The number of registered individual entrepreneurs is growing against the background of a decrease in legal entities

The new Russian business prefers to register as individual entrepreneurs (IP): the number of such registrations in the first quarter increased by 6%, while the number of legal entities decreased by 25%, calculated in Spark-Interfax. Such dynamics is explained by the deterioration of business conditions, including due to a strict monetary policy, and attempts to use the IP created for tax optimization, known in Russian practice as “crushing”.

According to Spark-Interfax, the number of registrations of individual entrepreneurs in the fourth quarter of 2024 increased by 6% in annual terms, and in the first quarter of 2025-by another 3%. Prior to this, in the first three quarters of 2024, the indicator, on the contrary, decreased by 2%. The dynamics of registrations of legal entities continued to steadily decrease: by 10% in 2024 and by as many as 26% in the first quarter of 2025.

Experts explain the resumed growth in IP registration against the backdrop of a slowdown in the economy and reduction of legalist registrations both the growing attractiveness of this form of entrepreneurship among the population and attempts to use IP for tax optimization, re -registering individual components of legal entities (the so -called crushing) to fulfill the requirements of more attractive tax regimes. In addition, it is easier to create and conduct business as an IP: it is not needed by the authorized capital, it is easier to account, less mandatory reports and requirements, a simplified taxation system is available.

At the same time, individual entrepreneurs are sensitive to economic changes and the rigidity of monetary policy.

So, the increase in new IP loans in 2024 decreased to 4% (1.2 trillion rubles) after growth by 61% according to the results of 2023. It is even more noticeable this slowdown in the SME segment (without individual entrepreneurs). The high growth rate of lending has retained the construction and IT sector (growth of 1.4 times). The slowdown of lending was also facilitated by a sharp increase in delay on loans: the volume of debts with a delay over 90 days in 2024 increased more than doubled, to 86 billion rubles. The share of the delay in the total debt volume increased from 3.7% at the end of 2023 to 7.1%. The situation in IT (an increase of 5.3% to 10.9%), construction (from 5.7% to 10.5%) and retail trade (from 5.4% to 10.1%), as well as in professional and scientific and technical activities (from 3.8% to 8.1%). At the same time, although the volume of IP profits (an increase of 20%) exceeded the amount of debt by 2.1 times, the strengthening of the tax burden for individual entrepreneurs and the rigidity of the DCP will continue to negatively affect the payment discipline for loan service, the Spark-Interfax believes.

Separately, analysts note that entrepreneurs began to register IP in the field of professional and scientific and technical activities-growth was 25%, the share in the total number of registrations is 6.8%.

The interests of state policy affect the interest of such a business: scientific and technological development and support of small innovative companies have a budget priority. The number of registrations in the administrative sphere has also increased by 35%, which increased the share of the sector by 1.1 percentage points (p.), To 4.2%. The main drivers are employment services (44%growth), which is maintained by acute personnel deficit in the economy. The number of IP registrations in IT – by 26%increased by the leading pace, the share of the sector reached 3.6%.

The list of sectors leading in the number of registrations also included the construction and operations with real estate, however, the gradual coagulation of state support programs for the sector led to the slowdown of the increase in the number of IP-from 19% in 2023 to 6% in 2024 in construction and from 28% to 9% in real estate operations. Retail trade, the key segment of the IP business, weakened positions (probably against the backdrop of competition with marketplaces) – in this area, the number of registrations decreased by 13%, and its share in the total number of IP fell by 4.9 p., To 33.9%.

Diana Galieva