International Tax Transparency: Incorporating the Provisions of International Agreements in Russia’s Financial Legislation

This paper addresses issues related to the incorporation of the provisions of international tax control agreements into Russia’s financial legislation. The paper reviews key pieces of legislation forming the foundation of the international tax transparency framework globally and in the Russian Federation. These legal acts cardinally change the nature of financial control exercised by the countries over taxpayers’ cross-border transactions. When the Russian Federation joined the automatic tax information exchange network, its tax administration was enabled to regularly receive information about accounts opened by Russia’s tax residents in financial institutions outside Russia in sufficient detail to keep tabs on transactions that are important for taxation and currency control. When collecting and processing the material, the author applied the theoretical methods of formal and dialectical logic, description, comparison, analysis, and interpretation of legal norms. The adaptation of the Russian legislation to the Common Reporting Standard for the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (CRS MCAA) provided the needed clarity for Russia’s tax residents obligated to file reports about their financial assets. Simultaneously, certain provisions of Russian law still need to be improved and adapted to contemporary economic realities. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.