Blog

Fundamentals of legislation of the Russian Federation on notaries have been amended, which will enter into force in 2020. The major changes include: • Notary will be able to accept documents for storage not only in paper form, but also in electronic form. Materials will be stored in the Unified…

Crowdfunding (from the English crowd funding – “collective financing”) is a way to attract funds from any interested parties through information technology. Crowdfunding differs from other types of investing by using a special online investment platform. Everyone has the opportunity to choose an interesting project and invest in it –…

One of the most important hurdles for expansion of business activity in Russia is the criminal liability for currency and tax violations. To improve investment environment in Russia, Russian agencies propose measures to decrease tax burden for the business. In particular, the liberalization of the Criminal Code of the Russian…

For the first time, a contribution in form of cryptocurrency, more specifically Bitcoin, was made to authorized capital of a Russian company. The Russian company applied twice to the Federal Tax Service (hereinafter referred to as the FTS) in order to register changes in authorized capital. The reason for the…

Working on website redesign, VALEN has managed to make it look more modern as well as to maintain its corporate style. Renewed website allows its visitors to keep track of news in business, finance and law. This information is available in «News» section. The «Practices» section represents a full range…

On November 1, 2019, legislative amendments came into force on the simplification of procedure for granting temporary residence permit (TRP) and a permanent residence permit (PRP) in Russian Federation to certain categories of foreign citizens. Permanent residence permit has become unlimited Previously, permanent residence permit was issued to a foreign…

Today, the use of electronic digital signature is quite a significant issue for foreign partners in Russian business. However, there is an opportunity to sign contracts-online using digital signature via electronic trading platform «Business-market», developed by MCCI. At the same time now, there are no any legislative restrictions for such…

The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation is considering the possibility of dividing cryptocurrencies for its further legal regulation. Thus, Cryptocurrency should to be divided into the following types: technical tokens for maintaining the system functioning; virtual assets-bitcoins; Digital financial assets or ICO (Initial coin offering – a form…

Ministry of Finance proposes following amendments to Russian tax legislation: Criteria for recognizing citizens as tax residents will change. Now in Russia it is necessary to spend less than 183 days a year in order not to be considered as Russian tax resident and not to pay taxes. According to…

Minister of Finance suggested that fines should not be applied to small and medium-sized companies if they committed an offense for the first time. If inspection body identifies an offense that was voluntarily eliminated by the company, in this case it should receive a warning only. Relevant practice will have…

On July 26, 2019, Russian Central Bank has published recommendations that can help companies to avoid blocking of their assets. Account can be blocked, if bank will suspect company in money laundering. The recommendations of the Central Bank are: Always communicate tax authorities and your bank about changes in the…

The Russian State Duma has adopted amendments to Law on «legal status of foreign citizens in Russia» and a number of other legal acts of the Russian Federation in simplifying the procedure of granting a residence permit and a temporary residence permit to certain categories of foreign citizens. The bill…

On July 15, 2019 the Russian Government introduced a draft law that will change the Law on notaries. Due to this draft law, companies and individuals will be able to receive some notarial services remotely, in electronic form. The list of such services includes: A certification of documents translation; Securing…

Lawyers start to develop the system of taxation of digital assets. The preparation of this system is going to be realized before the adoption of a special law in order to avoid problems in practice when applying the General rules of taxation on the matter of virtual assets. The meeting…

In June 2019 Valen opened partner office in Munich, thereby strengthening the company’s presence in Germany. Similarly to the head office in Moscow, partner office will be specialized on the practices of corporate, civil and agreement law, as well as provide services related to tax consulting. New office address –…

President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin has ordered introduction of a universal single-entry e-visa for foreigners arriving in Russia from 1 January 2021. E-visas will be single-entry and short-term, for up to 16 days. In addition, this visa will be universal: its holder will be able to enter the…