Page 65 - RusRPTJun19

just 65 %, while the euro’s share rose to almost 25 %. While the dollar’s use as an invoice currency for imports from China has declined, its share is still over 70 %. In 2018, about 20 % of imports from China were not invoiced in dollars, euros or rubles. This most likely reflects increasing use of Chinese yuan.
7.1 FX issues
The Federation Council or the upper house of Russian parliament extended the capital expatriation and amnesty package February 29, 2020, Tass reported on May 22. As detailed by bne IntelliNews previously this year, this will be Amnesty 3.0.
Under the package submitted by the government that amend Russia’s Tax Code and the Code of Administrative Offences, individuals will be able to declare their assets and bank accounts from June 1, 2019 to retaining all their guarantees in exchange for repatriation of funds and state registration of foreign companies they control in special zones in Russia’s Kaliningrad Region and Primorsky Region, or so called Special Administrative Regions (SAR), recently established domestic offshore zones.
The capital amnesty participants will be exempt from personal income tax, which is imposed on the profit of a foreign company under his or her control, provided that the taxpayer was not recognized as a tax resident of the Russian Federation for the tax period 2018 year.
Previously the President Vladimir Putin proposed extending capital amnesty for at least a year, but only for those who repatriate funds to SARs. This makes a part of a continuous effort of repatriating offshore capitals and de-dollarising Russian economy, which was also helped by the sanction pressure on Russian businesses abroad.
To remind, the first capital amnesty, Amnesty 1.0, was officially held in Russia from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016, but in fact was supposed to last until December 31, 2015 and then extended for another six months.
65 RUSSIA Country Report June 2019 www.intellinews.com