By
Darya Rudz
July 24th, 2023
The bill encompasses all residents in the country including citizens and foreigners, as well as Russian and international enterprises established in the country.
An official announcement by the Russian State Duma has revealed that the Duma’s Committee on State Building and Legislation has approved a bill on cryptocurrency taxation on February 15. The new bill contains a set of amendments to the Russian federal tax code.
The new legislation also states that the Russian government officially classifies cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin a property, looking to make profits off of Russian residents involved with crypto trading. The bill encompasses all residents in the country including citizens and foreigners, as well as Russian and international enterprises established in the country.
The new draft bill also demands all listed entities to report an incoming as well as outgoing cryptocurrency transaction that exceeds 600,000 rubles ($8,100) on an annual basis. Penalties for violations of rules such as late reporting and providing inaccurate information is up to 10% of the entity’s incoming and outgoing transactions.
According to the bill, the suggested penalty for incomplete tax payment and non-payment is 40% of the unpaid taxes. Official state records state that the Russian Duma is now expected to deliberate on the new cryptocurrency legislation on February 17, following approval from the committee.
Russia officially passed its first crypto law “On Digital Financial Assets” in January 2021 which restricted local residents from making payments in cryptocurrency. The bill however does not talk about some certain areas of digital assets including mining and taxation, leading to speculative notions about the regulatory aspect.
The announcement from the Russian Duma comes just hours after Russian mobile carriers revealed they are considering a smartphone integration for the digital ruble. The whole concept of the digital ruble led to many crypto fanatics believing that Russia undertaking that initiative could make it circle back on its stands on digital currencies as they both had something in common.
MegaFon and Beeline, the major Russian mobile network operators, revealed they are considering how the digital ruble will function on their mobile devices. The carriers, according to Russian news agency Izvestia also proposed to set up smartphone wallets for Russia’s central bank digital currency as well as additional services like linking a digital wallet to a customer’s phone number.
A spokesperson for MegaFon stated that “this would allow users to store digital rubles directly on their smartphones as well as transfer and pay with the digital currency using smart devices.”
The Bank of Russia released its first consultation paper on the development of the digital ruble in October last year. The bank stated that residents will be able to access the digital ruble on their e-wallets and mobile devices, both online and offline.
The illustrations were provided by Depositphotos.com
