The Ministry of Economic Development has submitted to the Government of the Russian Federation a draft resolution with a list of services for which residents have the right not to transfer foreign currency earnings to their Bank accounts in case of offset of counterclaims in foreign economic operations.

Today, for companies, especially in the field of information technology, the lack of the ability to set off counterclaims leads to financial costs. Companies are forced to draw up documentation for authorized banks for crediting foreign currency or the currency of the Russian Federation to the account, and then conduct operations to transfer funds. Such operations are subject to a bank commission, which also leads to additional costs.

After the adoption of the decree, starting from 2021, Russian exporters of IT and education services will not have to transfer foreign currency earnings to their Bank accounts if they are used to fulfill obligations to foreign counterparties, i.e. in the case of offset of counterclaims.

The design of setting off mutual requirements of Russian educational institutions involves the provision of educational services for employees of foreign organizations, whose services, in turn, are used by educational institutions.

For example, one of the most common ways to set off counterclaims is for a foreign advertising agency to provide advertising services on the Internet to a Russian IT company that has a license agreement for the use of Russian software.

The project will significantly reduce the administrative burden on Russian service exporters when passing currency control, which will have a positive impact on the content of business processes of organizations.

In the future, it is also planned to include other types of services in the corresponding list, where business practice involves setting off counterclaims.

According to the REC head Veronika Nikishina, the new project resolution will help to weaken currency control and remove internal bureaucratic barriers for exporters. "A noticeable reduction in such administrative barriers will be felt by two areas of export of services: IT and education. This is especially true for IT companies that conduct joint software development, and universities that have a student exchange program, " Nikishina concluded.