// wiki · analysis · September 2026
AI expenses: coefficients and deductions
Draft article. The coefficients follow the Tax Code as in force from 2025; the conditions of application are verified against the current text of the Code before publication.
A draft for discussion. The idea of the article is to show that the price of the same AI project for profit tax differs several times over depending on how the expenses are framed: as R&D, as a purchase of register software, or as ordinary services.
The short answer
The state shares the cost of domestic AI with business through three instruments: own R&D and purchases of register software are counted at double size, while “intellectual” fixed assets and intangibles depreciate three times faster. For an accredited IT company at the 5% profit rate the effect of the coefficients is more modest than it seems; but for an ordinary company adopting AI, regional deductions and coefficients are the main way to recover part of the project budget.
Three mechanisms in one table
| Expense | Mechanism | Norm of the Tax Code | Key condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Own R&D | Coefficient 2 on expenses (from 2025; previously 1.5) | Art. 262 | Work from the R&D list; failed results are written off the same way |
| Purchase of Russian software and databases | Coefficient 2 on acquisition expenses (from 2025; previously 1.5) | Art. 257 | The program is in the unified register of Russian software |
| Fixed assets and intangibles in the AI sphere | Accelerating coefficient on the depreciation rate of up to 3 | subparas. 5, 6 of para. 2 of Art. 259.3 | Classification as AI / inclusion in the register of radio-electronic products |
R&D: coefficient 2
Expenses on research and development — training own models, experiments with architectures, prototypes — are recognised with coefficient 2 from 1 January 2025 (Article 262 of the Tax Code; until 2024 — 1.5). What matters practically is the paperwork: a contract for “development services” with a contractor and own R&D are different tax stories, and one cannot be rewritten into the other retroactively. A separate plus of the regime: even R&D with a negative result is written off with the coefficient — a failed experiment is cheaper than it seems.
Buying register software: coefficient 2
When a company does not develop but buys Russian software or a database from the unified register (including AI solutions and models), the acquisition expenses are also counted with coefficient 2 from 2025 (Article 257 of the Tax Code). This works for “implementation” purchases too: a licence for a domestic AI platform from the register is cheaper for tax purposes than an equivalent foreign subscription without the coefficient and with agency VAT — see “Paying for foreign AI services”.
Depreciation of AI assets: coefficient 3
For fixed assets and intangible assets in the sphere of artificial intelligence, an accelerating coefficient of no more than 3 applies to the basic depreciation rate (subparas. 5, 6 of para. 2 of Article 259.3 of the Tax Code) — an AI asset is written off into expenses three times faster than usual. Until 2024 the condition was precisely the object's classification as AI; from 2025 the rule was softened: an entry in the register of Russian radio-electronic products also works. For IT companies accelerated depreciation under the general rules is additionally preserved. Combining the “intellectual” and industry coefficients at the same time is a question closed by an accounting-policy order, not by eye.
Regional deductions for adoption
A separate layer of incentives is regional laws: for organisations adopting Russian AI solutions from the industry register, regions cut their part of the profit tax or give an investment deduction. Each region sets its own conditions and limits, and the register of industry AI solutions is kept by Mintsifry. This is the most changeable layer of the AI tax map — as with the regulation map, the conclusions should be re-checked as of the date of the decision.
The price of an error
- Wrong qualification: the same project budget framed as “services” instead of R&D or a register-software purchase loses coefficient 2 — at a 25% rate the tax saving is smaller by a quarter of the project budget.
- A weak chain of rights: an asset without executed rights (contract work without assignment, a dataset without provenance) can neither be depreciated with the coefficient nor defended in a dispute — legal and tax cleanliness is one and the same work here (see “Training a model on someone else's works”).
- A missed register: a product not entered into the register gives the buyer neither the VAT benefit nor the coefficients — that is, it makes the product more expensive for clients than a competitor's product from the register.
Qualifying AI expenses and shaping rights for the tax regime is joint work of the legal and tax functions; on a specific project the team answers after an enquiry.