A local media outlet in Russia reported on January 10th that cryptocurrencies have been included in the updated tax reporting guidelines published by the Ministry of Labour. Government employees declaring their 2017 expenses, income and property returns are not required to include any \"virtual currencies.\" The additional note on cryptocurrency expanded an already existing clause in the guidelines, which states that government employees are not obliged to declare any \"goods and services in their natural forms,\" and just added the words \"as well as virtual currencies.\"

Ministry of Labour representatives told another local news agency that cryptocurrency is not currently required to be declared on the returns, because Russia has no real legislation at present governing the system. Digital currencies in the Russian Federation still need to be defined and regulated at a legislative level, and no mechanism is yet in place. The government and Russia\'s central bank are still generally of the view that cryptocurrencies are high risk.

Officials have had to make public income declarations since 2009, and the new requirements reflect an all-time high in Russian corruption (which has increased over 30% in the last ten years). Some believe that it will only magnify the risk of undisclosed crypto bribes, while anti-corruption commentators think the risk of such bribery is minimal as the currency is not \'real.\'