Everyone in the gym: the authorities plan to replace state financing of sports with private ones

They intend to partially close the shortage of funds for the development of children's sports in Russia with the help of business. A new income tax deduction will be introduced for those who transfer funds and property to sports clubs and sections. Such a bill was supported by the government, sources in the Cabinet of Ministers told Izvestia. Over the past few years, the financing of physical education and sports from the budget has been steadily decreasing. And the new mechanism will help to attract significant funds. In the future, the benefits may be expanded to other areas, experts say. Whether this measure will help improve the educational conditions of schoolchildren in the regions is described in the Izvestia article.

How to get a deduction for business income tax

The authorities decided to replace state financing of sports with private financing. Russia plans to introduce a tax deduction for businesses investing in such schools and other educational institutions with sports sections. Enterprises will be allowed to reduce the amount of income tax by up to 100% of the invested money. Such a bill was supported in the Cabinet of Ministers, government sources told Izvestia.

The project actually offers a new investment deduction. At the same time, the initiative will not require additional budget expenditures, so it was supported by the Ministry of Finance, as well as other relevant departments — the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Sports and the Ministry of Education, as well as the Ministry of Justice, according to the draft government resolution on the bill.

— This will definitely help attract additional finances to the sports sector. Unfortunately, without investors, it will be more difficult to solve the task that the president sets for us by 2030, so that 70% of the country's residents play sports," explained Dmitry Svishchev, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Physical Education and Sports.

Financing of sports, especially for children and youth, as well as schools, is now very difficult due to the budget deficit, which reached 4.95 trillion rubles in the first half of 2025, said economist Andrei Barkhota. Many sports teams in the regions are experiencing a shortage of sponsors, and the condition of sports facilities and schools leaves much to be desired.

Government investments in physical education and sports are also declining, according to budget data for 2025-2027. If in 2022 almost 90 billion rubles were allocated from the treasury for these purposes, then in 2025 — only 69 billion.

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The new bill proposes to make investments in sports education and development not just charity, but to allow companies to receive tax deductions for them, that is, to partially recover their expenses through a reduction in income taxes, Andrei Barkhota explained.

"This will help ensure the flow of funds to organizations that really need it," said Valery Tumin, a member of the expert council on the development of the digital economy under the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy.

The initiative aimed at supporting sports organizations can work in much the same way as the 2023 tax deduction for educational institutions, said Vera Kononova, an economist at the Institute for Integrated Strategic Studies. Currently, businesses that transfer property to schools and other state-accredited educational organizations for free can gradually recover their expenses by reducing income tax.

However, now it works only in half of Russia's regions, because this measure was taken at the local level, the expert continued. In addition, this deduction is given with "additional conditions" — for example, according to the minimum donation amount or the type of organization. Nevertheless, according to the Federal Tax Service, thanks to this mechanism, schools received almost 22 billion rubles in 2024. This is not enough to expand the number of institutions and modernize them, but it is in any case a considerable amount.

How investments in social infrastructure work

If the bill is passed, businesses will have another opportunity to reduce income tax, turning spending on social projects into financial benefits, said Oleg Abelev, head of the analytical department at the Rikom-Trust investment company. Such a mechanism will attract private funds to municipal sports organizations, help develop local infrastructure, improve conditions for mass sports and create long-term partnerships, enhancing the reputation of companies.

This direction is logical for recent years: the government encourages businesses to invest in social infrastructure not only through subsidies, but also through tax preferences, explained Valery Tumin. Companies will receive an economic incentive to invest in schools, especially in regions with low project costs and significant social impact.

— At the same time, the tool will not completely solve the problem of overcrowding in educational institutions — this requires more serious budget expenditures and comprehensive support, — said Valery Tumin.

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Since the beginning of the implementation of the relevant federal program, more than 5,000 institutions have already been repaired.

In addition, such deductions can reduce tax revenues to the budget. However, this will not significantly affect treasury revenues. In 2025, the corporate income tax was increased from 20% to 25%. In eight months, the budget received twice as much funds under this item as in the same period last year — 2.3 trillion, Izvestia previously wrote.

Nevertheless, the mechanism is very promising, the expert concluded. Tax deductions make it possible to solve certain social problems not at the expense of the treasury, but at the expense of the economy itself. This can be more effective than budget allocation, because business itself is interested in the result: companies choose projects with the greatest social impact and control the use of funds. This approach reduces the risk of misuse, accelerates the implementation of projects and attracts additional resources, which are often not enough in the state budget.

In the future, non-profit organizations (NPOs) could receive similar support, Valery Tumin believes. Many of them face financing problems and lack of stable donors. If businesses are encouraged to invest in charities for tax deductions, this will attract stable cash flows to the "third sector", which will help solve a lot of social problems.

In fact, the initiative, starting with sports organizations, can then spread further to business investments in culture, ecology, science, and healthcare, Oleg Abelev noted. The amount of the deduction may vary, but the essence will remain common, and socially significant areas will receive systematic support.