// 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.

The short answer

Certain R&D and registered-software expenditure may qualify for a multiplier of 2, while qualifying fixed and intangible assets may use a depreciation multiplier of up to 3. Eligibility depends on the expense category, rights acquired, accounting treatment and the specific provision’s conditions. Calculate the benefit using the company’s tax rate; the multipliers do not mean a fixed share of the project budget is refunded.

Three mechanisms in one table

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

The basis for the multiplier depends on the rights acquired and their accounting treatment. Tax Code Article 257 governs the initial value of the relevant intangible assets. Article 264(1)(26) addresses expenditure on rights to use registered software under licence and sublicence agreements. The multiplier of 2 applies only where the relevant provision’s conditions are met.

Depreciation of AI assets: coefficient 3

For fixed and intangible assets in the field of artificial intelligence, a multiplier of no more than 3 applies to the basic depreciation rate (Tax Code Article 259.3(2)(5)–(6)); the speed of write-off depends on the applicable multiplier and compliance with the provision’s conditions. Before 2024, the asset had to be classified as AI-related; from 2025 the rule was relaxed to include an entry in the Russian electronic-products register. IT companies also retain accelerated depreciation under the general rules. Eligibility for each multiplier and their combination must be checked under the Tax Code; recording an accounting method in the accounting policy does not itself create an entitlement to relief.

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.