You don't need a Russian entity to owe Russian VAT. E-services have been in scope since 2017; from 2026 the net covers online goods and marketplaces — at a 22% base rate. We register, file and defend foreign suppliers end to end.
Software licences, SaaS, hosting, online ads, streaming, apps, content, data. B2C supplies require your own FTS registration; pure B2B usually shifts VAT to the buyer as tax agent.
Physical goods ordered online by Russian buyers from a foreign seller. Newly in scope: registration and VAT duties now reach the seller directly, even with no Russian presence.
Foreign platforms facilitating sales by other sellers to Russian buyers carry their own registration and tax-agent duties — the most complex corner of the regime.
Selling into Russia without an FTS registration — knowingly or not. The obligation accrues either way; acting first is cheaper than being found.
Registered under the old rules, filing quarterly, nobody has re-checked since the 22% change. Most errors we find are silent — wrong rate, wrong base, missed agent supplies.
Facilitating other sellers’ sales to Russian buyers makes the platform itself a taxpayer and tax agent. Scoping who owes what across the chain is the hard part — and our specialty.
30 minutes, free. We map your flows to the regime and tell you plainly whether there’s an obligation.
A fixed-fee conclusion you can rely on — and show to your board, bank or auditor.
FTS registration, historic filings if needed, payment mechanics from abroad — handled.
Quarterly filings with a named adviser. You see every return before it goes in.
Leads the foreign-supplier VAT practice. Before TaxWell — Big Four indirect-tax teams in Moscow, advising foreign software and e-commerce groups on the Russian regime since the 2017 e-services rules came in.
Your engagement letter names your adviser. Every filing carries their sign-off — you always know who to call.
“Suppliers often reach us after years of unregistered sales. Voluntary disclosure, catch-up filings, penalties argued down — for us that's routine work, not a crisis.”
No. Unlike the EU’s distance-selling thresholds, the Russian regime has no de-minimis — the obligation turns on what you supply and where your customer is, not on volume. Volume only affects how much is at stake.
The obligation accrues whether or not you register — unpaid VAT, late-payment interest and penalties build against the supplier. Voluntary registration before the FTS reaches out is materially cheaper than the alternative, and we structure the catch-up filing.
Often, yes — for pure B2B e-services the buyer-as-agent mechanism usually removes your registration duty. But it depends on your contracts, invoicing and whether a platform sits in the chain. We confirm it in writing so you can rely on it.
Two things: the base rate rose to 22% (computed rate 18.03% for e-services), and foreign sellers of physical goods sold online to Russian buyers — and the marketplaces facilitating them — came into scope for registration.
Yes — the foreign-supplier regime is designed exactly for that: registration with the FTS as a foreign supplier, filings and payments from abroad. If your model eventually needs an entity, that’s a separate conversation we’ll flag early.
Paying Russian VAT from abroad has working routes, and we manage the payment mechanics as part of the engagement. It’s a solved problem, not a blocker.
Two minutes, five questions, no email required to see the verdict. If it's amber or red, a named adviser takes it from there.
ex-Big Four team · Moscow · since 2018 · © TaxWell & Partners
Practical support for international business in Russia.