President Vladimir Putin has said Russia should scrap the 13 percent profit tax on funds repatriated from abroad and renew an amnesty from penalties for businesses returning capital.
Huge capital outflows in 2014 and deteriorating relations with the West over the Ukraine conflict as well as weak oil prices led Moscow to offer the amnesty for those returning capital to Russia.
The amnesty, which expired last year, dropped responsibility for past taxes and currency violations for those who declared assets abroad.
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on December 22 that his ministry was proposing that such an amnesty be restored next year for at least 12 months.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed into law a new package of sanctions against Russia in August. One provision asked the U.S. Treasury Secretary to submit a report on the impact of expanding sanctions to cover Russian sovereign debt, with an outcome expected as early as February.
Speaking at a meeting with the leadership of the Russian parliament, Putin said he had two proposals which he had not previously spoken about publicly.
"The first is to extend the amnesty timeline, I mean external restrictions are not easing, but, on the contrary, tending to rise," he said.
The second proposal, Putin said, was canceling the 13 percent tax on transfers of capital to Russia by businesses.
Speaking at the same meeting, Putin also commented on the situation in Afghanistan, saying that, while the security in the country had weakened, the U.S. military presence there prevented it from deteriorating.
"Indeed, it has worsened," Putin said. "But if the United States were not there, it would probably be even worse." he said.
