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The Government has submitted a draft law to the State Duma simplifying the procedure for a foreign company to register with a tax authority when it opens a bank account. The document in question was entered in the State Duma's online database.

Current regulations specify that a foreign company must register with the tax authority when it opens an account at a Russian bank (Article 83(4.9) of the Tax Code). The application can be submitted electronically either through the Russian bank or by the company itself.

The bill eliminates the need for foreign companies to submit an application and other documents to the tax authorities for registration purposes when they open a bank account. The amendments mean that the foreign company's registration with the tax authority will be based on an application from the bank where the company opens the account.

An explanatory note to the draft law says that it was prepared "taking into account how the legal procedure is applied in practice," which has shown "little demand for the applications to be submitted by banks, and a need for the application and other documents to be submitted by the foreign companies".

The new provision will come into force 270 days after official promulgation of the law.

While previously non-residents used to open branches and representative offices in Russia, since 2022, due to sanctions pressure, many foreign companies (mainly from friendly states) simply open accounts in Russian banks. These companies open such accounts, for example, for the purpose of receiving payments, including payments from Russian customers.