Russia-Netherlands Negotiations On Tax Agreement Revision Going Difficult - Siluanov

Russia-Netherlands Negotiations on Tax Agreement Revision Going Difficult - Siluanov

Negotiations on the revision of the tax agreement between Russia and the Netherlands are difficult, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th September, 2020) Negotiations on the revision of the tax agreement between Russia and the Netherlands are difficult, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said.

"It is difficult to negotiate with the Netherlands, they are a bit stubborn, but we always have the right to unilaterally denounce this agreement. Therefore, I think that we will complete this work before the end this year," he told reporters.

He added that no proposals to revise the agreements had yet been sent to Switzerland and Hong Kong.

"We agreed to proceed in stages, and first of all in those jurisdictions, in which we have the largest flows from Russia, first of all, these are transit jurisdictions.

We will look at the rest further," the minister said.

In late March, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a 15 percent tax on income in the form of dividends and interest transferred to accounts abroad. This requires adjusting agreements with other countries to avoid double taxation. The president warned that Russia would unilaterally withdraw from such agreements with countries that would not accept its proposals.

The Russian Finance Ministry sent corresponding notifications first to Cyprus, and then to Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands. Earlier, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk said that proposals to revise tax agreements could be sent to Switzerland and Hong Kong.