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- Out of the planned order: the budget received almost 300 billion of revenue unaccounted for in the forecast
Out of the planned order: the budget received almost 300 billion of revenue unaccounted for in the forecast
The Russian treasury received 283.5 billion in revenue unaccounted for in the forecast last year, according to the report of the Accounting Chamber (Izvestia analyzed it). Gratuitous payments from companies leaving the country became a major item — in 2024, Danone, Hyundai, and Unilever completed the sale of assets. Goldman Sachs Bank will leave soon, and the sale has been approved. Another major item is funds from confiscation of property due to corruption crimes. For example, in the case of a bribe to ex-investigator of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Marat Tambiev, who had $24 million in bitcoins confiscated. Despite the fact that 284 billion is less than 1% of the total budget revenues, in 2025 such money will allow financing some important national projects.
What are unplanned budget revenues?
Last year, the treasury received 65 types of income that were not taken into account when forming the financial plan. Their amount amounted to 283.5 billion rubles, according to the March report of the Accounting Chamber (JV) on budget execution in 2024.
For comparison, a year earlier, the budget received record revenues of 884 billion rubles since 2015, Izvestia estimated. At that time, 290 billion came from gratuitous receipts, including contributions from departing foreign companies, 315 billion from windfall tax fees and 155 billion from corporate income tax paid by former members of the consolidated group of taxpayers.
In 2024, the sources were already different: according to auditors, 99% of the indicated amount is accounted for by gratuitous receipts and confiscation of property due to corruption crimes.
Gratuitous receipts are voluntary payments to the Treasury in the form of inter—budget transfers, grants, subsidies and subventions. Foreign companies leaving Russia are also required to make such contributions. The requirements for them have been consistently tightened. In the fall of 2023, the contribution was raised from 10% to 15% of the market value of the asset, and in October 2024 - to 35%. That year, the budget received almost 162 billion rubles of such payments, according to the Joint Venture report. About 7 billion more were accounted for by other gratuitous receipts.
The second major item is funds from confiscation of property due to corruption offenses, which accounted for 114.5 billion rubles. Here we are not talking about the seizure of property of foreign agents or foreign citizens, said the managing partner of the Pen Bar Association. & Paper by Alexey Dobrynin.
Which companies are leaving Russia
Some of the foreign brands that stopped operating in Russia back in 2022-2023 completed the sale of their Russian assets only in 2024. Among them, for example, the Carlsberg brewing company, the Danone food company, and the Unilever consumer goods manufacturer. They accounted for about a quarter of all revenues from outgoing enterprises last year — about 70 billion rubles, said Anastasia Priklyova, Associate Professor of the Department of International Business at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.
The majority of companies that wanted to leave the Russian market have already done so over the past three years. However, some of them continue to claim such plans. For example, this year the Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) also confirmed its intention to leave the Russian Federation, Anastasia Priklyova said.
— Since 2022, the RBI has announced its intention to withdraw from the Russian Federation, but without specific actions. However, now this issue has been raised more often. The European Union intends to continue to tighten pressure on Russia, which complicates the bank's position, the expert believes.
Also at the end of January, President Vladimir Putin approved the sale of a 100% stake in Russian Goldman Sachs Bank (owned by the American company Goldman Sachs). At the same time, the company announced its decision to wind down its business in Russia back in 2022.
In addition, some Chinese manufacturers may leave Russia this year, but not because of sanctions, but against the background of low profitability of sales. We are talking about the car brand SWM (owned by the Chinese Shineray Group). The representative's marketing activity in the Russian Federation stopped back in the middle of 2024. The company is now rapidly emptying warehouses.
In December 2024, the analytical agency Autostat reported that a number of Chinese brands, such as Livan, Kaiyi, and Foton, were expected to leave the market. The reason lies in the low profitability.
However, in general, the expectations of the analysts surveyed by Izvestia are optimistic. High chances of de-escalation of tensions between the Russian Federation and the United States may lead to the gradual lifting of American sanctions, and then European ones, independent expert Andrei Barkhota believes. He added: in the second half of 2025, we can expect the creation of new companies with non-resident capital.
What property was confiscated for corruption in 2024
Another unaccounted—for item of treasury revenue is from confiscation of property in corruption cases. Previously, these funds were allocated to the budget of the Pension Fund (then the Social Fund) due to its constant deficit, explained Meri Valishvili, Associate Professor of the Department of State and Municipal Finance at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. In the middle of 2024, the legislation was changed, now the confiscated funds will be credited not to the Social Fund, but to the federal budget.
The money from the "confiscation" is quite volatile — it cannot be a permanent source of income and cannot be predicted to balance the budget of the Social Fund, the press service of the Ministry of Finance told Izvestia. For such purposes, receipts are needed that can be calculated, the department clarified.
The Accounting Chamber estimated to Izvestia that by the end of 2023, the Social Fund received 1.7 billion rubles, and in the first half of 2024 - 96 million. In the second half of the year, revenues from this article went to the federal budget, during which time 114.5 billion rubles were received. At the same time, revenues were initially expected to be almost one and a half times less — 81 billion.
All property seized in favor of the treasury upon the conclusion of the court becomes state property. It is subject to further sale at auction in the form of an electronic auction, said Meri Valishvili.
In the first half of 2024, the courts considered about 290 criminal cases related to confiscation due to a corruption offense, Alexey Dobrynin from Pen emphasized. & Paper. For example, one of the high-profile cases was the court-ordered confiscation of former Moscow investigator Marat Tambiev for accepting bribes. Motorcycles and foreign cars, estimated at 20 million rubles, as well as bitcoins worth $ 24 million, were confiscated from the ex-law enforcement officer.
How does unaccounted-for income affect the budget deficit
"The amount of 283.5 billion rubles can be called significant, but on the scale of the federal budget — about 36.6 trillion rubles in 2024 — it is less than 1%," said Olga Belenkaya, head of the Macroeconomic analysis department at Finam.
For comparison, this amount is comparable to the financing that the authorities allocated in 2025 for the national projects "Efficient and Competitive Economy" (206 billion), "International Cooperation and Export" (45.3 billion) and "Personnel" (17.9 billion) combined. It also accounts for about 2% of planned spending on national defense, the largest expenditure item in the federal budget this year, Olga Belenkaya said.
However, in January, the budget deficit amounted to about 3.5 trillion rubles. An additional $284 billion could reduce this gap by about 8%, but will not solve the problem as a whole, says Vladimir Chernov, analyst at Freedom Finance Global. He added: the main deficit is caused not only by a shortage of income, but also by significant expenditures, including defense and social items. Therefore, even if revenues continue, the budget will remain in deficit, and the government will close it by using funds from the National Welfare Fund or borrowing on the domestic market through the placement of OFZs. However, experts emphasize that the national debt in Russia does not exceed 15% of GDP and it is small compared to other countries, such as the United States, so there are no risks to financial stability.
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