Moscow also has a 5% sales tax that is usually only encountered in top hotels.
If you have one employ, the company is the tax agent, and is responsible for withholding 30% (or 13% if you've been here 183 days of the past 12 months) monthly (pay-as-you-go system). At the end of the year, the company files a tax return for you. Once you can prove you've been in Russia for 183 days of the past 12 months, the company, as the tax agent that withheld the money, is responsible for returning the extra 17% to you. They can do it over several months, or in a lump sum. Some people have not been able to receive an actual payment, but receive instead a credit on future payments until it equalizes.
Many people avoid the troubles of figuring out tax by negotiating their salary net of tax, so the figure on your contract is what you receive. Your employer then deals with the tax without you needing to get involved at all.
There are countries that have an agreement with Russia to avoid double taxation.
They are:
Albania, Algeria, Australia, Austria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium,
Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland,
France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland,
Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, North Korea, South Kuwait, Kyrgyz Republic,
Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mali, Mexico, Moldova,
Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines,
Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain,
South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan,
Ukraine, UK, USA, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
06/06/2014