Russian Government Orders Officials to Declare Crypto Holdings

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Russian Government Orders Officials to Declare Crypto Holdings
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The Russian government has lawfully obliged its public officials to report details on any cryptocurrency in their possessions within the space of six months, according to a recent report from the Local News Agency TASS

Per the report, the new order has been signed by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and has mandated all government officials, which includes all current and potential civil servants to provide details of all cryptocurrencies they own or trade and that of their family members before June 30, 2021. The order has been signed to take effect from Jan 1, 2021.

The details are expected to be disclosed on all sorts of digital assets, cryptocurrencies, digital securities, and utility tokens inclusively. The law mandates all current and prospective government officials to provide information entailing the name of the digital asset they own, the quantity they own, and the date of acquisition.

The document signed by the government reads, “To establish that from January 1 to June 30, 2021, inclusively, citizens applying for government positions in the Russian Federation or federal civil service positions, as well as federal civil servants filling federal civil service positions not provided for by the list of positions approved by the decree of the President of the Russian Federation Federation of May 18, 2009 <…>, and those applying for positions in the federal public service provided for by this list, along with information provided in the form of a certificate approved by the decree of the President of the Russian Federation of June 23, 2014 <… > submit a notice of digital financial assets, digital rights belonging to them, their spouses and minor children,including simultaneously digital financial assets and other digital rights, utilitarian digital rights and digital currency (if any) in the form according to Appendix No. 1.”

According to the Russian Prime Minister, Mikhail Mishustin, the declaration is a way to recognize digital financial assets as property, hence owners can rely on legal protection regarding their assets.

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Penalty For Undisclosed Digital Assets

Further reports have revealed that the Ministry of Finance is preparing amendments on criminal liability for undeclared cryptocurrency. As such, the Ministry of Finance has proposed a penalty for owners of digital assets who fail to report to the tax authorities at least twice in three years.

Owners who do not oblige to the amendment may be imprisoned for up to three years. Digital currencies amounting to 45 million and above must be reported.