YEREVAN, November 12. /ARKA/. The tax authorities of Russia and Armenia share bank account information solely upon a specific request, as stated by Hovhannes Khachatryan, Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia, during an interview with Radio RBC.
“This situation arises when a case is opened by the tax service [of one of the countries],” Khachatryan remarked at the FinnoWay Armenia forum organized by PLAS magazine.
He clarified that there exists an automatic mechanism for supplying data to the tax service, but it is only activated when a specific case is present and a request is directed to the bank.
“In other words, you cannot withhold [information] if the request is valid. However, this does not imply that the tax authorities of Armenia and Russia have interconnected their databases. That is not the case,” Khachatryan stressed.
Armenia ratified the multilateral Competent Authorities Agreement on the Automatic Exchange of Financial Information in 2023 and is set to commence this exchange with partner countries in 2025. In the summer of 2025, legal experts interviewed by RBC indicated that Armenian banks and brokers had started to request tax residency information from Russians for the automatic exchange of information with Russia.
According to the law firm NSV Consulting, the initial exchange for 2024 was planned to occur in September of this year. Additionally, Armenia is regarded as one of the most favored jurisdictions among Russians for opening foreign accounts among post-Soviet nations, as explained by Sergey Nazarkin, Managing Partner of NSV Consulting.
The tax authorities of these nations automatically exchange information regarding non-residents’ financial accounts with financial institutions based on the principle of reciprocity during the execution of the CRS (Common Reporting Standard).
This transaction impacts both individuals as well as controlling persons and beneficiaries of corporations.
When initiating the automatic exchange, residents of Russia are required to completely reveal details regarding their foreign accounts and income to the Russian tax authorities, promptly inform the Federal Tax Service, and declare all income earned abroad.
As per Russian legislation, tax residents are defined as individuals who are physically present in Russia for a minimum of 183 calendar days within a span of 12 consecutive months.-0-
