The deputy minister added that the ministry expected MPs to approve a law on crypto mining tax by the end of the State Duma’s autumn session.
Late last year, lawmakers floated the idea of introducing a tax on crypto-related income, rather than profits.
The Treasury Department has floated similar ideas. However, exchange rate calculations may be problematic for such proposals.
Crypto tax-related issues are a hot topic in Moscow. Industry officials have long claimed they are prepared to declare their operations and pay taxes on their earnings.
It was to this end that Moscow finally granted industrial crypto mining legal status this summer.
However, lawmakers at the time said they would tackle the issue of how they would tax miners in a separate bill.
(Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted the Russian Foreign Ministry's proposal to sign a strategic partnership agreement with Iran, according to Putin's order published on the state website.
— Jonathan Landay (@JonathanLanday) September 18, 2024
Crypto Exchanges Still Unregulated
Much of the problem revolves around the fact that crypto exchanges have no legal status in Russia, and thus cannot be audited.
Some policy-makers have urged Moscow to respond by green-lighting the construction of state-run crypto trading platforms.
They say these platforms could operate from organizations like the Moscow Exchange and the Saint Petersburg Currency Exchange.
However, both exchanges have denied they have any plans in place to start trading cryptoassets.
Global Crypto Mining Leader?
Earlier this month, President Vladimir Putin said that Russia was “one of the world leaders” in the crypto mining sector.
He added that domestic businesses operating in the sector are “earning lots of money,” and was pivotal in driving the government to its eventual consensus on legalization.
The Kremlin is turning to YouTube to get Putin's message out to the world, even as it’s throttling access for ordinary Russians to the US social media site https://t.co/sF2avRjRf2
— Bloomberg (@business) September 19, 2024
Industrial players have responded to legalization with great zeal: Gazprom, the majority state-run oil and gas giant, is reportedly set to build a 5,000-rig crypto “farm” in Novgorod.
And the regional head of the Russian Komi Republic has announced the construction of 15 new crypto data mining centers.
Industry chiefs claim that crypto mining could bring the Treasury 50 billion rubles ($538.4 million) in tax revenue per year as of 2025.
The Russian Finance Ministry has suggested it is keen to ensure that this quickly becomes the case.
Experts also claim that most Russian miners are still focusing the vast majority of their efforts on Bitcoin (BTC).