Starting from April 1, banks will no longer take into account the gray incomes of Russians. What is known

Starting from April 1, banks in Russia will no longer take into account borrowers' gray incomes when issuing loans. Previously, banks could use any information about the earnings of customers, including certificates on the form of a credit institution, account statements and unsupported consumer statements. Now, when issuing a loan, only income information received through the Digital Profile system from the Federal Tax Service of Russia (FTS) and the Social Fund will be taken into account. For more information about what counts as white and gray incomes and how the new rules will affect borrowers, see the Izvestia article.

What is white income?

White income refers to the official salary of an employee, which is paid in accordance with the law and officially declared to the tax authorities. Taxes and insurance premiums are paid from this amount.

As Peter Shcherbachenko, an associate professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, explained in a conversation with Izvestia, one of the main advantages of official income is its legality and social protection of employees. White-income employees have guarantees, social benefits, and retirement benefits.

In addition, their rights can also be protected in the event of a dispute with the employer, since all payments are recorded and registered in accordance with the law, the expert emphasized.

According to Shcherbachenko, the white income includes salary, income of the self-employed, if they are recorded in the My Tax service, or income of an individual entrepreneur (IE). This category also includes pensions, interest income on bank deposits, dividends on shares or coupon income on bonds.

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What are gray incomes?

Gray incomes are those that are only partially official. It is understood that in this case, part of the employee's salary is paid completely legally, and taxes are deducted from it, while the other part is issued "in an envelope", nothing is deducted from it to the state.

"Accordingly, black or gray income is: black — when all income in the form of payment is received in an envelope, gray — when a smaller part of the salary is in the form of minimum wage (minimum wage. — Ed.) comes to a bank card, and the rest is in an envelope. Also, any part—time job without official registration is a "gray income," Shcherbachenko said.

How will banks' refusal to lend on gray incomes affect borrowers

According to the expert, there will be no changes for respectable citizens with a fully official income, but for people with low salaries the situation will become more complicated, since unofficial part-time jobs of Russians will no longer be taken into account.

"Banks will no longer be able to rely on borrowers' self-declared incomes and will use data obtained through the Digital Profile system, which receives information from the Federal Tax Service and the Social Fund. Thus, banks will see only the official incomes of citizens," Shcherbachenko explained.

The associate professor of the Financial University also noted that this should lead to a whitewashing of the labor market and a decrease in gray incomes. In addition, the new rules will provide an incentive for people to have only official income and declare all other income.

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