Relationship of Tax Burden and Firm Size in the Timber Industry in Russia

The tax burden indicator is one of the criteria for tax risk assessment used by tax authorities for making the decision to conduct an on-site tax audit. The dynamics of the tax burden indicator is considered to be a catalyst for the development of positive or negative tax relations between the taxpayer and the tax authority. It is very important to understand the relationship between the tax burden indicator and the firm's size in order to form an objective approach to tax control of micro, small and medium-sized businesses in different industries. The purpose of the research is to define a relationship between the level of tax burden and the firm's size in the Russian timber industry. The hypothesis of the research is that the tax burden increases as the size of the firm grows in the timber industry in Russia. Firms belonging to the categories of micro and small businesses were selected randomly, taking into account the priority characteristics of the firm's size by the average number of employees. The tax burden was calculated using the official methodology of the Federal Tax Service of Russia. The calculation of the tax burden level was performed for each respondent. The average values of tax burden indicators were also calculated by industry and for each category of business activity. We found that the average level of the tax burden increases when the size of businesses increases generally for all branches of the timber industry. At the same time, the researched characteristics of the firm's size (revenue and average number of employees) have a significant impact on changes in the level of the tax burden both in general and individually in such branches of the timber industry as logging, woodworking and furniture production. The tax burden level in the above-mentioned industries increases as the firm's size increases. In the pulp and paper industry, the tax burden level increases as from micro firms to small firms, but the tax burden level decreases as firms continue to grow from small to medium-sized ones.