Overview

• The Finance Ministry has proposed lifting the value‑added tax to 22% starting in 2026, keeping a 10% reduced rate for socially significant goods such as food, medicines, children’s items, periodicals, books and breeding livestock.
• Minister Anton Siluanov told the Federation Council the VAT move would add about one percentage point to inflation, which the government has incorporated into planned wage and social‑payment adjustments.
• Siluanov said the broader package of tax measures is expected to increase budget revenues by roughly 2.3 trillion rubles in 2026.
• First Deputy Finance Minister Irina Okladnikova said ending the VAT preference for purchases of domestic software would yield about 25 billion rubles in 2026, describing the benefit as temporary under a presidential directive to reassess such reliefs.
• Digital Minister Maksut Shadayev previously flagged plans to raise payroll contribution rates for IT firms and remove the VAT break on registry‑listed software, as lawmakers now consider the government’s proposals within the 2026–2028 budget process.