Purpose The purpose of the paper is to study the essence of tax burden and mitigate tax payments and their peculiarities in modern Russia. Methodology The methodological unit of this paper is built on a systematic approach and is based on the application of methods of structural and comparative analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction and formalization, as well as a complex of methods to estimate the value (in absolute terms) and the extent (in relative terms) of tax burden. Results In course of the study it was revealed that tax burden in modern Russia is a relatively high, which likely causes a shadow economy. The aggregated tax burden on the Russian population as of the end of 2017-beginning of 2018 amounts to 32%. It is mainly due to the personal income tax with limited opportunities to be minimized. The aggregated tax burden on the Russian business as of the end of 2017-beginning of 2018 is 5.39% of sales revenue and 69.44% of before-tax profit. It is mainly due to the profit tax and the mineral extraction tax, with big opportunities to minimize payments including both specialization in non-resource branches of economy and selection of special tax treatment. Recommendations Taking into account a revealed imbalance in tax burden distribution between the business and the population towards an increased burden on the latter, it is advised to provide in modern Russia additional opportunities to reduce tax burden on the population through simplifying procedure to obtain benefits on the profit tax payment.