Foreign companies that are going to leave the Russian market may be forced to pay the so-called emergency tax along with Russian companies, sources told Bloomberg. According to the agency, the authorities are going to take such measures due to a serious budget deficit.
In February, it became known that the Russian authorities intended to arrange a single fee from companies to replenish the budget. Due to Western sanctions on Russian energy supplies, the country’s oil and gas revenue fell 45% in the first quarter. The budget deficit amounted to 2.4 trillion rubles. At the same time, according to the plan, the annual deficit was expected to be 2.9 trillion rubles.
To reduce the deficit, the Ministry of Finance proposed that all companies with a net profit before taxes of more than 1 billion rubles make a one-time contribution in the form of an “emergency tax.” The agency also decided to give a discount to those who pay early. Therefore, companies will not be able to pay 10% of the amount of excess profit in 2021-2022, but only 5%.
According to Bloomberg, similar requirements will be placed on foreign organizations leaving the market. The agency notes that if this year the volume of asset sales in the Russian Federation equals last year’s results of $15-20 billion, the Russian budget may receive up to an additional 150 billion rubles from the “emergency tax.”
As of April 17, the Russian budget deficit has risen to 4.77 trillion rubles, Bloomberg writes. This figure is 40% higher than the annual goal.
Author:
Natalia Gormaleva
Source: RB
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
