Novelties in the legislation on currency residents.

The concept of a currency resident is found in Russian legislation much less frequently than the term tax resident. Few people distinguish between these concepts, but each of these statuses has its own nuances. We will talk about the fundamental differences in this article.

The term currency resident is mentioned in the law “On Currency Regulation and Currency Control”. By virtue of the law, currency residents include:

– Citizens of the Russian Federation.

– Foreign citizens who have a residence permit in the Russian Federation.

– Russian companies.

– Federal and municipal entities.

The position of a currency resident determines which transactions and operations can be made by citizens or companies and how they should notify the authorized bodies about this. While the position of a tax resident sets only the amount of tax rates applicable to his profit.

The law provides for certain obligations of currency residents:

They are:

• Required to notify the tax authorities about the opening of current accounts in foreign banks.

• Must provide a cash flow statement in foreign banks.

It is worth noting that foreign currency residents have the right to replenish a foreign account only within the closed list of operations:

– transfer of funds from Russian accounts to foreign ones.

– receiving wages from non-residents.

Foreign currency residents are required to submit a cash flow report on their accounts with foreign banks by July 01 of each year.

At the same time, the law provides for exceptions in this direction. If the account is opened with the company in a bank located on the territory of the EAEU, and the amount of cash flow during the year does not exceed 600,000 rubles.

New currency rules in 2022.

Since March 9, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation has introduced a new procedure for the use of cash in the Russian Federation, in particular:

• Withdrawal of more than $ 10,000 by foreign currency residents is not allowed, and the funds will be issued in rubles after conversion at the exchange rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.

• The maximum amount allowed when crossing the Russian border cannot be more than $ 10,000.

Also, from April 01, a new procedure for transferring foreign currency payments to foreign bank accounts came into force:

• Russian currency residents have the right to transfer no more than $ 10,000 per month to their current accounts opened abroad.

• If the transfer is carried out without opening a current account, the maximum allowable amount should not exceed $ 5,000.

Responsibility for violation of currency legislation.

Russian legislation provides for a wide list of sanctions for non-compliance with currency legislation, for example:

– A fine of up to 5,000 rubles for not notifying about the opening of a current account abroad.

– Violation of the procedure for submitting a cash flow statement on a foreign account – a fine of up to 3,000 rubles.

– In case of gross violation of currency legislation, a penalty of up to 100 percent of the amount of an illegal currency transaction is possible.

It is obvious that the norms of currency legislation have been significantly tightened recently, at the same time, it should be noted that as the political situation in the country stabilizes, the Government of the Russian Federation is increasingly humanizing the provisions of the law in this direction.