NIZHNY NOVGOROD, May 20 (RAPSI) – French film star Gerard Depardieu has received a sole business owner’s certificate in the city of Saransk, Depardieu’s friend Nikolai Borodachov told RIA Novosti on Monday.

Depardieu obtained Russian citizenship and residence registration earlier this year. The actor has now decided to register a business in Saransk to pay taxes from his profits in Russia.

“Depardieu has received his entrepreneur’s certificate,” said Borodachov, who heads Gosfilmofond, the Russian State film archive. “All the legal documents are in order.”

Borodachov said earlier that the actor planned to engage in theater and cinema projects in Russia. Depardieu also mentioned plans to open a café in Saransk, the capital of Mordovia.

Depardieu received fast-tracked Russian citizenship back in January, and collected his new passport at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said he had renounced his French citizenship ahead of the government’s planned implementation of a 75 percent tax rate for annual earnings above $1.3 million. Russia has a single-band income tax of just 13 percent.