The Cabinet proposed introducing VAT on bank card services.

      The Russian government has proposed abolishing the VAT exemption for transactions and services related to the servicing of bank cards. Recall that it has been in effect since 2006. The exemption was introduced to encourage cashless payments and allowed market participants to avoid additional tax costs, which reduced the cost of transactions.

      The opening and maintenance of bank accounts for individuals and organizations will not be affected by the changes; the proposal concerns only operations with bank cards. The repeal of the exemption will affect banks, payment systems and processing centers. If approved, the law will come into force one month after its official publication, but not earlier than the start of the next tax quarter. This was reported by interfax.ru.