Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed to amend the legislation providing for the exemption of tour operators from paying value added tax for the period from January 1, 2023 to June 30, 2027. The instruction concerns organizations working in the field of domestic and inbound tourism. This is stated in the list of instructions following the meeting with members of the government, published on Kremlin website. Changes to the legislation must be made before June 1, 2023.
The head of the Ministry of Economic Development Maxima Reshetnikova proposed to exempt tour operators from VAT during a meeting on tourism development chaired by Vladimir Putin on January 24. According to the head of the Ministry of Economic Development, tour operators have begun to lose competition to small companies or digital platforms operating under the simplified taxation system (STS), as they themselves still pay VAT in the amount of 20% of the total amount.
Finance Minister Anton Siluanov then noted that if tour operators are exempted from paying VAT, the reduction in budget revenues will be regarding 3-4 billion rubles.
Among other instructions in the field of tourism, which the president gave following the meeting, is an increase in the share of soft loans for the construction of hotels and the determination of the territory for their construction, as well as the provision of soft loans to organizations and individual entrepreneurs in the field of the tourism industry. In addition, Vladimir Putin instructed to create measures of state support for maritime high-speed passenger transportation in the Azov-Black Sea basin.
Read more regarding the taxation of tour operators in the material “The Ministry of Economics entered the taxation of tourism.”