The State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted amendments to the Budget Code in the first reading, which, among other things, increase in the mineral extraction tax (MET) on diamonds and gold.
The bill provides for an increase in the mineral extraction tax on iron ore, fertilizers, coal, diamonds and gold. It increases the ad valorem MET rate for diamonds and other precious and semi-precious stones from 8% to 8.4%. At the same time, 10% of an excess of the world gold price above $1,900 per troy ounce will be applicable for miners in addition to the MET rate.
“The increase in the MET for diamond and gold mining is estimated at 2.1 and 25.5 billion rubles per year, respectively, and at 6.5 and 77 billion rubles over a three-year period. An increase in MET rates for the extraction of apatite-staffelite, apatite-magnetite and low-iron apatite ores will allow the budgets to receive an additional 600 million rubles per year or 2 billion rubles for 2025-2027,” TASS quotes the government representatives as saying.
“Increasing the MET while simultaneously abolishing the “exchange rate” export duty from January 1, 2025, will not lead to a decrease in company profits and, accordingly, to losses in regional budgets for corporate income tax,” the authorities believe.
Theodor Lisovoy, Editor in Chief, Rough&Polished
