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revenues are above 50mn rubles. The higher tax will be collected not from the entire amount but from the surplus above relevant thresholds.
The government submitted its amendments to the tax reform in July,
which is currently being discussed by the State Duma in the second reading. The amendments mostly add clarifications and introduce smaller changes to the original bill.
As announced earlier, regions will be able to introduce a tourist tax from 2025 on, however, under the new rules proposed by the government, the base rate of the tax would not be 65 rubles ($0.74) per room, but a set percentage of the cost of living, with the possibility of increasing it in later years (no more than 1% in 2025 and no more than 5% from 2029).
Regions will also be able to introduce tax breaks for small IT-companies at their own cost. The amendments also specify that income from transactions involving digital financial assets is taxed similarly to income from securities (that is, 13% or 15%); that microenterprises with a yearly income below 60 million rubles (approximately $682,000) are automatically exempt from paying VAT; and introduces a single-payment fixed personal income tax for the owners of five or more so-called controlled foreign companies.
All in all, the amendments do not change the core of the tax reform, which is expected to bring an extra 2.6 trillion rubles ($29.5 billion) next year, mostly to the federal budget. However, the changes do reflect a degree of concern with the state of regional and municipal finances. The bills may still change in the coming weeks before the vote in the Duma takes place.
6.1.3 Budget dynamics - govt funding plans
Russia’s Ministry of Finance plans to increase the volume of OFZ domestic ruble bonds placements in 3Q24 to RUB1.5 trillion ($11.5bn), up from RUB1 trillion of planned placements for RUB2Q24. As analysed by bne IntelliNews, investors into the Russian Finance Ministry’s OFZ treasury bills, the workhorse of the Russian budget, are getting squeamish. The OFZ placement plan for 2Q24 was fulfilled by only 51% with RUB0.5 trillion face value placements (after 103% fulfilled in 1Q24). “In June, amid the growing probability of a key rate hike by the Central Bank of Russia, floating coupon bonds (OFZ-PK) were in demand in the primary market, accounting for over 80% of the volume sold last month,” Renaissance Capital commented. The ambitious placement plan for 3Q24 implies that FinMin “will continue to actively offer [floating coupon] OFZ-PK on the primary market in 3Q24”, RenCap analysts argue. The ministry plans to raise about RUB4.5 trillion of face value OFZs for 2024, leaving about RUB1.2 trillion for 4Q24 placements.
137 RUSSIA Country Report August 2024 www.intellinews.com