The legal status of digital platforms and their employees: Transformation at the intersection of tax and labor law
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu25.2025.106Abstract
The article examines the process of formation of the legal status of digital platforms and their employees in foreign countries and the Russian Federation. The issues of tax and labor law are closely related in this case, since the amount of tax obligations of the platform itself and this employee depends on whether the legislator considers the relationship between the platform and the persons working on it as labor or civil law. The features of digital platforms as business models are considered, the key ideas reflected in the reports of international organizations and scientific literature, as well as the experience of foreign countries are summarized. Unlike traditional business models, the platform’s business model does not own the means of production, but rather creates and facilitates connectivity by acting as an intermediary. At the same time, platforms allow participants to create and benefit for themselves, as well as bring significant profits to the platform developer through network effects. Various classifications of digital platforms are proposed, based on which it is possible to further consider the specifics of regulating the activities of platforms and their employees from the point of view of tax law. The features of the status of employees of digital platforms from the point of view of labor law are also considered. It is noted that in world practice, the legislator more often approaches such persons as self-employed, however, under certain conditions, the relationship between the platform and an individual can be qualified as labor. Thus, the most important problem is to ensure the legal protection of the platform’s employees due to the lack of definition of their legal status. The EU Directive on digital labour work has been reviewed. It is concluded that the practice of regulating the activities of people employed on digital platforms varies significantly from country to country, but in most countries they are recognized as self-employed. This dichotomy also determines the different tax and legal statuses of these individuals: either they are an employee who pays insurance premiums and has a certain level of social guarantees, or they are self-employed, whose social rights are guaranteed at a lower level because they do not pay insurance premiums.
Keywords:
digital platforms, tax law, platform employment, digital economy, self-employed, labor relations, EU Court of Justice, harmonization, digital platform employees
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