Russia’s New Bill Purpose up to 3 Years of Jail for Undeclared Crypto Holdings

Russia’s Ministry of Finance (Minfin) has drafted a new bill that would force citizens to declare cryptocurrencies if applicable – or face up to three years in prison, the local News Kommersant reported.

Under the scheme, any person or legal entity that receives cryptocurrencies worth 100,000 rubles (approximately $1,300) per year must now notify the tax authorities and submit that report mentioning the details as per the requirements.

Although, failure to file or declare cryptocurrency holdings or transactions will result in a fine of up to 30 percent of cryptocurrency holdings, not less than 50,000 rubles.

Also, in case if the cryptocurrency stored in an undeclared address for one year exceeds one million rubles ($13,000), the owner faces up to three years in prison or community imprisonment.

In the opinion of local legislators, once the amendments are approved, they will start looking back, so Russian crypto owners should include their 2020 transactions in their statements.

Further, Kommersant commented that the criminal part of the amendments was too comprehensive. For example, “the use of cryptocurrencies during crime” is considered serious. But this bill is not just for Russia and even the foreign firms are included under the bill.

Foreign mines – from a comprehensive list of exchanges, investments, and other entities – should also be responsible for submitting quarterly reports on Russian currency transactions to tax authorities, as Minfin suggests.
However, Roman Yankovsky, a member of the Russian Bar Association for Digital Economic Funding, said: “No one can take this seriously.”

Minfin has already sent these funds to several departments and has scheduled a meeting this week to discuss the new amendments. Looking at previous reports, the Ministry of Finance may also have been among those who applied to facilitate the amendments – but did not call for the others to contribute.

According to the decrypt report, after recognizing some minor version of its crypto law, Russian authorities continued to accept the amendments. Recently, Minfin introduced a new bill that makes it illegal for miners to receive gifts in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. Even if governments can’t stop bitcoin – they can certainly control its flow.

Also Read: Venezuela’s Government Legalised Crypto Mining