Russia will change the rules of money transfers. What you need to know

Starting from May 30, restrictions on money transfers without opening a bank account will be introduced. Now Rosfinmonitoring will be able to suspend operations with funds or property for up to ten days if it suspects that the funds have been obtained by criminal means and are being used to legalize income. Against the background of this news, a rumor spread that Russians would have to pay personal income tax from card-to-card transfers, but the Federal Tax Service denied this back in February.

What is the essence of the changes

• Information has spread in the media that from June 1, Russians will allegedly have to pay personal income tax on each transfer from card to card, but the Federal Tax Service (FTS) refuted this statement back in February 2025. They stressed that only those transferred funds that are a citizen's income are taxed. Moreover, the Federal Tax Service does not have the function of tracking Russian transfers. However, in the case of hiding income, she has ways to identify this fact.

• However, the rules of money transfers will change from May 30th. It will be possible to transfer no more than 100 thousand rubles without opening a bank account. The introduction of limits will not affect transfers from card to card or through the SBP, because these are payments between citizens' accounts opened in banks with full identification. The new rules will exclusively regulate transfers without opening a bank account and from electronic wallets without full identification.

• Previously, if a person wanted to transfer more than 15,000 rubles, they only had to pass a simplified identity check, that is, provide passport data. No other confirmation was required. At the same time, there was no maximum amount for such simplified transfers. This was contrary to international standards in the field of countering money laundering and terrorist financing.

• Now, to transfer more than 100 thousand rubles, you will need to open a bank account, as well as complete identification. This means that the bank can request detailed information about the transfer from the client, in particular, about the purpose of the transfer or the recipient of funds.

• Russia is fighting the laundering of criminally obtained money, as well as the illegal withdrawal of funds from the country. This is why the initiative for stricter control over the movement of money was adopted.

• In 2023, 2.09 trillion rubles of criminal proceeds were laundered in Russia. This is about 1.2% of GDP. First of all, these funds were obtained as a result of economic crimes, fraudulent schemes, as well as drug trafficking.

Money for a point: they want to ban collecting donations on personal cards

This will ensure the transparency of transfers and eliminate fraud.

• Russia is actively fighting money laundering and tax evasion. In recent years, the cases of bloggers who tried to hide their income have caused great resonance. (We wrote about the case of the "queen of marathons" Elena Blinovskaya, who was sentenced to five years in a penal colony for money fraud.)

What to keep in mind when making money transfers

• Gratuitous money transfers are not limited by law. However, the tax inspectorate may start checking if it finds that large amounts are being credited to the card from the same person. We are most often talking about transfers that significantly exceed official revenues. As a result, the tax service can request the bank and receive statements on monetary transactions. If it turns out that these are not gratuitous money transfers, the inspectorate may impose additional taxes, as well as issue penalties or fines.

• It is also worth remembering that when receiving funds from an unknown sender, you should contact the bank. If an unknown person contacts you and asks you to transfer money by phone number or banking details, then you should not do this. You may become an accomplice in a fraudulent scheme to withdraw other people's funds. The bank must resolve the situation.

Saving is not allowed to spend: Russians are switching to an accumulative model

Experts analyze popular ways of forming a financial cushion

• In addition, it is worth paying attention to the message about transfers. Sometimes cybercriminals send notifications about the transfer of funds from fake numbers, although the account balance has not been replenished. As a result, you run the risk of fraudsters transferring your own funds.

When writing the material, Izvestia talked and took into account the opinions of:

• financial market expert Andrey Barkhot;
• Maria Ermilova, Associate Professor of the Department of Finance for Sustainable Development at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics;
• economist Boris Frolov;
• Alexander Khaminsky, lawyer and head of the Law Enforcement Center in Moscow and the Moscow Region;
• Alexey Voylukov, Professor of Business Practice in Digital Finance at the Presidential Academy.