The government of the Russian Federation continues its attempts to achieve proper (in their opinion) regulation of the cryptocurrency space. And after the amendments to the criminal and criminal procedure codes, the tax time has come. However, according to experts, amendments to it are much more liberal than those that are going to be introduced into the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code.
According to the authors of the bill, several main problems need to be addressed: “cryptocurrencies are often used for money laundering and tax evasion, and officials do not have data on cryptocurrency wallets and transactions carried out by Russian citizens and legal entities accredited in the country ”.
Therefore, cryptocurrencies are proposed to be recognized as property, and at the same time - to oblige people to report on any transactions with them, on receipt, and the balances of funds on wallets. Fortunately, only if the total volume of transactions per year exceeds 600 thousand rubles. Moreover, the cost is calculated based on the actual value of the currency at the time of the transaction with it.
However, this immediately creates some difficulties. For example - determining the real "market" value of a token, especially against the background of its different prices on different exchanges. And the ruble exchange rate should also be taken into account somehow. Besides, you will have to keep track of your trading volumes to understand whether they are already exceeding the specified limit or not. These problems, as well as many others, were noted by an expert on cryptocurrencies Maria Agranovskaya, after analyzing the text of the new amendments to the tax code.
Residents of Russia will need to report to the tax office about their cryptocurrency assets by April 30, 2022. In case of submission of false information - a fine of 10 percent either from the amount received or from the amount debited. And non-payment of proceeds from the operation is fraught with an additional fine in the region of 40 percent of the unpaid one.
However, there are also positive aspects - no VAT (value added tax) on cryptocurrency transactions.
Also, the Federal Tax Service will add the ability to request from banks account statements of persons suspected of violating the new rules for transactions with cryptocurrencies. Which opens up a huge field for abuse of power.
If the introduced bill is adopted, it will enter into force on January 1, 2021. At the same time, like another law - "On digital financial assets".
What will users get in addition to a significant increase in spending? According to the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin - legal protection in case of illegal actions and the opportunity to go to court. Another thing is who to sue in the case of working with a decentralized network based somewhere in Switzerland and without a legal address? And from whom to claim compensation if the identity of the fraudster cannot be established due to a good level of anonymity?
Experts have several other questions about the new bill. Including those concerning how exactly the FTS will track anonymous transactions and determine their addressee. However, they still consider this initiative much more adequate than the amendments to the Criminal Code and the Criminal Code, which deal with criminal liability for failure to provide information on transactions with cryptocurrencies.
If the new law is adopted, and the general development of events indicates this, then users from Russia will face an unpleasant choice - either to violate the law (and the structure of cryptocurrencies itself perfectly contributes to this), or to comply with it, to lose a significant part of the profit, but nothing receive in return, because it is completely unclear how the promised "protection mechanism" will be implemented. Considering that even the victims of traditional financial pyramids (with which cryptocurrencies are often compared by various "officials"), the vast majority cannot obtain compensation, even with a known perpetrator of violations.
Published on the EXBASE.IO based on materials from forklog.com