Many citizens reacted negatively to the news that a tax on summer cottages could appear soon. The government is seriously worried about the budget deficit. In the long term - an increase in the retirement age, an increase in personal income tax by 1-2%, the previously canceled duties will resume. The most “daring” politicians want to oblige the unemployed to pay for municipal clinics, schools, hospitals.
In such an environment, the tax on wells looks nothing compared to what we can expect. But first things first.
Well taxes in Russia
Turn to the law. The Federal Law "On Subsoil", as well as the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, allows the use of wells and boreholes for personal use in household plots and cottages.
But only for the purpose of watering and watering animals. Paradoxically, the Tax Code does not contain information about the needs of the person himself in the consumption of water from a well. But let's not cling to it. As the saying goes, "what is not prohibited is allowed."
Under what conditions are wells tax-free
At the moment, there is no tax on wells under the following conditions:
- The water intake is located on a personal or summer cottage.
- Consumption is only for watering and watering animals (here, most likely, personal use is also assumed).
- The fence is taken only from the first water horizon (as a rule, it is up to 30-40 meters, depending on the depth of the limestone).
- The central supply of the population is carried out from a different depth.
- No entrepreneurial activity is being conducted.
Consequently, the tax on a well used for watering cucumbers and tomatoes is not threatened by a common summer resident. In any case, for now. Maybe a few months will pass, and all the information about it will become obsolete, and all the grandmothers who water the garden from their well will be required to pay a state duty.
Getting permission for a well
Therefore, if it is allowed to use water from a well for watering animals, you can protect yourself from future fines and sanctions by the authorities. Who knows what they have in mind tomorrow. Lack of money will force to write fines to local rural budgets. Namely, money should go there on the initiative of lawmakers if they nevertheless introduce a tax on a well of any depth.
The first thing to do is to find out if the very first horizon that serves as a source for the central water supply is located on your site. Most likely, it is unlikely, because drinking water from this depth is contraindicated (maybe that is why there is no mention of personal use in the Tax Code).
Documents for contacting the Territorial Fund of Geological Information
For this purpose, you need to contact the territorial geological information fund or another body that replaces it.
To do this, you must:
- Fill out an application.
- Pay the fee (it is better to check the size on the spot).
- Attach a 1:10 000 scale map to the application, on which the site is indicated.
After obtaining “permission”, or rather, “absence of a ban”, state bodies (as a rule, this is the competence of Rosprirodnadzor) will be fearless.
If drilling was in accordance with the law (Federal Law "On Subsoil"), then no one has the right to demand the design of a well. Government agencies may initiate compliance checks. But we have already been safe from the source of the central water supply, and the depth of the well reaches only the first water horizon. No tax on water from the well threatens you, because it has not yet been introduced. So you can’t be afraid of any fines.
Deep water well drilling
As for deepwater drilling, this is not the case here. People make such wells in order to obtain artesian water. And this is no longer “sand” for watering. This water is almost equal to minerals. Well tax is provided here, depending on the depth, which is more than 100 meters. But for this you will need a license.
Artesian or groundwater: what is the difference?
Everyone intuitively understands that artesian water is better than groundwater. But how is it different? We’ll try to figure it out.
Artesian water is located between two dense layers. This allows you to protect it from various atmospheric precipitation, as well as from the penetration of wastewater. By nature, this is pure water, which is also not subject to human influence. It is a valuable resource not just of our country, but of all mankind. In the world, the percentage of such water is negligible. We are fortunate that Russia is rich in such a resource. Just imagine that some citizen cut a hole in his house and simply drains the water into the river using less than 0.001% of it. Pure natural water, whose resource is very limited, merges with the local swamp, in which frogs and leeches live. You must admit that such information fundamentally changes the position on whether a well tax is required on the well of the cleanest and rarest water in the world? Someone should control the rationality of its use? The answer is obvious - of course, yes.
"You can not forbid to take"?
Remember the famous phrase from the tale: "You can’t have mercy on execution"? Roughly the same thing happens with permission to use artesian water for individuals. Only a license gives the right to it, and this a priori implies the creation of a legal entity. Without this action it is impossible to receive it.
