Crimeans will not be fined yet for "dual citizenship"
Residents of Crimea are in a special position – they are allowed to "conceal" their Ukrainian passport until 2016. Under the law, Russians permanently residing abroad are also exempt from the obligation to notify the state. As previously explained by the FMS, this refers to those citizens who have deregistered in Russia.
But those who still have a mark of permanent registration in their Russian passport will have to appear at the FMS upon returning to their homeland. The fact is that the law allows submitting a notification only on the territory of the Russian Federation – by mail or during a personal visit to the FMS. Thus, "dual citizens" were deprived of the opportunity to do this abroad, for example, through a consulate or embassy.
Meanwhile, citizens who went abroad for work, study, or treatment found themselves in a strange situation. It was also unclear whether Russians who lived abroad for some time and then decided to finally return to Russia should "surrender to the authorities."
As a result, the State Duma decided to grant a deferment to all these categories of "dual citizens." As follows from the bill adopted in the first reading on Tuesday, October 21, Russians who are abroad for work, study, on a business trip, visiting, or for treatment must submit a notification to the FMS within 30 days of returning to the country. If a citizen permanently resided abroad but decided to reconnect their fate with their homeland, the notification period is extended to 60 days.
The need for a deferment was explained in the Duma solely as "concern" for Russians who could be fined 1,000 rubles for violating the notification deadlines. And if they deliberately concealed their close ties with abroad, it could already involve criminal prosecution and a fine of up to 200,000 rubles.
Now citizens will not have to drop everything and rush headlong to Russia to visit the FMS, said one of the authors of the amendments, deputy Boris Kashin, at the meeting. According to him, we are talking about a fairly "large category" of citizens who were unable to return to the Russian Federation in a timely manner.
Meanwhile, from the speech of the head of the Duma committee on state building, Vladimir Pligin, it became clear that the deputies' concern was dictated rather by pragmatic considerations. He, in particular, reported that as of October 16, just over 500 thousand "dual citizens" had surrendered to the authorities. And this despite the fact that the FMS expected applications from at least 5 million people.
Russians living abroad are in no hurry to reveal their "true colors" to the authorities. After all, representatives of the state have still not explained the real reason for such an active registration of "dual citizens." If, of course, we do not consider the semi-official statements of some deputies about the desire, in the conditions of an unstable international situation, to identify a "fifth column" in the person of citizens who have left their native country.
"Dual citizens" stubbornly refuse to consider themselves "enemies and traitors" and suspect the authorities that a confession will be followed by a deprivation of rights. So, quite recently, deputies already banned persons with dual citizenship from being founders of media outlets, and before that they were denied the right to be elected to parliament and work in the civil service.
However, those who have left their homeland are frightened not by these restrictions, but, for example, by the prospect of losing the right to freely enter and exit Russia, deprivation of certain social rights (for example, to receive pensions and benefits), as well as the introduction of higher taxes.
Thus, information has already leaked to the media that, as part of the campaign against offshore companies, the state plans not only to force numerous companies to return to Russia, but also to make life unbearable for ordinary Russians working abroad. According to some reports, "dual citizens" are being prepared a surprise in the form of essentially double taxation of their income, despite previously concluded international agreements in this area.
In other words, it may turn out that a Russian citizen working abroad will be obliged to pay taxes on their salary not only to the foreign state, but also to their own – at the rate of 30% provided for tax non-residents. And given that most foreign countries have a progressive tax scale, Russians will have to give at least half of their income just on taxes.
It will not be difficult for officials to control citizens' incomes because tax authorities in most cases know their bank account numbers abroad. Recently, the Duma also ratified a convention allowing for close cooperation between Russian tax authorities and their foreign counterparts.
What other troubles may await "dual citizens" can only be guessed. In this situation, their refusal to line up at the FMS to submit a notification looks quite understandable. For now, the trend is such that many "Russians abroad" have already directly expressed a desire to renounce Russian citizenship at any opportunity.
Elena ZEMSKOVA.
IA "Rosbalt"