The ruble will be saved: the authorities will tighten control over tax benefits
In Russia, they decided to strengthen control over tax benefits in order not to spend budget funds on those who do not need help. A number of companies will now have to use the Federal Tax Service's Tax-3 system, which gives authorities real-time access to their data. Such changes were prepared by the Ministry of Finance, Izvestia found out. This will make it possible to track cases when entrepreneurs try to cheat the system in order to receive benefits, for example, by splitting up their business or arranging artificial optimization so that the company only fits the benefits on paper. How much this will help reduce the number of those who tried to cheat is in the Izvestia article.
How do the authorities intend to monitor the work of the business
The Ministry of Finance wants to increase the transparency of tax benefits. The agency has prepared amendments to the draft resolution (Izvestia has it). Among the innovations is the mandatory use of special AIS Tax—3 software for residents of advanced development territories (TOP) and special economic zones (SEZs). This is a single centralized automated system of the Federal Tax Service. In addition, a single deadline for submitting reports is being introduced — until December 30.
TOP and SEZ are special economic zones in Russia with preferential business conditions, which differ in scale, geography and operating rules. For example, the first one is aimed at bringing problematic single-industry towns and remote regions out of crisis, diversifying the economy and creating jobs. And SEZs are divided into types for the development of specific industries.
Mandatory connection to the system gives supervisors access to company data in real time, and not just on the basis of submitted declarations, explained Ahmed Yusupov, an economist and partner at the Goldman and Po communications agency. They will be able to see inconsistencies in the prepared reports and identify blind spots in time, Natalia Milchakova, a leading analyst at Freedom Global, agreed. It will also become an alternative to constant inspections and reduce unnecessary paperwork, the expert believes.
The amendments have been prepared to improve the assessment of tax expenditures, improve its quality and objectivity, the press service of the Ministry of Finance told Izvestia.
Earlier, the head of the department, Anton Siluanov, said that the ministry constantly evaluates the effectiveness of tax incentives. He also noted that the Ministry of Finance, together with the Ministry of Economic Development, is considering the possibility of canceling some of them.
At the same time, the current tightening may be due to the fact that earlier the authorities promised not to raise taxes anymore in order to create conditions for income growth. In March 2026, Anton Siluanov said: The Ministry of Finance plans to improve administration for this.
For bona fide residents who actually fulfill their investment obligations, the new rules will not create fundamental problems — they will only formalize what was already assumed when obtaining the status, Akhmed Yusupov believes.
— But for companies that have used this status primarily as a tool for tax optimization, the risk of losing benefits increases significantly. The point precedent of the abolition of exemptions in the Magadan SEZ shows that the authorities are ready to apply more drastic measures: not only adjusting the rules for new participants, but also a complete revision of the conditions for individual regions," he concluded.
Since January 1, 2026, income tax and mining benefits have been abolished for participants of the special economic zone in the Magadan Region. In particular, mining companies have lost the opportunity to apply a reduction factor of 0.6 when calculating the mineral extraction tax. The changes also affected existing SEZ participants, not just new investors. In return, they were allowed to use an investment tax deduction. At the same time, the zone itself was not closed and customs privileges were retained — the authorities reviewed the key tax conditions of the regime.
The innovations proposed by the Ministry of Finance will eliminate the situation when benefits are provided for future investments, but are not converted into real projects, jobs and added value, added Alexey Begaev, founder of Insek Group, member of the General Council of Delovaya Rossiya.
At the same time, for honest projects with measurable investments, this increases predictability and reduces the risks of arbitrary decisions, he believes. In general, for residents of SEZ and TOP, this is another challenge to show and prove their relevance, the expert concluded.
How will this help the budget
The main reason for the tightening of control over tax benefits is the growing sensitivity of the budget to the volume of falling revenues against the background of serious preferences, says economist Ahmed Yusupov. For example, the reduced income tax is 2% to the federal budget and up to 13.5% to the regional budget for SEZ residents, while insurance premiums have been reduced to 7.6%.
— With such a scale of benefits, it is critically important for the state to understand whether residents fulfill their obligations. Or they use the status as a pure tax optimization," the expert noted.
Benefits consume several tens of billions of rubles annually from the state budget, which is currently in severe deficit, said financial adviser and founder of Rodin.Capital Alexey Rodin. In January – June, it reached 5.7 trillion rubles, although 3.7 trillion was allocated for the whole year.
He said that businesses often try to cheat the system. For example, it uses crushing schemes. Such companies are already being monitored, however, by automating the processes, it will become easier to identify the relationship, the expert explained.
Another goal is to avoid situations where relief is provided due to artificial optimization, that is, when only on paper the company fits the benefits. In fact, the innovation will be able to reduce the number of those who tried to cheat by an average of 15-20%, which is quite a significant indicator, given the complexity of tax processes, Alexey Rodin pointed out.
In conditions of high costs, the authorities are trying to move from the principle of "providing benefits" to the principle of "confirming its effectiveness," says Yaroslav Kabakov, Director of Strategy at Finam IC.
Now the government will be able to compare the volume of preferences received with actual investments, tax revenues and economic effect almost automatically, he explained.
According to Akhmed Yusupov, control will continue to tighten. In parallel, for example, this is already happening with IT benefits, where the Federal Tax Service more carefully checks the revenue structure of companies. This is part of the general trend of moving from formal to substantive supervision, the expert believes.
At the same time, every ruble saved on taxation must be spent not on increasing management bonuses or dividends, but on an investment program, says Natalia Milchakova from Freedom Global.
The existence of fiscal preferences should be justified, noted Ekaterina Golubtsova, Associate Professor of the Department of State and Municipal Finance at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. If they do not accelerate regional development, then their existence is called into question, she said. According to the expert, the possible abolition of ineffective benefits will have a positive impact on the sustainability of the state budget. At the same time, business, according to Alexey Chichirenkov, a leading lawyer in corporate practice and M&A at BBNP law firm, should prepare for much closer cooperation with tax authorities.
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