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Russia has confirmed plans to raise a tax on foreign companies quitting the country.
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Household names left Russia amid a global outcry over its invasion of Ukraine.
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Russia imposed taxes and financial penalties and this proved a boost for its coffers.
Russia has confirmed it will make it more expensive for foreign companies to quit the country.
On Thursday, Russia’s finance minister, Anton Siluanov, told reporters that the tax foreign companies must pay for selling their Russian assets would increase, Interfax reported.
The tax on the value of such a deal would rise from 15% to as much as 25%, “plus 5% one year and 5% in the next, so 35% in total,” he said, per the news agency.
Siluanov also said that the discount foreign companies must offer on the sale value of their assets would increase from 50% to 60%, Interfax added.
His words confirm a report last week by Russian state-controlled outlet RBC, which cited sources familiar with the discussions.
Russia first introduced the penalties for leaving after household names like McDonald’s announced they would leave or dramatically scale back activity in Russia, amid a global outcry over its invasion of Ukraine.
The money has been a major boost to Russian coffers. In March, RBC reported companies leaving Russia had already paid 35.7 billion rubles, or about $387 million, into Russia’s budget.
The process of leaving Russia is often complex, thorny, and costly.
In March, a Reuters analysis found that foreign companies had incurred costs of more than $107 billion in writedowns and lost revenue.
Earlier this year, Russia’s deputy finance minister, Alexei Moiseyev, said that the Russian state was taking in a “significant amount” and said that there were “no plans” to increase the exit tax, Interfax reported.
Yuri Nikolaev, managing partner of law firm Nikolaev and Partners, told RBC that the new measures were designed to pressure foreign companies to stay and keep money in Russia despite sanctions.
Public pressure in the West for companies to divest from Russia has been intense, causing PR headaches for those who have hesitated.
According to LeaveRussia, a tracker run by the Kyiv Institute of Economics, at least 428 companies have fully exited Russia, with more than 1,700 continuing operations.
Hundreds of others have opted to scale back or suspend operations, per the tracker.
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