FITNESS CLUBS AND SPORTS ORGANIZATIONS ASK MIKHAIL MISHUSTIN TO SAVE THEM FROM BANKRUPTCY

On March 21, a prohibition on the admission of visitors to the swimming pools, fitness clubs, water parks and other physical education and sports facilities, associated with mass crowds, was introduced in Moscow. The restriction does not does not establish a specific period of time. It will be valid until the further notice. The Ministry of Sports also recommended to suspend, postpone or cancel all sports events on the territory of the Russian Federation.

The entrepreneurs noted that new measures are certainly necessary, but they will lead to a number of consequences, such as massive reduction in employees, the inability to make current payments on loans and leasing, as well as to the inability of contributing the funds for rent, utilities, budget payments and taxes.

Businessmen believe that all this will lead to the bankruptcy of the majority of the industry projects. The expected losses in the fitness industry will be up to 70%.

We should remind that on March 20, Mikhail Mishustin was instructed to provide the tax holidays for the payment of taxes and insurance premiums, the payment deadline of which falls before May 1, 2020 (for physical education and sports enterprises). But the entrepreneurs believe that these measures are not enough. In the letter, they proposed a number of measures that, in their opinion, could save the industry from bankruptcy:

• To extend the tax holidays for the entire quarantine period and 120 days after the lifting of the restrictions;

• To establish vacation for rental payments and for paying the utility bills for the entire quarantine period and 120 days after the lifting of the restrictions;

• To establish a moratorium on termination of lease agreements for the same period;

• To pay the compensations to the lessors from the non-state sector - from the land plots' lease, from the lease of the premises, sports facilities and structures;

• To issue the state anti-crisis loans from the NWF at 0% for a period of one year;

• To consider the possibility of providing the state-owned banks with the issuance of targeted interest-free loans for salaries to organizations, related to physical education and sports industry;

• To provide financial support to each amateur mass event of the 2020 season with the number of registered participants of 500 people or more;

• To recognize all the restrictive measures, taken by force majeure for the purpose of resolving disputes under existing agreements, at the federal level;

• To compensate the interest on current loans and leasing agreements;

• To provide mortgage / credit vacations for people, working in the field of physical education and sports for the period of quarantine and 120 days after;

• The amnesty for fines, accrued in 2020 and a moratorium on the new fines by September 1, 2020;

• To suspend the assigned inspections for small and medium-sized businesses in order to avoid the contacts with people;

• To increase the period for returning money upon the termination of contracts with individuals to 90 days;

• To provide additional support measures for the fitness clubs, located in the shopping centers and activity parks for the period of quarantine in the form of a delay or exemption from rental payments, as well as to develop a mechanism for compensation of losses to the owners;

• To provide the exemption from the insurance premiums and personal income tax to the budget from employees' salaries for the period of quarantine and 120 days after;

• Introduce a moratorium on the initiation and the introduction of bankruptcy procedures for 2020, except the cases of initiation by the debtors themselves.

A copy of the letter is at the disposal of “Rusbankrot” editorial office.