Russian authorities are discussing the possibility of imposing a windfall tax for 2025 at the level of 20%, Interfax reported, citing a source.
According to the agency’s interlocutor, Vladimir Putin instructed the relevant departments to work on such a proposal on March 10; The deadline is today, April 10.
The source indicated that it is proposed to impose the tax on the increase in the company’s profits for the year 2025 over the average profit in 2018-2019. This period was used as the basis for calculating income tax for the period 2021-2022.
The head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), Alexander Shukhin, said at the end of March after a working meeting with Putin that the participants discussed the issue of excess profits tax. “All the mechanisms are in the tax code,” Shukhin said. “The other thing is that there is no profit, and many are at a loss.”
The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation has not yet commented on the Interfax information.
In August 2023, Vladimir Putin signed a law on a one-time excess profits tax for large companies. In that year, the official tax rate was 10%, but companies could pay a 5% tax if they made a security deposit in advance. The vast majority of companies have taken advantage of this opportunity. It is unclear whether a similar payment acceleration mechanism is currently under discussion.
The budget ultimately received nearly 319 billion rubles in windfall taxes for 2021-2022, but only 3.3 billion rubles came at the 10% rate, not the “preferential” 5% rate.