged to keep records of income and expenses arising from its entrepreneurial and other profitable activities.

NPOs with the right to carry out entrepreneurial activities

The list of NPO forms is established by the provisions of Chapter II of Law No. 7, according to which the following persons have the right to independently engage in entrepreneurship:

• public and religious organizations (Article 6);
• communities of indigenous peoples of the Russian Federation (Article 6.1);
• Cossack societies (Article 6.2);
• funds (Article 7);
• state corporations (Article 7.1);
• state-owned companies (Article 7.2);
• non-profit organizations, provided that they do not have the status of a self-regulatory organization (Article 8);
• private institutions (art. 9);
• State Unitary Enterprises and Municipal Unitary Enterprises (Article 9.1);
• budgetary institutions (Article 9.2);
• autonomous NGOs (art. 10).

In addition, some NCOs have the right to engage in income-generating activities by creating business companies or participating in them. For example, funds (Article 7 of Law No. 7), autonomous NPOs (Clause 5, Article 123.24 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

The above list of NGOs is open. The current Civil Code of the Russian Federation establishes additional organizational and legal forms in which a non-profit association can operate. However, not every one of them gets the right to engage in entrepreneurship - in some cases this is partially or completely prohibited by law.

Legislative restrictions on the implementation of entrepreneurial activities of NPOs

In accordance with par. 2 p. 2 art. 24 of Law No. 7, the legislator may impose certain restrictions on the income-generating activities of individual NCOs. Examples of such restrictions are:

• a ban on participation in business companies that include third parties for charitable organizations (clause 4, article 12 of the law “On Charitable ...” dated 18.08.1995 No. 135);
• establishing a closed list of activities that political parties can engage in (information, printing and advertising activities, provided that they are aimed at promoting the party; manufacturing and selling objects with their own symbols; selling and renting / renting movable and immovable property belonging to the party , paragraphs 3 and 4 of article 31 of the law “On political ...” dated 11.07.2001 No. 95);
• a complete ban on entrepreneurship for bar associations (Clause 10, Article 29 of the Law “On the Bar…” dated May 31, 2002 No. 63), etc.

Can a non-profit organization provide paid services?

Based on the definition of entrepreneurial activity given in paragraph 2 of Art. 2 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, we can conclude that within the framework of its implementation, the company can not only produce goods or perform work, but also provide certain services. From the very essence of entrepreneurship, it follows that the provision of such services is carried out on a reimbursable basis. The legislator does not prohibit NGOs from engaging in entrepreneurial activities, and therefore does not exclude the possibility of them providing paid services. There is only one limitation: the money received must be used to achieve the goals of the functioning of the NPO, and not distributed among its founders (participants).

Don't know your rights?

At the same time, it is worth remembering that the paid services provided must be directly related to the goals of creating a company (clause 2, article 24 of law No. 7). For example, an association of educators and teachers may develop and sell teaching aids and textbooks, provide exam preparation services, or engage in tutoring. At the same time, it will not be able to produce food or provide services for holding ceremonial events. Violation of this rule may lead to the recognition of the concluded service agreement as null and void (clause 2 of article 168 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation), as well as become the basis for the forced liquidation of the company on the basis of a court decision issued at the suit of a government agency or local government (clause 4 article 61 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

Types of NPO activities

In accordance with paragraph 1 of Art. 24 of Law No. 7, an NPO can be engaged in one or more types of activities if it is:

• not prohibited by the current Russian legislation (the legislator may establish restrictions on the implementation of certain types of activities for certain categories of NCOs);
• corresponds to the goals of the functioning of the organization, fixed in its charter.

According to paragraph 2 of Art. 24 of Law No. 7, NCOs are entitled to carry out the following types of income-generating activities:

• production of goods and provision of services;
• purchase and sale of securities (stocks, bonds, etc.);
• purchase and sale of rights (both property and non-property);
• participation in business companies;
• obtaining the status of a contributor in limited partnerships.

Carrying out entrepreneurial activities, NCOs are not entitled to conclude transactions that contradict the types of activities and goals of functioning specified in the charter. That is why, when planning the registration of an NPO, one should consider in what direction the association will work and what kind of paid services it will provide.

In the event that the entrepreneurial activity of a non-profit organization requires obtaining a special permit for its implementation (license), such a permit will have to be issued in the manner prescribed by the law governing work in this area. The list of such activities is also determined by the current legislation, and no differences are provided for commercial and non-commercial organizations.

OKVED for NGOs

The basis for opening a new NPO is an application drawn up in the form P11001, approved by the order of the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation “On Approval ...” dated 01.25.2012 No. ММВ-7-6 / [email protected] Sheet I of the said application must contain information about the activity codes of the registered association, selected in accordance with the All-Russian Classification of Economic Activities (OKVED), put into effect by the order of Rosstandart “On Acceptance ...” dated January 31, 2014 No. 14-st.

The application must indicate:

• code of the main activity of the association;
• codes of its additional activities.

For certain types of NPO activities, special codes apply. For example, the code 87.90 can be used by organizations providing residential care services:

• in orphanages;
• children's boarding schools and hostels;
• temporary shelters for the homeless, etc.

If an NPO plans to conduct additional activities that qualify as entrepreneurial, it will need to indicate the codes corresponding to it in an additional box. At the same time, it should be remembered that the entrepreneurial activities of non-profit organizations

should be interconnected with the main direction of functioning for which they are created.

The selected OKVED codes must also be indicated in the charter of the NPO submitted for registration.

How to change the selected OKVED codes

If, however, the founders (participants) of an NPO have decided that it is necessary to perform certain actions that qualify as entrepreneurial after the constituent documents have been registered, they will have to be amended.

To do this, an application is submitted to the registration authority, drawn up in the form P13001. It indicates the updated OKVED codes chosen by the founders of the NPO. The document will need to be accompanied by a decision to amend, as well as a new version of the charter. You will have to pay for editing. The amount of the state duty, in accordance with paragraph 3 of Art. 333.33 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, is 800 rubles.

Violation of this rule entails the imposition of a fine on the representative of the NPO, the amount of which varies from 5 thousand to 10 thousand rubles. (Clause 4, Article 14.25 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).

So, the answer to the question of whether non-profit organizations can engage in entrepreneurial activities is in some cases positive. An NPO has the right to engage in activities that bring profit, but on the condition that the funds received will be used by it to achieve the goals of its functioning, fixed in the charter. NPOs are not entitled to distribute earned assets among their own founders (participants). In addition, there should be no additional restrictions on the implementation of such actions established by the current federal laws. If an NPO plans to conduct commercial activities, it will have to enter information about this in the registration application, indicating in it the OKVED codes corresponding to the chosen direction. In the course of carrying out entrepreneurial activities, non-profit organizations may provide paid services to the population and legal entities, provided that this does not contradict the statutory goals of the association.