To plug budget gaps, Russia slaps new quasi-tax on smartphones and laptops
Russia is introducing a new tax on tech
On November 6, Russia’s Finance Ministry submitted to the government a draft amendment to the law on industrial policy that would introduce a so-called technology levy. Both importers and domestic manufacturers of equipment would be required to pay this new quasi-tax, regardless of their level of localization. The government says the measure is intended to support Russia’s radio electronics and microelectronics industries. As Industry and Trade Minister Anton Alikhanov explained back in July, the collected funds would go into special funds that will distribute the money to companies in need of state support.
The system is expected to take effect in the fall of 2026 and will be implemented in stages. At first, the levy will apply to finished electronic products such as smartphones, laptops, and lighting equipment. Then, in the second stage, it will be expanded to include electronic components and modules.
The rate will be set separately for each product and will depend, among other factors, on its value. According to Vedomosti sources close to the Finance Ministry and the Industry and Trade Ministry, the maximum fixed rate per unit will be set at 5,000 rubles ($62).
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So, will prices for consumers go up?
The government insists that the new levy won’t place a “significant burden on manufacturers and importers.” But market participants and outside analysts disagree: many believe a rise in retail prices is inevitable.
As Mikhail Burmistrov, CEO INFOLine-Analitika, told Forbes Russia, “Amid a growing budget deficit, the authorities are shifting the costs of supporting the microelectronics industry to off-budget sources.” Those sources, he said, “will be consumers, because manufacturers and importers will raise prices by the amount of the levy.” According to Burmistrov, prices in stores will rise by at least the full amount of this new quasi-tax.
Dmitry Petrov, head of product management at the Х-Com group, told Kommersant FM that although the press has cited a maximum technology levy rate of 5,000 rubles ($62), “it’s still unclear how it will be calculated”:
It’s one thing if it applies to a 20,000-ruble [$250] smartphone, but quite another if we’re talking about an expensive device costing 100,000–200,000 rubles [$1,240 to 2,480]. It’s still not entirely clear where this money will go.
Ruben Enikolopov, an economics professor at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, also told BBC News Russian that a rise in electronics prices is inevitable.
Industry players are also warning that the levy could strengthen the shadow market. As Artem Sokolov, president of the Association of Internet Trade Companies, told Forbes Russia, without stricter controls on illegal imports, the new levy will only weaken legitimate sellers and manufacturers and widen the price gap between legally and illegally imported goods.
With risks like these, why introduce the levy at all?
Officials haven’t yet offered a detailed explanation — largely because many details of the levy are still undecided. The government has yet to determine how payments will be processed, how much revenue it expects to collect, which devices will be subject to the quasi-tax, the specific rates for different products, and how the funds will be distributed.
Still, the Industry and Trade Ministry’s reasoning is clearly rooted in the need to support Russian electronics manufacturers. State subsidies for the sector will fall to 14.4 billion rubles ($178.6 million) in 2025, down from 26.5 billion ($328.7 million) in 2024, and will shrink further to just 4.9 billion ($60.8 million) in 2026. The government plans to make up for this reduction through the market — and, ultimately, through consumers. Officials hope to reverse the industry’s recent decline: after rapid growth in 2022–2023, driven by the exit of Western companies from Russia, production began to stagnate. Output in the radio electronics sector started to fall in mid-2024. According to The Bell, the electronic components market dropped by 15 percent that year and is expected to decline by more than 10 percent in 2025.
It’s worth noting that, once again, officials are trying to cover budget shortfalls at the expense of businesses and consumers. In recent months, they have raised the value-added tax, increased the fiscal burden on small and medium-sized businesses, and hiked the recycling fee on cars — and now they plan to offset cuts in state support for the electronics industry through the same “off-budget sources.”
Meduza’s Razbor (“Explainers”) team