For a long time, the status of cryptocurrencies at the legislative level was not determined, but at the end of 2020, a bill was developed and approved that regulates the turnover of cryptocurrencies at the state level. In particular, now you will have to report for transactions carried out in digital currency to the tax authorities. Failure to pay taxes on transactions, and the submission of deliberately incorrect information in the income statement threatens with a fine or worse – the initiation of criminal proceedings. And according to the current legislation, the latest amendments to which came into force from the beginning of 2021, for the illegal use of cryptocurrencies, you can go to prison for a maximum of three years or get a fine for a minor violation.
At the moment, the law on digital finance allows you to work with cryptocurrencies, trade them, but in no case buy goods with their help. Payment in cryptocurrency is still prohibited, so everything that you can buy: goods or services should be paid for with more traditional fiat currencies.
What is legally possible is to store cryptocurrency as personal capital, invest in it in order to generate passive income and trade on the exchange. Also, there are no strict restrictions regarding mining: representatives of the legislative branch have not yet come to a consensus on how to regulate it at the state level, therefore, for now, bitcoin and other altcoins can be mined without reporting to the tax authorities. However, it is worth following the news, as sooner or later the issue of regulating the issue of crypto coins will be resolved.
Despite the fact that it is still possible to mine popular cryptocurrencies, but already with caution, you can issue your own tokens on platforms approved by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation very freely. In this regard, the law gives companies and private entrepreneurs full rights to produce their tokens, trade them and come up with their own rules related to them.
If any citizen of the Russian Federation who has cryptocurrencies and receives income from them, did not report it (in the case when the profit exceeds 600 thousand rubles a year), he/she will be fined in the amount of almost half of the hidden income – 40% will go to the state treasury. If the incident is repeated (more precisely, 2 times out of 3, the annual report on cryptocurrencies was not provided to the tax service), a criminal case is initiated, and depending on the severity of the economic crime, the owner of cryptocurrency assets can go to jail for up to three years.
It should still be noted that the development of amendments to the law is still underway, as the authorities are worried that with the tightening of regulatory measures, cryptocurrency assets will leave Russia for countries with more loyal legislation. At the moment, there is little new in the law: the option of regulating mining, payment for goods and other aspects of the use of cryptocurrency and the process of its production is being considered. Also, the issue of amendments to the section on the purchase of goods for cryptocurrency remains no less important, since the project of the national digital currency, the digital ruble, is actively developing in Russia. At the moment, it is planned to send it for testing: during 2021, it is planned to study the cryptocurrency at the national level, introduce it into national circulation. It is worth taking into account that the digital ruble will be intended for payments and the purchase of goods, so the legislation will have to make remarks about the use of cryptocurrency. At the moment, in purely technical terms, digital currencies cannot be used to pay for goods and services, but this issue, as you can see, is subject to regulation.