Tax Information Exchange between Russia and UK suspended

In the last few weeks, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a number of sanctions have been introduced to put pressure on Russia. One of the major issues which is left unresolved is that the Common Reporting Standard exchange of information regimes remined intact. CRS is a web of relationships called "activated exchange relationships", each country exchanges with other countries and not all countries have the same web of relationships. In effect financial institutions in one jurisdiction gather tax relevant information and that information gets sent to the other jurisdiction. 

On the 17th March 2022, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the UK suspended its information exchange arrangements with the Russian Federation. This means that banks and other financial institutions in the UK will no longer be obliged to help Russia collect tax.

This can only be welcomed, and it is obvious that more countries will follow suit in the coming days and weeks as reporting deadlines approach. 

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