Russian income tax when selling crypto currency to be set at 13%, rise to 15% if income above 2.4 mln rubles - draft bill
MOSCOW. Nov 20 (Interfax) - Russia's Finance Ministry has finalized a draft bill on individual taxation when selling cryptocurrency; the tax rate could be 13% from 2025 and rise to 15% if a citizen's income is more than 2.4 million rubles, the amendment said.
The amendments were prepared by the Finance Ministry for the second reading of the bill, no. 1065710-7, a source told Interfax. Settlements in cryptocurrency are forbidden in Russia, with the exception of an experiment on external settlements being run by the Central Bank. However, there is no ban on buying digital currencies.
The amendment recognizes digital currency as property for the purposes of the Tax Code. This principle was included in the bill as part of the first reading which took place more than three years ago.
As part of the ministry's new amendments, income from transactions with digital currency will be combined into a single tax base with income from the sale of shares, bonds and investment units, income from repossession operations with securities, income from securities transactions on individual investment accounts and from deposits in Russian banks. This will become article 210.6 of the Tax Code. The tax rate will be 13% if an individual's income from all these bases is less than 2.4 million rubles a year. If it is higher than this, the tax rate will be 15% of the excess plus 312,000 rubles, where 312,000 rubles is 13% of 2.4 million rubles.
The amendments removed the rules on the mandatory tax declaration for transactions with digital currency of over 600,000 rubles per year for resident citizens and companies. They also remove a rule stating that the Federal Tax Service would have the right to require banks to issue statements on individuals' accounts if transactions on them are related to transferring digital currency or there are signs of a possible violation of tax legislation. Fines for companies and individuals for failing to provide statements on transactions and digital currency balances or for providing false information in the amount of 10% of the largest of the two amounts in ruble equivalent were removed, as were fines for failing to include profits or income from transactions settled using digital currency in the tax base, which were set at 40% of the amount of unpaid tax for such transactions.
The State Duma's Financial Market Committee is also preparing amendments to the Administrative and Criminal Codes regarding liability for violations relating to digital currency circulation introduced by the government for discussion and which have been conceptually approved, taking into account a number of comments, the source said.
