Hand over currency

The President of Russia signed a law amending articles of the Federal Law “On Currency Regulation and Currency Control” and the Code of Administrative Offences. The document was developed by the Russian government, adopted by the State Duma on October 25 this year, and then approved by the Federation Council on November 8. The new law was adopted to improve the administration of budget system revenues, as well as to increase the efficiency of working with revenue receivables.

“Federal law provides authorized banks with the opportunity to refuse clients to carry out currency transactions if they contradict the requirements of the currency legislation of the Russian Federation, as well as in the case of failure to provide documents, the presentation of unreliable documents, or the presentation of documents that do not meet established requirements,” says a statement on the Kremlin website .

Banks had the right to restrict foreign exchange transactions even before the adoption of new amendments to the relevant Federal Law and the Administrative Code.

“The bank could refuse to carry out a foreign exchange transaction only if there are suspicions that it is being carried out for the purpose of laundering proceeds from crime or for the financing of terrorism,” recalls TASS .

Rossiyskaya Gazeta clarifies that the law will come into force only in May 2018, 180 days after its publication. According to the publication, the new changes will be aimed against the illegal withdrawal of money abroad, when a fictitious trade contract is concluded, but in reality there is no supply of goods or services.

“For example, contracts do not specify clear deadlines for the repatriation of funds, and then they are extended many times, which allows violators to evade responsibility. The amendments establish the obligation to indicate exact deadlines and inform banks about them, and introduce separate fines for officials for violating this norm,” the publication clarifies .

Earlier, one of the authors of the document, member of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market, Mikhail Gulevsky, stated that the purpose of the bill is to simplify currency control. “The adoption of these norms will entail a reduction in the excessive burden on banks to control the operations of their clients - individuals abroad and will make it easier for citizens who are abroad to interact with currency control authorities,” RBC quotes the deputy as saying .

Interestingly, residents include all Russian citizens, except those who live abroad for more than 183 days a year. The latter will be exempt from restrictions on foreign exchange transactions.

It should also be noted that previously the Central Bank issued instructions “On the procedure for residents and non-residents to submit supporting documents and information to authorized banks when carrying out currency transactions, on uniform forms of accounting and reporting on currency transactions, the procedure and timing of their submission.”

“The document introduces a procedure that eliminates the need for residents to submit documents related to foreign exchange transactions under agreements (contracts) concluded with non-residents, the equivalent amount of obligations of which is less than 200 thousand rubles,” the regulator said in the accompanying message .