The Government of the Russian Federation estimates the amount of salaries in the shadow sector of the economy at 10 trillion roubles. We are talking about the salaries without payment of insurance premiums and taxes. Such an assessment is presented in the long-term budget forecast submitted by the Government to the State Duma alongside with the draft federal budget.

      “Given the large scale, the phenomenon of the shadow salary fund is crucial in terms of imbalance in the levels of tax burden between the shadow and formal economies”, as the forecast says. The authors of the document also note that such imbalance leads to the loss of competitiveness of companies paying taxes in accordance with the law, and as a result, it stimulates the shift of businesses to the shadow sector.