// wiki · reference · September 2026
The tax regime of an IT company: 2026 rates
Draft article. The rates are as of September 2026; they are verified against the current editions of the Tax Code and regional laws before publication.
A draft for discussion. The article is a map of regimes, not tax planning: benefits can be applied to a specific company only with regard to its revenue, structure and type of contracts.
The short answer
An AI company in Russia almost always falls into the “IT regime”: reduced taxes in exchange for Mintsifry accreditation and a link between the product and the register of domestic software. In 2026 the regime became less generous than before: social contributions nearly doubled and the general VAT rate rose to 22%, so the price of an error in structuring a contract has grown — a register licence and an ordinary development service now differ by tens of percent of revenue.
Two keys: accreditation and the register
- Mintsifry accreditation opens the regime for the company itself: 5% profit tax, reduced social contributions. The condition is a main activity from the IT list (development, adaptation, promotion and support of software) and IT revenue of at least 70%. For AI companies this is usually achievable, but the share is monitored by year-end results.
- The unified register of Russian software matters for each product separately: it gives the VAT benefit on sales and enhanced coefficients on purchases. The register admits programs and databases with sufficient Russian depth of development — this is exactly where AI products often stumble: a model built entirely on someone else's architecture or API may not pass. See “Who owns an AI generation” and “Training a model on someone else's works” — the legal cleanliness of the chain of rights and data is a tax prerequisite here as well.
The 2026 rates: what changed
| Indicator | 2025 | 2026 | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit tax (accredited) | 5% | 5% | Unchanged; for those adopting register AI, several regions give additional deductions |
| Social contributions (within the base) | 7,6% | 15% | The year's main deterioration; payroll costs nearly doubled |
| Social contributions (above the base) | 7,6% | 7,6% | The reduced tariff is preserved |
| VAT on selling register software | benefit | benefit preserved | The exemption does not depend on the general rate rising |
| VAT on other operations | 20% | 22% | Custom development, consulting, integration — always at the general rate |
| Agency VAT on foreign services | 20/120 | 22/122 | Details — “Paying for foreign AI services” |
The limits of the benefits
- The VAT benefit is only for register licences. Custom development services, support, training, SaaS access without a register entry and related services are taxed at the general rate — from 2026 that is 22%. A mixed contract (licence + implementation) is split into parts.
- Accreditation can be lost. If the IT revenue share falls below the threshold or the main activity changes, the company drops out of the regime retroactively — with additional assessments at the general rates.
- A register entry is tied to rights. If the legal chain to the code is weak (contractors without assignments, generations without a contractual basis), what is at risk is not only a rights dispute but also the register with all its tax consequences — see “Due diligence of an AI asset”.
What a company should check
- whether the company is accredited and what the actual IT revenue share is by year-end;
- which products are in the register and whether what is sold under contracts matches the register entry (a licence, not “access services”);
- how contracts are split: the licence separately, works and services separately — so as not to extend the benefit to what does not qualify;
- whether the 2026 budget has been recalculated with 15% contributions and 22% VAT on non-register operations.
Reconciling contracts and the revenue structure with the tax regime is joint work of a lawyer and an accountant; ongoing legal support covers it as routine, a one-off check — after an enquiry.