A total of 416 people declared their income at above 1 billion rubles ($33 million) in Russia last year, a small jump from 2010, the Federal Tax Service said.
The number of ultra-rich Russians with an annual income of more than 10 billion rubles stood at 27, down two people from 2010 and 40 from the pre-crisis 2008, according to the tax watchdog’s report released on Monday.
There were 588 ruble billionaires in Russia in 2008, but their numbers plummeted to 455 in 2009 and slid further to 385 in 2010, Kommersant daily said on Tuesday. However, tax officials said the decrease in 2010 was due to change in income declaration rules and not an echo of the global economic downturn.
The tax agency report is based exclusively on income declarations, unlike lists of the richest people compiled by publications like Forbes or Russia’s Finans magazine, which factor in all assets owned by entrants on a list based on expert estimates.
