Tax Free System in the Russian Federation
Dear guests of the Russian Federation!
The system for the refund of value added tax – VAT – (Tax Free system) came into operation in Russia in April 2018.
Citizens of foreign countries that are not members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU – Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia) have the right to refund VAT.
To refund VAT you need to purchase goods from one retailer during one day for at least 10 000 rubles (incl. tax), at retailers approved by the Russian Government.
Many retailers based in the following regions offer VAT refund services:
- Republic of Buryatia
- Republic of Mordovia
- Republic of Tatarstan
- Zabaikalsky Krai
- Krasnodar Krai
- Krasnoyarsk Krai
- Primorsky Krai
- Khabarovsk Krai
- Amur Region
- Volgograd Region
- Irkutsk Region
- Kaliningrad Region
- Leningrad Region
- Moscow Region
- Nizhny Novgorod Region
- Novgorod Region
- Rostov Region
- Samara Region
- Sverdlovsk Region
- City of Moscow
- City of Saint Petersburg
VAT refund does not apply to excisable goods (for example, alcohol and tobacco products).
To have VAT refunded, goods must be exported through checkpoints, the list of which has been approved by the Russian Government:
I. Land checkpoints:
- •Brusnichnoe
- •Zabaikalsk
- •Ivangorod
- •Kraskino
- •Kyakhta
- •Mamonovo (Gzhehotki)
- •Svetogorsk
- •Torfyanovka
II. Airp checkpoints:
- Vladivostok (Knevichi)
- Volgograd (Gumrak)
- Yekaterinburg (Koltsovo)
- Zhukovsky (Moscow region)
- Irkutsk
- Kazan
- Kaliningrad (Khrabrovo)
- Krasnoyarsk (Emelyanovo)
- Moscow (Vnukovo)
- Moscow (Domodedovo)
- Moscow (Sheremetyevo)
- Nizhny Novgorod (Strigino)
- Rostov-on-Don (Platov)
- Samara (Kurumoch)
- Saint Petersburg (Pulkovo)
- Saransk
- Sochi
- Ulan-Ude (Mukhino)
- Khabarovsk (Novy)
- Chita (Kadala)
III. Sea checkpoints
- Great Port of Saint Petersburg
- Vladivostok
- Passenger port of Saint Petersburg
IV. Mixed checkpoints
- Blagoveshchensk
Individuals will be able to apply for a tax refund within one year from the date of goods purchase, provided that they are exported from Russia within three months from the date of purchase.
More details are available at websites of the Tax Free agencies operating in Russia:
- DIGITAXFREE (https://digitaxfree.ru/)
- Global Blue (http://www.globalblue.com/)
- SberTax Free (https://sbertaxfree.ru/)
