Dmitry Rastopchin, 16, from Podolsk, made his first money in seventh grade: he was bored with school and wanted to get into real business. He bought toys from Russian manufacturers in retail and sold them abroad on eBay. Buyers would transfer money to his stepfather's account. Now Rastopchin buys directly from 50 Russian manufacturers, and his company employs four teenagers. In four years, the entrepreneur has sold over 100,000 products in 10 international online stores. Revenues range from 500,000 roubles to 1 million roubles per month.
Now there are 387 underage individual entrepreneurs (IE) registered in Russia, 145 of them are under 17 years old, a representative of the Federal Tax Service (FTS) told Vedomosti. The Federal Tax Service does not keep statistics on legal entities founded by adolescents. In fact, there are a lot more teen entrepreneurs, they just mostly do not need official registration - they do small orders on the Internet and do not pay taxes, says partner of FBK Legal Alexander Ermolenko.
Teenagers are the most promising entrepreneurs, thinks venture investor Alexander Rumyantsev. They are very energetic, fear nothing, resolute, quick to grasp new technologies, he says. And every year more and more teenagers aspire to business: they want to help their parents and dream of becoming independent, says Daria Kharchenko, head of the department of education environment development at the Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF). About 2,000 schoolchildren in six Russian regions have taken the foundation's free entrepreneurship courses since the summer of 2017. "Vedomosti" talked to several successful entrepreneurs who started their own business when they were teenagers and found out what difficulties they had to overcome to create a profitable business.
ADVERTISEMENT
▼Scroll for more▼
Taking the Federal Tax Service under attack
Rastopchin looked for suppliers on the Internet and wrote letters. Manufacturers gave a bulk discount to individual entrepreneurs. The seventh-grader was inspired by the idea of becoming an individual entrepreneur and went to the branch of the Federal Tax Service. "The employee at the window was confused, consulted with colleagues and even called the manager. They conferred and said that 14-year-olds are not allowed to do business and sent me home," Rastopchin recalls. It was only at the third attempt to open a sole proprietorship, and only after a complaint to the Office of the Federal Tax Service in Moscow.
45 years old
That is the average age of founders of the fastest-growing American startups, according to the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research. Experts analyzed all companies launched in the U.S. in recent years and came to the conclusion that success is more often achieved by entrepreneurs of mature age, not young
According to the law, from the age of 14 teenagers have the right to register as a sole proprietorship and start a limited liability company only with written permission from their parents or legal representatives, says Sergey Shirokov, head of department of legal consulting of Garant-Victoria. However, the tax authorities have little experience of working with adolescents, so it is easier for them to refuse a schoolboy, the lawyer says.
The Federal Tax Service is much more willing to work with adolescents who managed to achieve emancipation (early recognition of full legal capacity in the guardianship authorities), says Shirokov. It is only possible to obtain emancipation from the age of 16. It is necessary to submit parental consent and many other documents to the guardianship authorities, and each region has its own requirements, Shirokov said. Often the guardianship authorities require proof that the child has a steady income - the teenager must be employed or have income from entrepreneurial activity.
If parents do not consent to emancipation, the teenager will have to go to court. Every year, courts consider no more than 30 such cases, in half the cases the court finds teenagers fully capable, Shirokov said.
Going to the bank without mom
To open a bank account is also a whole epic. If a teenager is not recognized as fully capable, he is still totally dependent on their parents and must agree with them on every transaction in the account, says the co-owner of Modulbank Oleg Laguta. If a child buys goods from a counterparty and his parents demand to cancel the payment - the bank is obliged to comply and return the money, Laguta explains. That's why many banks ask teenagers to bring a written permission from adults for every transaction, he says.
For a bank, a teenager is a high-risk client. According to the representative of Alfa-bank, young people are often appointed as nominal directors of fly-by-night companies - young people are not aware of the consequences of participation in such schemes. Banks are usually focused on adult clients, confirms Alexander Molokanov, head of strategic development of Promsvyazbank's medium and small business. He suggests that many schoolchildren find it easier to use their parents' sole proprietorships and legal entities.
Where a teenager can earn his first money
Rastopchin recalls that he applied to several banks, but they refused to give him access to his online account, asking for written parental consent for all transactions on the account. Then the schoolboy on
You must be logged in to post a comment.