The Ministry of Finance has drafted a bill on the introduction of an environmental tax. The document has been published on the web portal regulation.gov.ru. If adopted, the amendments will enter into force on January 1, 2020.

      The law will replace payments for negative impact on the environment. The officials are proposing to make amendments to the Tax Code – to supplement it with the article titled “Environmental Tax”.

      Legal advice on Russian legislation

      The object of taxation in the new article of the Tax Code is the types of environmental impact: emissions into the air, wastewater discharge, storage and disposal of waste. Each type of impact on the environment will have fixed tax rates, depending on the type of pollutant and the hazard class of the waste. The Finance Ministry explains the need for these measures by the low efficiency of charging fees for the negative impact on the environment.