For Western companies that are still operating on Russian territory but want to leave, they will have to pay an “exit tax” of at least 5% imposed by the Kremlin, among others, to discourage them.
To dissuade Western companies that have not left Russia from doing so, and to create new cash inflows, Moscow has tightened the rules they must follow when leaving, according to the newspaper. The echoes.
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 concerned, explains the newspaper. A tax that could even reach 10% if firms seek to sell their assets locally for less than they are worth.
“Westerners will only be able to leave Russia by paying this tax and therefore running the risk of being accused of financing the Russian state and its war in Ukraine,” warns an observer in Moscow.
The tax is not new: a payment to the Russian state was already recommended by the government in an informal and implied way. But since Monday, the “exit tax” has been formalized in the minutes of the meeting of the sub-committee 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 announcements of withdrawal or pause were numerous at the beginning of the war, the fact remains that many Western companies still have activities on the spot. 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 therefore force them to pay this “exit tax” and allow the Russian state to bail out its increasingly opaque coffers, finance the war. and mitigate the effect of Western sanctions on the economy.
