Russian Government publish a draft bill to impose VAT on the supply of e-services to consumers

2 February 2016

The Russian Government has published a draft bill which imposed the charge of Russian VAT at 18% on the sales of e-services to consumers.

At present, non-resident businesses providing digital goods and services in Russia do not have to charge VAT on their sales. However, in an effort to remove the unfair advantage given to non-resident companies over Russian resident providers, the Russian Government has now announced that VAT at 18% will be applied on these types of transactions from 1 January 2017. This new tax will be applied to a range of electronic services including streaming games, music, apps, films, e-books, e-journals and internet services.