Official: Russia may launch tax free by FIFA World Cup 2018

MOSCOW, May 18 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Finance Ministry believes that it is reasonable to introduce tax free shopping for foreigners in the country by FIFA World Cup 2018, Deputy Minister Ilya Trunin told reporters Wednesday.

“We have to find some solution in a year, sometime in 2017–2018. It would be great if the system is launched by the soccer world cup in 2018. The deadline is rather sensible,” he said.

The budget will not suffer significant losses if the mechanism is implemented within a small amount of stores and cities. The system may even lead to growth in sales, which may compensate for budget losses, Trunin said.

Still, there are many issues to be solved, including definition of a list of countries citizens of which will have a right for reimbursement of the value-added tax (VAT), he said.

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