Currency control

Currency control: checking that currency transactions follow the rules of currency regulation. The basis is Federal Law No. 173-FZ and Bank of Russia Instruction No. 181-I.

Who controls

• Currency control authorities: the Bank of Russia, the tax service and customs.
• Currency control agents: primarily authorized banks. For a company, currency control almost always takes the form of requests from its own bank.

What the bank checks

• whether there is a basis for the payment: a contract, an invoice, a specification;
• whether the purpose, amount and currency match the documents;
• whether contract registration with the bank is required and has been done;
• whether documents on delivery and payment have been submitted on time;
• whether repatriation has been completed: proceeds received, and an advance for a delivery that did not happen returned.

Each transaction is assigned a currency transaction code.

Where it comes up when paying through an agent

Your bank sees a rouble transaction under an agency agreement, not a foreign currency payment to a supplier. To link one to the other, you need a document set: the agency agreement, the payment order, the confirmation of payment to the supplier, the agent’s report and completion certificate. Without it, the bank will have questions, and the import will be left with an unconfirmed prepayment.

What to watch for

• The deadlines for submitting documents are set by Instruction No. 181-I, and missing them leads to fines under the Code of Administrative Offenses.
• If the contract terms change, update the information at the bank.
• Keep the documents for each payment together: that makes them easier to provide on request.

We put together the currency control document set for each payment through an agent from our pool. More on the Currency control page.

This is a general overview. We decide on your deal after reviewing the documents.