New Laws: What will change in the lives of Russians in 2021?

Publication date: 11 January 2021

With the onset of 2021, dozens of legislative changes came into force in Russia directly affecting many people in the country.

How do new controls over cash flow and non-cash transactions work?

Amendments to the law “On counteraction to legalization (laundering) of criminal proceeds and to terrorist financing” aimed to tighten control over cash flow and non-cash transactions came into force on 10 January. The anti-money laundering law was adopted back in 2001 with all deposits to and withdrawals from a company’s account exceeding 600,000 rubles set to come under control in case they don’t correspond with the type of business conducted by the company. The clause about the type of business conducted was removed in the new amendment, and all information about such transactions is now sent to the Federal Financial Monitoring Service (known as Rosfinmonitoring). Moreover, two types of restrictions were imposed on operations in the consumer sphere. Postal transfers and cash withdrawals from mobile accounts of more than 100,000 rubles are now under control to block money transfer channels designed to bypass the banking system: money is added to a person’s mobile account and then easily withdrawn by the account holder.

How does the ban on the use of cryptocurrency work?

The law “On digital financial assets” came into force on 1 January. It defines the concepts of “digital financial assets” and “digital currency” and prohibits the use of cryptocurrencies in Russia to pay for goods and services. Advertising of digital money payment methods falls under the ban as well.

Taxes for entrepreneurs and an alternative to individual entrepreneurship

Russia completely cancelled the unified imputed income tax on 1 January. The simplified taxation system, unified agricultural tax, patent taxation system and professional income tax are seen as alternative tax regimes which don’t lead to any increase in the tax burden. It is also worth mentioning that Russia introduced a new experimental self-employment tax regime on 1 January 2019. The tax rate is just 4% for individuals and 6% for legal entities and individual entrepreneurs. Payments are made until the 25th of each month only if any income is earned.

Specifics of remote work in Russia

A law on specifics of remote work came into force on 1 January. Under the law, a remote working mode cannot be a reason for any salary cuts if the volume of work produced by the employee remains unchanged. The law also sets standards for working hours and hours of rest as well as for employer-employee interactions.