The Federal Tax Service complained about the refusal of EU countries to provide data on foreign accounts of Russians

Some European countries have stopped responding to requests from the Federal Tax Service regarding foreign accounts and assets of Russians, said Alexandra Kadet, head of the transfer pricing department of the Federal Tax Service, Forbes reported.

Such data is used to track down citizens who evade taxes by hiding their income abroad. “There is a group of countries, mainly European, with which the exchange of information is currently much more difficult,” said Kadet, without naming them.

In her opinion, it is impossible to talk about the refusal of cooperation between these countries, because there are no official statements on this matter. “If another country stops responding and does not comment at all – and there are a majority of them – it does not give us the right to say that there is no exchange with that country, because tomorrow they can respond to all requests,” the cadet explained.

She also said that some “friendly” countries also refuse to share data about Russians’ foreign accounts. Cadet suggested this was due to fears of secondary sanctions.

Austria, Great Britain, Germany, Latvia, USA and Switzerland have officially stopped exchanging financial data with Russia. In addition, on February 14, the European Union blacklisted Russia as non-cooperative jurisdictions on tax matters. IN The Council of the EU was briefed on the deadlocked dialogue on taxation following the start of the war in Ukraine.

Another international regulator, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), also listed Russia as a toxic jurisdiction and suspended its membership on February 24.

Nevertheless, the legal basis for exchanging data and mutual assistance in tax collection with the EU remains. The Russian government’s plans to suspend double tax treaties with “unfriendly” countries in response to sanctions and blacklisting by the EU have yet to materialize. Russia remains a party to the Strasbourg Convention, which provides for cooperation between administrations.

At the end of 2022, the Federal Tax Service updated the blacklist of countries that do not exchange financial information. Covered Canada, Cayman Islands, Isle of Man and Guernsey, excluding Andorra, Barbados, Bahrain, Colombia, Costa Rica, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saint Lucia, Uruguay, Ecuador, Gibraltar, Macau Special Administrative Region of China and the Faroe Islands.