Russians face new card expenses: banks prepare to raise fees

      As Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Sazanov told RBC, after the planned increase of VAT to 22% a number of banking services will become more expensive. This concerns not the payments themselves but the fees for acquiring, processing and interbank settlements. Financial expert Natalya Tutova explained to the publication that the new tax will apply to fees that currently average 1.5–3%. Ancillary services may also become more expensive: issuance and reissuance of cards, SMS notifications and other services that banks classify as maintenance. The Finance Ministry believes this will not have a significant impact on the development of cashless payments, since users have already become accustomed to the digital environment. The rise in costs is also confirmed by another recent decision. Earlier the State Duma revoked a VAT exemption that had applied to the servicing of bank cards for almost 20 years. Now everything related to their operation is subject to tax: payment execution, transaction processing, services of processing centers. Opening and maintaining bank accounts, however, remain VAT-exempt. The Central Bank did not support the new measure, warning that an increased tax burden could lead to higher tariffs for banks and, consequently, more expensive cashless transactions for customers. The regulator also noted that the changes will affect important infrastructure services — the Mir system, the Faster Payments System (SBP) and the digital ruble platform.