Russia assesses record taxes post-Ukraine war start
The Russian Federal Tax Service (FTS) has calculated record tax liabilities and penalties for businesses and citizens since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine.
According to data cited by the publication Izvestia, the total amount of tax arrears and fines applied following audits in the first nine months of the year reached 443 billion rubles.
The fiscal authority conducted approximately 45,000 audits between January and September.
Izvestia reports that while the number of audits remained largely unchanged compared to last year, the additional payments assessed increased by nearly half.
Simultaneously, the number of complaints against individuals doubled, and penalties for individual entrepreneurs rose by nearly 10%.
The audits uncovered several common schemes, including understatement of income, artificial exaggeration of expenses, and partial payment of wages 'under the table' (unreported cash payments) to reduce calculated taxes and social contributions.
In the case of individuals, tax inspectors most frequently discovered unreported income from the sale and rental of properties, undeclared foreign assets and income, as well as cryptocurrency transactions.
Anton Stepanov, a Partner at Kept—one of the leading audit and consultancy firms in the Russian market—suggests the situation is linked to inflation and the intensification of inspections.
Evgenia Sabitova, a lawyer and blogger, noted that the procedure for calculating penalties for late tax payments changed in 2025, with penalties now accruing for every day of delay.
The increase in the additionally assessed amounts by the tax authority was also driven by the rise in the Russian Central Bank's key interest rate. Since June 2025, the rate has been 16.5%, having previously surged to 21%.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
