MOSCOW, 1 April (PRIME/RIA Novosti) - The Russian Ministry of Finance has introduced a bill that would allow the country's banks to share data directly with US tax authorities, following a halt in talks on an intergovernmental agreement by the US, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Tuesday.
On Tuesday, the Russian Vedemosti newspaper quoted an unnamed senior Russian official as saying the US had taken a break from talks on the implementation in Russia of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).
Under FATCA, foreign banks are required to provide information on the accounts of American clients to US tax authorities in an effort aimed at curbing offshore tax evasion schemes.
The agreement is scheduled to come into force in Russia on July 1. Should no procedure for data sharing between the two countries' tax agencies be reached by then, Russian banks will have to report this information to US authorities on their own or suffer potential tax sanctions in the United States.
"Earlier we assumed that according to the agreement this would be done by Russia's tax agency and directed to the [US Internal Revenue Service]," Siluanov said.
The status of the measure to funnel data between the two governments, designed to ease reporting requirements for Russian institutions, is now under question given the current political standoff between Russia and the US.
Siluanov said last week the souring of relations between the two countries should not result in postponing the signing of FATCA. According to a spokesperson for the Finance Ministry, the talks are currently in their final stage, but are still subject to approval by the Department of State, which may jeopardize the agreement.
Relations between Russia and the US are at their lowest point since the end of the Cold War, following the reunification of Crimea with Russia after a referendum in the region saw overwhelming support for the move.
The US sees Russia's support for the Crimean population as a violation of Ukrainian territorial integrity. In an attempt to penalize Russia for what the US considers illegal actions, the country's administration has imposed targeted economic sanctions on senior Russian officials.
Russia insists the referendum fully complied with international law and has reaffirmed its obligation to protect the Russian-speaking population of the peninsula, in addition to condemning economic sanctions as mutually destructive.
Updated with new lede, headline, Siluanov's Tuesday statement
