Next year foreigners can receive VAT refund on tax-free cheques after crossing the RF border. The first economic system start-ups will appear in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Only those foreign visitors who have made purchases in the Russian shops for the amount of minimum 10 thousand rubles can get the VAT refund. Founders of the new service (MarkPrior Group of Companies) are sure that the introduction of the system will attract more tourists to the RF.

MarkPrior Group of Companies expect first shops to be included in the system from the first days of January. "Large shops are greatly interested in the system,” comments Olga Maksimova, the head of the Tax Free Russia project, - “they realise the benefit. However they have fears, that tax bodies will require too many documents. In our turn we are ready to cooperate with the shops and to prepare complete sets of documents for the tax service as well".

The procedure of Tax Free work in Russia will be very similar to the traditional Tax Free system popular in the European Community. "The buyer comes in the shop, buys the goods, a down scarf for example, at the fixed price,” explains Olga Maksimova. Then the buyer leaves the Russian Federation, declares these goods and returns the Passenger Customs Declaration (PCD) to us. On the basis of this Declaration we make the refund. It will be made in 3 months’ period of time after the person left the Russian Federation…" There will be MarkPrior Information Stands and MP TaxFree Boxes at the airports.

There are some to refund the money: in cash, by means of MasterCard or as a check sent to the client’s letter box. Tp get TaxFree the minimal cost of purchase for the whole year of 2012 is fixed and makes 10 thousand rubles (EU 244). However by the end of the year we shall try to decrease the minimal purchase sum depending on the 2012 volume. And, certainly, we shall aspire to the European figures, that is about EU 100 by cheque. Now it is EU 244, that is high enough. But processing of declarations makes also big expenses… ", adds Olga Maksimova.

MarkPrior group of companies has already been working in the audit consulting services market for over 14 years. MarkPrior is the operator of the TaxFree in Russia system. The most significant VAT refund projects of the company are: TaxFree Russia, Business TaxFree (the VAT refund service for companies), Business VAT Free China (the opportunity of the VAT refund for Russian companies that are exporters of the goods from China). Professional responsibility of MarkPrior Group of Companies is insured for 10 million rubles in Uralsib insurance company. Offices of the company are in Moscow, Irkutsk, Yaroslavl and Guangzhou (Chinese People's Republic).