But there are moments under the pressure of which you can obtain permits without creating a legal entity:
- There are no other alternative sources of water (for example, in Crimea).
- A well already exists and it is necessary to legitimize it. Although, most likely, in this case, the likelihood of an order to drown it will be higher.
Obtaining a license. Stage One: Permission from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology
The tax on wells and wells is an ordinary trifle compared to what you have to go through. First, we list the requirements of state bodies for the site for future drilling of artesian water:
- Sources of chemical contamination should not be located closer than 300 meters. This is not about military training grounds for the use of weapons of mass destruction. By "sources" is meant gas stations, tank farms, industrial facilities, etc.
- Biological threat objects should not be closer than 200 meters. By them are meant landfills, cattle cemeteries, sewers, etc.
- Objects of human activity should not be closer than 30 meters. These are houses, gardens, plants, etc.
- The soil where the well will be cannot be fertilized with any chemical elements.
- The drilling site must be surrounded by a fence.
- There should not be any utilities or structures under the well.
Before issuing a permit, you will have to conduct a couple of meetings with an employee of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology (MPRiE). And believe me, he is not interested in issuing you a license. This department is trying to "protect" nature. The extra “allowed” well is another “headache” for the department.
Hence the conclusion - it is necessary to fulfill all the requirements of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology (MPRiE).
Stage Two: Document Collection
In our country, the collection of references, documents and permits, perhaps, is a whole science. Here the expression is relevant: "Bring a statement from every woman that you are not married to her." With the issuance of a license, you will have to remember this catch phrase. But official use for half a century of pure and healthy water is worth the effort. The following documents will be required:
- General and situational plan of the site.
- The basis for the right of ownership (contract of sale, lease, etc.).
- Cadastral plan.
- Certificate of tax registration.
- Documents of the legal sheet (charter, certificate of registration, etc.).
Stage Three - Additional Agreements
Further the most interesting. It is necessary to calculate the consumption of daily water and provide data to the already known MNRE. Suddenly it turns out that a citizen will use up too much water. In fact, there is no sarcasm here, because landslides that occur “through the fault” of wells quite often occur. This leads to the ingress of harmful substances into artesian water, after which it is necessary to carry out cleaning work.
Stage Four and Fifth: “Road” to Rospotrebnadzor and Oblkomvod
Rospotrebnadzor should approve the project to create a sanitary protection zone for the first borehole belt (approximately 60 x 60 m).
Oblkvod agrees and verifies the design of the future well.
Responsibilities of the owner of an artesian well
The package of documents has been compiled.
Now you can go to the Department of Subsoil Use and get permission to drill. Along with this, a citizen receives not only the right to use the well, but also:
- A license that has an “expiration date” (payment for it is not a well tax yet).
- The agreement, which will have to deal with monitoring the status of groundwater.
- Taxes.
- Statistical reporting.
- Cadastral number of the well.
- Geological examination (conducted by employees of the Department of subsoil use).
How much will you have to pay?
Each well has a technical passport, cadastral number and meter for consumed water. Depending on the region and the purpose of use, the amount for each thousand cubic meters will differ. But today this amount is around 80 rubles. This, of course, is a “penny” compared to, say, 20 rubles per cubic meter of tap water. But we will answer these “economists” right away - the license itself and all approvals will cost about 1 million rubles. And this is not counting the amount for drilling. Depending on the region, it is different. In Moscow, for example, it ranges from 500 thousand rubles. up to 2 million - depending on the depth of the well and limestone.
Sanitary zone: what is it?
It was discussed above that Rospotrebnadzor agree on a sanitary zone.
Employees of this department should come to the site and conduct a water analysis. The task is to determine the purpose of its use. In other words, to establish whether it is possible to consume water for food or only for technical needs. But we agree that for their own safety this is a "good" prescription. I don’t really want to drink water and think in what kind of resuscitation you will find yourself.
Summary
If a summer resident has an ordinary well for watering a plot with a depth of some 10-15 m, then he has nothing to fear, he will not have to pay the tax on water from the well for individuals.
But what will happen, say, in a year or two, no one can say. Perhaps the well tax in a private house will be mandatory for everyone.