Russia’s upper house greenlights new tax bill for crypto mining and trading

Russia's upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, has approved a bill on taxing cryptocurrency transactions and mining, essentially exempting crypto transactions from value-added tax. The bill now awaits President Vladimir Putin's signature to become law.

The Federation Council said in a statement that it approved the amendments on Wednesday, following approval from the lower house, the State Duma, the day before. The tax law amendments, set forth by the Russian government, establish digital currency as property, according to the statement.

Under the planned amendments, crypto transactions are set to be exempt from value-added tax, and income from trading would be subject to the same tax rates as income from securities transactions, with a maximum personal income tax rate of 15%, according to a previous report from Russian news agency Interfax. 

Once enacted into law, crypto mining infrastructure operators will be required to report client information to tax authorities, with income derived from mining activities taxed based on its market value at the time of receipt.

Having passed both Russia’s lower and upper houses, the bill now awaits President Vladimir Putin's signature before the new tax regime becomes law.

The country has recently been working to strengthen regulations for crypto assets, particularly crypto mining. Earlier this month, the Russian government set a limit for unregistered individuals to mine bitcoin with a monthly power consumption of no more than 6,000 kilowatt-hours.