The Federal Fiscal Service of Russia has calculated record contributions from businesses and citizens since the beginning of the large-scale war in Ukraine. According to data cited by the publication Izvestia, as a result of checks carried out in the first nine months of the year, tax debts and penalties reached 443 billion rubles.
The fiscal institution conducted around 45,000 checks between January and September.
Izvestia writes that, although the number remained almost unchanged compared to last year, the additional payments calculated increased by almost half.
At the same time, the number of complaints against individuals doubled, and penalties for individual entrepreneurs increased by almost 10%.
The checks found underestimation of income, artificial increase of expenses, and partial payment of “envelope” salaries to reduce calculated taxes and social contributions.
In the case of individuals, tax inspectors most often discovered unreported income from the sale and rental of properties, assets and income from abroad, as well as transactions with cryptocurrencies.
Anton Stepanov, a partner at Kept – one of the leading audit and consulting firms in the Russian market – suggests that the situation is related to inflation and the intensification of checks.
Evghenia Sabitova, a lawyer and blogger, reminded that in 2025 the procedure for calculating penalties for late payment of taxes changed, now counting each day of delay.
The increase in the amounts additionally calculated by the fiscal body also contributed to the increase in the base rate applied by the Central Bank of Russia. Since June 2025, it is 16.5%, after previously increasing to 21%.
