To discourage Western companies that have not left Russia from doing so and to create new cash inflows, Moscow has tightened the rules they must abide by when they are about to leave, according to the daily Les Echos.
A 5% “exit tax”
Companies that decide to withdraw from the country at war with Ukraine for more than a year will now have to pay an “exit tax” of at least 5% of the market value of the assets in question, the newspaper explains. A tax that could go as high as 10% if companies seek to sell their assets locally for less than they are worth.
The tax is not new: the government has already informally and implicitly recommended a payment to the Russian state. But since Monday, the “exit tax” is formalized in the minutes of the meeting of the subcommittee of the Ministry of Finance in charge of controlling the rules for this type of transaction, specifies Les Echos.
French companies still in Russia
If the withdrawal or pause announcements were numerous at the beginning of the war, the truth is that many Western companies still have activities on the ground. On the French side, around 200 groups were present in the country before the invasion in February 2022; 20% left or announced their firm intention to do so according to Les Echos.
Danone but also Leroy Merlin could be the next to withdraw from Russia, which would force them to pay this “exit tax” that will allow the Russian state to replenish its increasingly opaque coffers and in need of large cash inflows to finance the war. and mitigate the effect of Western sanctions on the economy.
Source: BFM TV
