THE TAXES ON THE TRANSFER OF ASSETS TO HONG KONG AND SWITZERLAND WILL BE INCREASED IN RUSSIA

At the meeting of the Russian President with the ministers, the Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk voiced the government's opinion on the advisability of raising taxes on the transfer of funds from Russia to Switzerland and Hong Kong.

At the moment, the government is reconsidering the tax agreements concluded with these countries. An order from the President is required to start negotiations.

We should recall that earlier, the similar work has already been carried out with Cyprus, Malta and Luxembourg, and the negotiations with the Netherlands are underway. At the same time, the situation with Cyprus was not easy - Russia had already expressed its intention to unilaterally terminate the previously concluded tax agreement, which it had requested to reconsider, but the second party made a decision to accept the necessary conditions and raise the tax rate on the dividends and interest from the Russian Federation to 15% from the beginning of 2021.

Malta and Luxembourg have adopted a similar 15% tax rate as a condition to amend the tax agreements, while the Netherlands is in the process of making a decision.

After an increase in tax rates with Cyprus alone, the budget of Russia may be replenished by 130-150 billion rubles per year. At the same time, this circumstance will make it less profitable for Russian respondents to have business in the country.

As for the revision of the tax agreement with Switzerland and Hong Kong, the increase in tax rates with these countries, according to the experts, will not have such a massive impact on the Russian business.