Russians who fled to Kazakhstan now face demands to pay Russian taxes for two years

Jul 7, 2025 - 15:02
Russians who fled to Kazakhstan now face demands to pay Russian taxes for two years

Russia’s Federal Taxation Service has begun sending notices to Russians who have left the country for Kazakhstan to escape the war, requiring them to pay personal income tax at the full rate for 2022-2023.

Source: The Moscow Times, an independent Amsterdam-based news outlet citing legal experts

Details: The notices target Russians employed by Kazakh companies, who already paid Kazakhstan’s individual income tax at rates ranging from 5% to 20%.

Despite this, the Federal Taxation Service claims these individuals carried out their work remotely from within Russian territory.

Ilya Nazarov, managing partner of GidPrava Consulting Group, says there is a growing number of requests for legal advice on double taxation of income earned in Kazakhstan.

He stated that the issue affects both rank-and-file employees performing tasks in Kazakh companies and managers. All of them are working in Kazakhstan and paying local taxes.

In practice, inspectors of the Federal Taxation Service argue that if a person retained their Russian tax residency status – meaning they spent at least 183 days in Russia during the year – then they could only have worked for a Kazakh company remotely.

Background: As reported earlier, Russian companies’ debt in insurance contributions (payments to pension and healthcare funds) grew by 22% from January to March 2025, reaching RUB 352 billion (about US$4 billion) – nearly double the RUB 179 billion (about US$2 billion) recorded in June 2024.

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