Storing money abroad will be easier

The Ministry of Finance proposes to withdraw restrictions on foreign accounts. Explain what this means

Photo: pxhere /CC0 Public Domain

The Ministry of Finance is working on the draft law that will allow any operations on foreign accounts, the Deputy Minister of Finance Alexei Moiseev said on Tuesday at the Gaidar Forum. The Bell recognized the details of the preparing bill. We are talking about the abolition of restrictions on all operations (except frankly criminal) for foreign exchange and tax residents of Russia - that is, for those who spend at least 183 days a year in the country, said The Bell Moses.

Since the beginning of 2018, the state equated the tax resident with the foreign exchange. Previously, the last category was everyone who came to Russia for at least one day a year. In this case, the citizen was obliged to inform the state to open an account abroad, as well as all the movements of funds for it. With regard to operations on these accounts, a number of restrictions existed (for example, it was impossible to credit income from receiving the inheritance to a foreign account; see below).

For violation, a fine of 75-100% of the size of the operation was threatened. After the innovations, neither do non -residents need to report on the availability of an account in the tax, nor check with the list of permissible operations. For residents, all these requirements are still relevant. Their Ministry of Finance proposes to change.

What changes to wait for residents?

The Ministry of Finance offers:

• To abolish the list of permitted foreign currency operations. Now currency legislation is arranged on the principle of "everything that is not allowed is prohibited." At the same time, very few are allowed, and many popular operations are illegal . In particular, it is impossible:

• Sell ​​securities that are not trading in Russia and on large international exchanges (the list includes Hong Kong, the main European and American exchanges) and make a profit (example: you have an account with a British bank, you bought ETF Deutsche Bank on the Luxembourg Exchange in November 2017, but sold $ 20 literally yesterday. Listing was held in Russia and on exchanges permitted by law, we must pay a fine of 75-100%).

• Enoperate income from entrepreneurial activity (example: you live in two houses, in Russia and Germany. And there, and there you are engaged in private entrepreneurship (Einzelunternehmen): You have a Russian souvenir store in Germany and German-in Russia. You earned $ 20 thousand in Germany and credited this money to the account of 75-100%).
• Buy and sell bitcoin, and then credit profit
• Equil a profit from an investment fund
• Get an inheritance
• get a tax deduction from another state
• enroll a short -term loan (for a period of less than 2 years)

If the bill of the Ministry of Finance passes, all this can be done legally and without fines. It will still be forbidden to use foreign accounts to finance terrorism and criminal activity-this is a standard formulation for Europe.

• Relaxes will not be valid for all countries. Two options are now being considered: either the new bill will be valid only for states that are not included in the list of offshores drawn up by the Ministry of Finance, or for members of the OECR and FATF . The restrictions will be removed from accounts in these countries. For all other countries, the current requirements will remain.
• The new bill will not apply to old operations. Most likely, the bill will not apply to operations performed before January 1, 2018. That is, “amnesty” the previously committed currency violations will not work. The statute of limitations for foreign exchange violations now is two years from the date of their commission.
• Reporting will not be canceled. To report on the opening and closing of the account abroad, as well as the movement of funds for it, tax and foreign exchange residents will still have to.
• There are several months to wait. Most likely, the State Duma will consider the bill during the spring session. The Ministry of Finance plans to finish the text by the end of January and to ensure that the law is adopted in the near future.

Another innovation will affect exporters. Their same bill should be released from the need to return revenue to Russia. Now, with rare exceptions, they are obliged to transfer it to Russian accounts ( Articles 19 173-FZ ). Soon it can be stored abroad, and only reports to Russian tax authorities. What exactly will look like reporting is still unknown. But for its absence there will be serious sanctions, up to criminal liability for malicious violators.

This is how the Ministry of Finance explains this idea:

• Support for non -resource exports in the conditions of sanctions. Often, exporters sell their goods abroad, but do not receive money for this, but other goods. This is relevant in two cases. Or the economy of another state is not at all developed. Or in the country where the exporter is conducting business, for some reason it is forbidden to conduct calculations with Russia. Moiseev cites Iran as an example, where suppliers could not receive a money transfer due to sanctions and paid for the goods according to Barter (for example, they “bought” oil in exchange for grain).
• The meaninglessness of the struggle against the outflow of capital. When the floating ruble exchange rate and the export of the currency is still not controlled in any way, it makes no sense to demand that the revenue be returned to Russia. Who needs to withdraw the money, he will withdraw it anyway.

Anastasia Stogger, for The Bell (we thank for help in preparing the material of Paragon Advice Group Alexander Zakharov)