Russian authorities intend to require banks to request information from clients about their actual location if it is found that they predominantly use banking services remotely from the territory of another state using a mobile application. This follows from a government decree developed by the Ministry of Finance, which RBC reviewed.
The use of remote service channels by a client from the territory of foreign states may indicate a change in their tax residency status, which points to the need to update such information, the agency explained to the publication.
By 'predominant' use, it is meant a situation where for no less than six months, the client uses such services more than 50% of the time. The authors of the initiative believe that the proposed changes will allow financial organizations to timely update information on the tax residency of their clients and provide the Federal Tax Service with more complete and reliable information.
Under current legislation, tax residents of Russia are recognized as individuals who are physically present in the country for at least 183 calendar days during the following 12 consecutive months, regardless of citizenship or residence permit. Thus, the status of 'tax resident' correlates with the number of days spent on the territory of Russia. As previously reported by RBC, the Federal Tax Service planned to create an automated system to determine the tax and currency residency status of individuals in Russia by 2025, based on data from passports and border crossings.