Top 10 jurisdictions for IT companies

2021: Russia ranked 6th in the ranking of the best jurisdictions for IT companies

On May 12, 2021, the rating agency BIK Rating published a new version of the rating called "Top 10 Jurisdictions for the Work of IT Companies." Russia in this list is in sixth place, gaining 56.4 points out of 100 possible.

In first place in the ranking was Estonia. The top 3 included Latvia and Belarus. Also on the list are Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Cyprus, Israel, Great Britain and the USA.

When analyzing countries, BIK Ratings experts conducted a preliminary selection, based on their experience and established practice in registering, expanding and relocation of IT companies, the agency said.

The following indicators were evaluated:

• Taxation of IT companies;
• Personnel costs;
• Political environment;
• Human potential;
• Additional costs and features of the legal environment;
• Macroeconomic and financial stability;
• Office costs.

Taxation of IT companies was assessed on the basis of regulatory acts of states. The list of taxes included the following taxes and fees: income tax (corporate tax); value added tax; dividend tax; capital gains tax; income tax; other fees and taxes.

Personnel costs were estimated on the basis of official state statistics, reports on average and median wages, as well as on the basis of specialized sites collecting information on wages from IT specialists in different countries.

Human potential was assessed based on:

• The Human Development Index component of the Skilled Labour Index;
• Components of the Global Knowledge Index published by UNDP: technical and vocational education and training; higher education; research, development, innovation; information and communication technologies.

The additional costs and peculiarities of the legal environment were assessed on the basis of official regulatory acts of States. The list of indicators included the following: cost and time spent on opening a company and a bank account; the amount of the fee; time spent in obtaining a work permit, residence permit and visa; possibility of using investment instruments (convertible loan, convertible bonds); additional requirements and costs.^[1]

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