VAT and invoicing in Russia (2026): 22% rate, returns, invoices

VAT in Russia is called налог на добавленную стоимость (НДС, NDS). On 1 January 2026 the standard rate went up from 20% to 22%, under Federal Law No. 425-FZ of 28 November 2025, and the same law lowered the income level above which businesses on the simplified tax system have to charge VAT. This guide covers what a small business needs in 2026: the rates, who pays, return and payment dates, what an invoice must show, where electronic documents are compulsory, and a worked example in roubles. Rules are as of October 2026.

VAT in Russia at a glance

VAT is administered by the Federal Tax Service (Федеральная налоговая служба, ФНС России or FNS). Organisations and individual entrepreneurs are VAT payers: you add VAT to your prices, deduct the VAT on your business purchases and pay the difference.

When the price already includes VAT, or on advance payments, you use the calculated rates 22/122 or 10/110.

The rate depends on the date of shipment, not the date of the contract or the payment. Goods shipped before 1 January 2026 stay at 20% even if they are paid later; goods, work and services delivered from 1 January 2026 are taxed at 22%, whatever the contract says.

Who pays VAT and the exemption thresholds

There is no separate VAT registration: registering your company or your individual entrepreneurship with the tax office (you receive an INN) makes you a VAT payer by default. What decides whether you actually charge VAT is your tax regime and your income:

• General regime (OSNO): you may claim an exemption under Article 145 of the Tax Code if your revenue over the previous three consecutive months was RUB 2 million or less. You notify the tax office and the exemption runs for a year.
• Simplified tax system (USN): the exemption is automatic, with no notification. For 2026 it applies if your 2025 income was RUB 20 million or less. The limit falls to RUB 15 million in 2027 and RUB 10 million in 2028. If your income passes the limit during the year, you become a VAT payer from the first day of the following month.
• USN businesses above the limit choose between the general rates (22%, 10%, 0%, with input VAT deduction) and a special rate of 5% (income up to RUB 272.5 million in 2026) or 7% (up to RUB 490.5 million), with no input VAT deduction. The choice is made by filing the first VAT return.

If your 2025 income was above RUB 20 million and you are on the USN, you have been a VAT payer since 1 January 2026, and your invoices should already show VAT.

VAT returns and payment

• Frequency: quarterly.
• Filing: electronic only. A paper return is treated as not filed.
• Deadline: the 25th of the month after the quarter.
• Payment: in three equal instalments, by the 28th of each of the three months after the quarter.

What a VAT invoice (schet-faktura) must show

The VAT invoice, счёт-фактура (schet-faktura), is the document that lets your customer deduct the VAT you charge. Its contents are set by Article 169(5) of the Tax Code:

1. 1Serial number and date of the invoice
2. 2Name, address and tax identification number (INN, and KPP for companies) of the seller and of the buyer
3. 3Name and address of the shipper and of the consignee
4. 4For a sale against an advance: the number of the payment document and of the advance invoice
5. 5A line number, the name of the goods or a description of the work or services, and the unit of measure
6. 6Quantity
7. 7Name of the currency (and the government contract identifier, if any)
8. 8Unit price excluding VAT
9. 9Total value excluding VAT
10. 10Excise, for excisable goods
11. 11The VAT rate
12. 12The VAT amount charged to the buyer
13. 13Total value including VAT
14. 14For imported goods: country of origin and the customs declaration number
15. 15For traceable goods: the batch registration number (RNPT) and the traceability quantity and value

Other rules worth knowing:

• Deadline: issue the invoice no later than five calendar days after shipment, counting the day of shipment (Article 168(3)). VAT must appear on its own line on invoices and settlement documents (Article 168(4)).
• Signatures: a paper invoice is signed by the head and the chief accountant of the company (or other authorised persons), or by the individual entrepreneur. An electronic invoice is signed with an enhanced qualified electronic signature.
• Advance invoices: when you receive a prepayment, you issue an advance invoice with a shorter list of details (Article 169(5.1)).
• Corrections: if the price or quantity changes after shipment, you issue a correction invoice (корректировочный счёт-фактура) that shows the figures before and after the change and the difference (Article 169(5.2)). One correction invoice can cover several earlier invoices. Errors that do not prevent identifying the seller, the buyer, the goods, the price, the rate and the VAT do not cost your customer its deduction (Article 169(2)).
• Retail sales: when you sell to the public for cash or by card, the cash receipt from your cash register counts as the invoice (Article 168(7)).
• Foreign currency: if the contract price is in a foreign currency, the invoice amounts may be in that currency (Article 169(7)); the currency is always named.
• The UPD: many businesses use the universal transfer document (УПД), an FNS format that combines the VAT invoice and the delivery note in one document.
• Retention: keep invoices, books and the other documents you need to calculate tax for five years (Article 23(1)(8) of the Tax Code).

