Amendments to the Tax Code of the Russian Federation from 2026
Amendments to the invoice form have been approved. From January 1, 2026, an additional requisite must be included in the invoice form, indicating the date and number of the invoice issued upon receipt of advance payment, credited against future deliveries of goods (works, services). The updated invoice form comes into effect on April 1, 2026. Until this date, the use of the recommended form is permitted, provided the requirement to include the new requisite is met.
List of expenses under the Simplified Tax System (STS). From January 1, 2026, the composition of expenses under the STS is determined by rules analogous to those for the Corporate Profits Tax: the list becomes open-ended, and expenses are recognized in accordance with the criteria of Article 252 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. When taxing profits, contributions to the authorized capital and contributions to partnerships are not taken into account; these restrictions also extend to the STS. Consequently, when determining the tax base under the STS, expenses for the acquisition of property rights (participatory interests), as well as amounts increasing the contribution to the organization's property made in cash, are not included in the composition of expenses.
Transactions between related parties. From January 1, 2026, the list of transactions recognized as being between related parties is supplemented with a new basis: transactions where one of the parties is a person registered in a state (or territory) where the corporate profit tax rate is set at 15% or lower.
Compiling a list of states with a reduced corporate profit tax rate is deemed impractical due to the potential volatility of their tax legislation. The Tax Code of the Russian Federation does not establish sources of information on corporate profit tax rates of foreign states. An assessment of the relevant circumstances is made on a case-by-case basis. The tax rate is confirmed by a regulatory legal act in effect during the period the transaction was made, indicating the source of its text and attaching a translation into Russian.
Exemption from Personal Income Tax (PIT) on income from the sale of a share in the authorized capital. From January 1, 2026, with respect to income from the sale of shares in the authorized capital of Russian organizations, the conditions for tax exemption apply that are identical to the conditions provided for securities (shares). The holding period (more than 5 years) as a criterion for exemption is retained. Confirmation of compliance with the condition that the value of real estate located in the territory of the Russian Federation and owned by the organization directly or indirectly does not exceed 50% of the value of its assets is carried out on the basis of financial statements as of the last day of the calendar month preceding the month of sale of these shares.
If the preparation of interim reporting is not provided for on the specified date, the following should guide the confirmation of the relevant condition. The rule regulating the exemption from taxation of income from the sale of shares remains unchanged. Consequently, the position of the Ministry of Finance formulated in 2021 remains relevant. The taxpayer is exempt from paying personal income tax, provided that the asset structure is confirmed in accordance with accounting requirements as of the last day of the month preceding the month of sale of the shares or participatory interests.
Bad debt. From January 1, 2026, a restriction is introduced on recognizing debt as bad. Amounts equal to the amount of income for which the recognition date under the accrual method (according to the rules of Article 271 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation) has not yet arrived at the time of writing off this debt cannot be recognized as bad debts. This rule applies to all types of debt for which income had not been reflected in tax accounting by the time of write-off.