Digital ruble and customs monitoring: what comes into force in April

In April 2023, new features from Russian government agencies will get started, which we will express in more details below.

Simplifications by the Federal Tax Service

One of the areas that has received a lot of attention in recent years is facilitating the interaction of taxpayers with tax authorities. One of the steps to achieve this goal should be the possibility of submitting a report on the presence of taxable objects (real estate or a vehicle) for an individual. In the new one, it will be enough to specify the cadastral number of the real estate, now there is no need to specify the attached documents or information on vehicles. According to some experts, this should encourage citizens not to conduct “shadow” activities and pay taxes in accordance with current tax regulations.

Introduction of customs monitoring

Previously, the customs services received information about the declaration of goods. From April 1, in the form of a voluntary experiment, this process will become automated thanks to customs monitoring. About 400 companies that are authorized economic operators or members of an industrial cluster can become a participant in this experiment. Monitoring will be carried out by companies transporting goods to the territory of the EAEU from other countries.

A moratorium on on-site inspections by customs control bodies will also be introduced for monitoring participants, in this regard, the number of interested participants in the goods traffic will constantly expand.

Testing the digital ruble

From April 1^st, in addition to the non–cash and cash form of the Russian currency, a third form will be introduced – digital one. The depository of electronic wallets will be the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, it will also receive powers to control the turnover of digital currency, by analogy with other countries’ experience. As part of the testing, 15 banks have been established in the list posted on the Central Bank’s website that can use the digital ruble for trade payments and transfers between a small circle of customers.

Experts highlight the following advantages of the digital ruble:

• Access to the wallet will be available through any financial institution whose client is the wallet holder.

• Acceleration of payments using digital currency.

• Reducing the risks associated with storing digital currency is much lower than storing non-cash funds in a bank.