Russian govt drafting moratorium on reviewing compliance with currency legislation, deferring reporting on foreign accounts

MOSCOW. April 28 (Interfax) - The Russian government could introduce a moratorium on tax authorities' inspecting compliance with currency legislation until the end of the year, and the corresponding regulatory requirement is outlined in the government's draft resolution "On currency control measures amid external sanctions pressure", which the Finance Ministry has prepared.

The text of the document has been posted at the regulation.gov.ru portal.

The draft has been prepared "in order to reduce the administrative burden on residents and to smooth the consequences of external sanctions pressure," according to the explanatory note to the text.

An exception to the proposed moratorium on inspections would be a case when an ongoing inspection has revealed a violation whose statute of limitations for instituting administrative action expires before December 31, 2022, in which case, the inspection on compliance with currency legislation as well as the implementation of administrative actions may continue.

Suspension of the above-outlined inspections does not apply to violations regarding implementation of the regulations adopted after the launch of the military operation into Ukraine, as well as to the sale and purchase of foreign currency that bypasses the authorized banks. The exception is applied because such violations could "in the current conditions represent a substantial violation of the interests of the government to implement a single governmental monetary policy, since they [the violations could] threaten the stability of the currency of the Russian Federation and the stability of the domestic forex market."

The draft on the moratorium also envisages extending from June 1, 2022, to December 1, 2022, the deadline for resident individuals to submit to the tax authorities their respective financial statements on cash flows and other financial assets on accounts/deposits in foreign banks for 2021.

"Postponing the submission of financial statements arises from the complications that resident individuals could experience when obtaining - from banks and other financial market organizations located outside the Russian Federation - the information and supporting documents that are necessary in order to complete financial statements," according to the explanatory note.