Income taxes

In Russia, employers are obliged to withhold personal income tax from employees’ salary at the time of payment. Tax obligations of international professors and researchers depend greatly on your residency status (resident or non-resident), visa requirements, and whether Russia has tax treaties with your home country to avoid double taxation of its nationals.

When you start out in your career at SFedU, you are considered a non-resident for tax purposes. If you stay in Russia for more than 183 days, you are considered a tax resident. To calculate your tax residency you must know the date of entry into Russia which can be found on the passport stamp.

In most cases, a non-resident is subject to withholding tax on salaries and fees at a rate of 30% while tax residents pay a 13% tax rate. There are some exceptions to the regular tax system, e.g.international professors or researchers coming from EAEU countries (Eurasian Economic Union) and Highly Qualified Professionals (HQS or VKS) pay a top tax rate of 13%.

If your tax residency status changes during the year from non-resident to resident, the previously withheld tax will be recalculated at a preferential rate of 13%.

International staff with a remote service contract are not subject to income tax withholding. All other charges and taxes on income are paid by the university to various funds.