Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation has begun sending letters to cryptocurrency holders requesting information about their holdings and transactions. ForkLog learned this from representatives of the service BitOK based on inquiries received by the support service.
According to them, letters were sent to individuals who conducted cryptocurrency operations during the past year and the year before that.
Of the 365 cryptocurrency holders surveyed by the service, more than 60% said that the tax authorities are taking steps to hold them accountable.
Commercial banks, in response to the company’s inquiry, said that the Federal Tax Service and Rosfinmonitoring are actively identifying cases of evading reporting.
“Representatives from the Federal Tax Service personally contacted me and asked to confirm a number of income- and expense-related transactions, including for 2021,” said BitOK founder Dmitry Machihin.
Meanwhile, the tax authorities have not yet formed a unified stance on declaring digital currencies in Russia.
“Nevertheless, if there is profit from such activity in rubles, payment of tax using the 3-NDFL form remains mandatory,” said an anonymous source at the FTS.
Machihin noted that banks are ready to work with ruble-denominated operations and income from digital currencies if holders can prove the provenance of funds, the economic rationale, and provide the 3-NDFL upon request.
Despite regulatory uncertainty, BitOK’s team advised cryptocurrency holders to comply with tax law and file returns on time. In the framework of the current filing campaign this must be done no later than May 2, 2023.
Authorities have had the power since 17 March 2022 to seize digital assets from officials and money from bank accounts if the amount of receipts exceeds the official income over the last three years and the provenance of the funds is not established.
On 14 April that year the government submitted to the State Duma tax bill on operations with digital assets. The taxation of cryptocurrencies не затрагивает, it will be described separately.