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The Russian Finance Ministry has proposed new amendments to the country’s upcoming cryptocurrency law that could soften the requirements for cryptocurrency taxpayers, the RBK news agency reported Thursday.
According to a package of bills, people must report their holdings if annual transactions exceed 600,000 Russian rubles (approximately $ 7,800). In a previous proposal, the ministry had called for disclosure when transactions exceed 100,000 rubles (approximately $ 1,300) in a year.
With the law expected to be passed by January, the ministry wants holdings for the next fiscal year to be made public no later than April 30, 2022. The reported crypto value will be calculated by the national tax agency based on prices at the time of transactions, it reads on the account.
Failure to promptly report the entire amount of cryptocurrency held, as well as failure to pay taxes, will result in fines. If a taxpayer does not declare their cryptocurrency for three consecutive years, the punishment will be tougher: up to six months in prison for undeclared cryptocurrencies worth 15 million rubles (~ $ 195,000) and up to three years in prison for 45 million rubles (~ $ 586,000) and more.
Cryptocurrency miners and over-the-counter (OTC) brokers will need to report the deals to Rosfinmonitoring, the agency tasked with preventing money laundering and terrorist financing. The agency had reportedly planned to develop its own blockchain tracking tool to connect cryptographic addresses with user identities.
A bill previously proposed by the regulator sought to ban miners located in Russia who use Russian-based infrastructure from being rewarded for their work in cryptocurrency. That wording sparked fears that mining could be outlawed entirely in Russia, and hasn’t been clarified since.
These amendments, however, are not as severe as one of the first bills, which called for punishment for facilitating crypto transactions in Russia for up to seven years in prison. That version sparked protests among the Russian crypto community and even criticism from other ministries.
Mikhail Tretyak, an IT expert at the Digital Rights Center, told CoinDesk that he believes the new draft amendment, while less harsh than previous versions, could still scare off cryptocurrency entrepreneurs. “Part of the market will go to the darknet,” he said. “Others may choose to emigrate to countries with softer regulatory regimes, and people are asking us for help in this more and more every day.”
The Ministry of Finance has also previously suggested restrictions on the purchase of cryptocurrencies for unskilled investors, limiting purchases to no more than 600,000 rubles (about $ 7,740) of digital assets in a year.
