Starting July 1, 2025, amendments to the Russian Tax Code will increase scrutiny over bank transfers made by individuals. Certain types of card transfers will be classified as income and subject to taxation. This primarily affects informal salaries, rent payments, and large, regular transfers from unrelated parties. If such transfers are detected, the Federal Tax Service (FTS) is entitled to request explanations and, if necessary, assess personal income tax or professional income tax.
The updated rules for money transfers to cards will affect transactions whose sources are not official, declared income. However, transfers made as gifts, help to relatives, debt repayments, or shared expenses are not subject to this tax control. A key question regarding the new regulation is how tax authorities will distinguish «wheat from chaff»—that is, ordinary transfers from those related to income. While fears are circulating online that this will essentially lead to a tax on all money transfers, financial experts deny this interpretation.
Denis Astafiev, head of the fintech platform SharesPro, emphasizes that there is «no new tax on transfers.» The changes from July 1st merely clarify the existing Article 86 of the Russian Tax Code and the data exchange procedure between banks and the FTS. According to him, the tax authorities are only interested in cards where there are signs of income, such as regular receipts from the same senders or a high monthly turnover. The expert adds that banks automatically flag accounts with a monthly turnover exceeding 600,000 rubles or dozens of similar transfers, and it is in these cases that the FTS is entitled to request explanations.
Astafiev clarifies that single «family» transfers are not subject to control, and the law does not permit blocking accounts without verification. To prove that funds are not taxable income, simple documents like a debt repayment receipt, a gift agreement, or a copy of a joint purchase receipt are sufficient. It is important to clearly indicate the purpose of the payment (e.g., «debt repayment from [date]» or «birthday gift») and keep supporting documents for three years.
According to the expert, the new rules will not increase the financial burden on those who receive support from family or friends. Gifts and family assistance remain non-taxable income, and the FTS confirms that it does not treat every transfer as a tax base. The risk arises only when receiving funds resembles a salary or payment for services without being registered as an individual entrepreneur or self-employed. In other cases, it is sufficient to correctly process the transfer and provide supporting documents if necessary.
Ivan Samoilenko, Managing Partner at B&C Agency, believes that the FTS might be more interested in the regularity of transfers than the amount. Frequent or stable monthly receipts to a card could suggest payment for services. If the recipient is not registered as self-employed or an individual entrepreneur and has no official employment, such transfers might be taxed. However, the expert notes that individuals can avoid this by proving the transfers were, for instance, from relatives. In such cases, according to him, the FTS will not take action.
Alexey Krichevsky, a financial analyst and author of the «Economism» project, is certain that consistent transfers with unchanging amounts will attract the most attention from tax authorities. Simple examples include rent payments, private loan repayments between individuals, or «under-the-table» salaries. The senders and recipients might vary, but the FTS has tools to trace linked transaction chains. Frequent receipts from different people for services (like blog advertising, training, or consultations) can also fall under scrutiny. The analyst emphasizes that the FTS analyzes the entire transaction history, not just specific short periods like a month or three.
Krichevsky adds that transfers between relatives typically do not cause serious questions from the FTS, unless the amount reaches the threshold that is of interest to Rosfinmonitoring (financial intelligence), i.e., 600 thousand rubles or more. The same applies to transfers from friends. Small and non-systematic transfers (e.g., up to 10 thousand rubles) are highly unlikely to cause issues.
