Draft law on the introduction of tax regulation in the field of cryptocurrency circulation in the Russian legislation

The Commission on Blockchain Technologies and Cryptoeconomics has sent feedback to the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation on a package of draft laws on the taxation of digital financial assets and digital currencies, as they believe that the adoption of the package of bills in its current form may lead to a capital outflow from Russia.

In December, the Russian Government submitted a bill to the State Duma to introduce tax regulations in cryptocurrency circulation into Russian legislation from January 1.

According to it, digital currency is considered to be a property. So, income from operations with digital currency is subject to income tax or personal income tax. Russian citizens and organizations will be required to inform the tax authorities about the right to use digital currencies, the turnover of funds and the balance if the amount of digital currency turnover for the year exceeds 600 thousand rubles.

Another draft introduces amendments to the Criminal Code of Russia. Owners of cryptocurrencies are proposed to be imprisoned for up to three years if they have not reported to the Tax Authorities at least twice in three years on transactions with digital currencies in the amount of more than 45 million rubles.