E-invoicing, e-documents and online cash registers

Russia has no general mandate for B2B e-invoicing. The rules are:

• Electronic invoices are optional for most goods and services. Both sides must agree, use the FNS formats and exchange the files through an electronic document operator (оператор ЭДО), with a qualified electronic signature (Article 169(1)).
• Traceable goods: since 1 July 2021, invoices and correction invoices for goods in the national traceability system must be electronic and carry the batch registration number (Article 169(1.1)). The exceptions are sales to individuals for personal use, exports and shipments to other EAEU countries. Buyers of these goods must receive the invoices through a Russian EDO operator.
• Consumer payments: under Federal Law No. 54-FZ, most businesses that take payments from individuals use an online cash register (ККТ). Each receipt is sent through a fiscal data operator (ОФД) to the FNS, and the receipt carries the details the customer can use to check it on the FNS website.

If you sell traceable goods, or take payments from consumers, you need an EDO operator and a registered online cash register for those parts. Clientlly is not an EDO operator and not a cash register.

Worked example in roubles

A small consultancy on the general regime has this first quarter of 2026:

• Sales: RUB 600,000 of services. Output VAT at 22%: 600,000 × 0.22 = RUB 132,000. Customers pay RUB 732,000.
• Purchases: computers for RUB 150,000 plus RUB 33,000 VAT, and rent and other services for RUB 300,000 plus RUB 66,000 VAT. Input VAT: RUB 99,000, backed by valid invoices.
• VAT due: 132,000 − 99,000 = RUB 33,000.
• Payment: three instalments of RUB 11,000, by 28 April, 28 May and 28 June 2026, after filing the return by 25 April.

To find the VAT inside a price that already includes it: RUB 12,200 × 22 ÷ 122 = RUB 2,200, so the net price is RUB 10,000. At 10%: RUB 1,100 × 10 ÷ 110 = RUB 100.

Late payment: tax penalties and interest between businesses

• Late tax: you pay penalty interest (пени) for each day of delay. For companies it is calculated at 1/300 of the Bank of Russia key rate for the first 30 days, 1/150 from the 31st to the 90th day, and 1/300 again from the 91st day. Individual entrepreneurs pay 1/300 throughout.
• Late payment by a customer: under Article 395 of the Civil Code, a debtor who pays late owes interest on the debt at the Bank of Russia key rate in force in each period, until the day of payment, unless the contract or a law sets another rate. Many contracts add a contractual penalty (неустойка) instead. Our guide to getting paid faster covers the practical side.

Common mistakes

1. 1Using the wrong rate around the change. The date of shipment decides: 20% for shipments in 2025, 22% from 1 January 2026, even under an old contract.
2. 2Missing the USN threshold. If your 2025 income passed RUB 20 million, you charge VAT in 2026, and in 2027 the limit drops to RUB 15 million.
3. 3Choosing 5% or 7% without doing the sums. The special rates do not allow any input VAT deduction, which can cost more than the general rates if you buy a lot from VAT payers.
4. 4Issuing the schet-faktura late or with missing details, so that your customer's deduction is challenged.
5. 5Using paper invoices for traceable goods, where electronic invoices are compulsory.
6. 6Paying the whole quarter's VAT in one go too late, or forgetting that each third has its own due date.
7. 7Throwing away documents too early. The retention period is five years.

How Clientlly helps

Clientlly numbers your invoices sequentially in each series, applies your country's VAT rates on every invoice and links credit notes to the original invoice. It keeps sales and purchase VAT books per rate, including exports and reverse charge, reads the VAT from scanned purchase receipts, and prepares tax reports for you and your accountant with Excel and PDF exports. You can invoice in multiple currencies, send the PDF in your client's language with a card payment link, see when an invoice was opened, and let automatic reminders go out 3, 14 and 30 days after the due date. See the invoicing module and the accounting module.

Clientlly does not file your VAT return, is not an EDO operator and is not an online cash register: for traceable goods and consumer receipts you need those certified services as well.