Russian government approves bill requiring disclosure of cryptocurrency transactions

The Russian government approved a bill on the procedure for providing tax reporting when carrying out cryptocurrency transactions. The decision was taken at a meeting held on 26 November, говорится in the report published today.

“Approve the draft federal law ‘On amendments to the first and second parts of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation’ and submit it to the State Duma in the prescribed manner,” the government ruled.

The Ministry of Finance had previously proposed obliging citizens to declare cryptocurrency transactions. The agency prepared amendments to the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, providing for multi-million-ruble fines and prison terms for systematic non-compliance with reporting to the tax authorities when conducting cryptocurrency operations involving large sums.

The amendments provide:

• up to three years’ imprisonment for owners of digital currencies who have not reported transactions equivalent to 45 million rubles or more;
• a requirement for individuals and organisations to report to the Federal Tax Service on receiving digital currency, transactions involving it, and wallet balances, if the annual value of operations exceeds the equivalent of 600,000 rubles.

Experts called the measures ‘inadequate’ and warned that they would catch a large share of traders from Russia.

Earlier, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin promised to steer the development of cryptocurrencies toward a civilised path.

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