Bribes Not Deductible? Shome Mishtake?

An interesting ruling from the Russian authorities: bribes paid by Russian overseas will not be tax-deductible !

"Expenses incurred while committing legal violations, including providing bribes or kickbacks, are not recognized for the purposes of tax assessment"

They are novices (at accounting, that is - not bribery, obviously). The Americans do this much more subtly. 'Expediting payments' (lovely turn of phrase) are just another category of business expense, deductible as usual under US rules.  Not all bribes qualify, but a very large proportion do.

Nothing like a nice semantic distinction to *ahem* keep the wheels turning ...

ND