Russia’s tax authorities have doubled inspections of the country’s biggest companies, raising billions of roubles in additional liabilities as Moscow searches for money to sustain its war effort.
Inspectors carried out 60 on-site checks of large taxpayers between January and June 2026, according to figures from Russia’s Federal Tax Service reported by BCS Express and Izvestia. The companies targeted have annual revenues above 35bn roubles. Tax, penalty and fine assessments reached 16.3bn roubles, almost three times the 5.8bn roubles recorded in the first half of 2025.
The surge, reported on 10 September, comes as Russia’s federal budget moves towards a deficit far above its original assumptions. Experts estimate that the shortfall could reach 7tn roubles by the end of the year, while the Central Bank of Russia forecasts more than 8tn. Regional governments may face a further shortfall of about 2tn roubles.
A search for immediate revenue
The increased pressure on large businesses is directly connected to the Kremlin’s need to finance its continuing war and the associated military-industrial spending. Traditional sources of income, and even higher basic tax rates introduced in January 2026, are no longer sufficient to cover the state’s expanding needs.
Authorities have presented the tougher first-half enforcement campaign as part of the Federal Tax Service’s digital transformation and an effort to make the market more transparent. But the scale and timing of the checks point to a more urgent purpose: extracting additional cash from the civilian economy to help cover a critical budget gap.
Military spending is absorbing about half of Russia’s total state income, while strict monetary policy has made conventional market borrowing increasingly difficult. That leaves the tax service as one of the government’s most direct instruments for transferring funds from civilian companies to the war economy.
Billions at stake in individual cases
Additional tax assessments arise when inspectors identify unpaid liabilities. They can result from errors in declarations, understated income, unlawful splitting of a business between related entities, or the improper use of tax exemptions and special regimes. Companies must also pay interest for every day that a payment is overdue.
Alexei Matiushin, deputy head of the analytical practice at the legal firm Chistoye Sreda, said businesses most commonly challenge demands worth between 10m and 100m roubles. For the largest enterprises, however, claims increasingly run into hundreds of millions or billions.
A few years ago, a 50m-rouble assessment from an on-site inspection could become a major regional event. For a large corporation, a 500m-rouble claim is now no longer unusual. Fines generally amount to 20% of the unpaid sum, rising to 40% where the tax service establishes intent.
In Moscow, the average demand arising from a single on-site inspection rose by almost 60% over the year to 220m roubles in the first quarter of 2026. In some cases, claims have exceeded 1bn roubles. The financial risk is intensified by the weakness of companies’ legal position: court statistics show that 85% of tax disputes end in favour of the Federal Tax Service, while assessments are fully cancelled in only 5% of cases.
Pressure on investment, prices and jobs
For companies already facing expensive raw materials, components, logistics and borrowing, a sudden demand worth hundreds of millions of roubles can remove the liquidity needed to keep operating. Russia’s exceptionally high key interest rate has restricted access to credit and weakened consumer demand, leaving businesses with fewer ways to replace working capital.
The additional 16.3bn roubles assessed in the first half of the year therefore represents more than a transfer to the budget. It removes funds that could otherwise have been used for investment, advanced equipment and expanded production capacity. Over time, that reduces the ability of major industrial companies to modernise and increases the risk of stagnation in important sectors.
Businesses seeking to preserve margins are likely to pass part of the burden into their costs and, where demand allows, into retail prices. That adds to inflationary pressure. Where the sums cannot be passed on, companies face cash shortfalls, possible technical defaults on bank loans and difficulties meeting wage bills. Some may respond by cutting staff or reducing operations.
The widening enforcement campaign also changes the calculation of ordinary business decisions. Tax officials’ treatment of exemptions, special regimes and corporate structures can turn attempts to improve efficiency into allegations of unlawful business splitting or deliberate evasion. With most disputes ending in the state’s favour, the prospect of a large assessment may discourage companies from expanding or using legitimate tax-planning tools.
Russia’s immediate priority is to keep the budget funded as war costs continue to rise. The unresolved question is how long the state can draw liquidity from major civilian companies before the pressure weakens investment, production and employment more than it strengthens public finances.
Should Russian businesses absorb the tax burden, pass it on to consumers, or reduce investment and employment?
