When an investor has to file a tax return

A tax return is filed not by the investor who made money on the exchange, but by the one whose income the broker could not tax on its own. A Russian broker is a tax agent: on securities transactions in a brokerage account it calculates the tax base, withholds personal income tax (NDFL) and reports on your behalf. That is why an investor who spent the whole year buying and selling Russian shares and bonds through one Russian broker and received dividends from Russian issuers usually files nothing at all. A return becomes necessary where the "agent — withholding" chain breaks: the income came from abroad, it did not come from an agent, or the agent was unable to withhold the tax in cash. And, separately, where you yourself want to get something back.

Where the broker's role ends

The agency arrangement rests on two conditions: the broker can see the income, and it has roubles from which to withhold the tax. If the second condition is not met — for example, there is no free cash in the account at the end of the year because everything is held in securities — the broker passes details of the amount not withheld to the tax authority. The tax office then includes it in a tax notice, and no return is required from you, but you will still have to pay. This is an important fork in the road: "the broker did not withhold" does not automatically mean "you have to file". The mechanics of withholding are covered separately — Personal income tax for investors: what the tax is withheld on and when.

The structure of the tax base for investment income is itself set by law: 13%.

When a return is mandatory

• Income from a foreign source. Dividends from foreign companies, Eurobond coupons, distributions from foreign funds, proceeds from selling securities through a foreign broker. Here a Russian broker is not a tax agent even when the security was bought on a Russian exchange — if the payment comes directly from the issuer or through foreign infrastructure. The legal basis is Article 228 of the Russian Tax Code.
• An account with a foreign broker. What is declared is the result of the transactions, not merely the withdrawal of money. Separately, there is an obligation to notify the authorities of the account itself and to submit a report on the movement of funds — this is a requirement of currency legislation, not tax legislation, and it has deadlines of its own.
• Selling securities other than through a broker. A transaction with another individual, an over-the-counter sale of a stake, receiving securities by inheritance and then selling them outside a tax agent.
• Imputed benefit and income in kind, if the agent has not taxed them.
• Currency revaluation on foreign assets, when the calculation falls to the investor: the result in roubles may differ in sign from the result in foreign currency.

When a return is not mandatory but makes sense

This is the second half of the question, and it is the one people remember less often. A return is not only an obligation but also a tool for getting tax back:

• Offsetting losses from previous years against the current year's profit in the same category of instruments — Article 220.1 of the Russian Tax Code. The broker does not do this for you: it sees only its own account and only its own year.
• Offsetting between different brokers. If you made a profit with one and a loss with the other, the only way to net them is through a return — the agents know nothing about each other.
• Investment deductions under Article 219.1 of the Russian Tax Code: the deduction for contributions to an individual investment account and the deduction based on the holding period of securities. The length of ownership that gives the right to a deduction and the maximum amounts are set by the code — check the current wording, as they have changed.
• Credit for tax withheld abroad (Article 232 of the Russian Tax Code). A credit is possible where a double taxation treaty is in force; some of these treaties were suspended by a decree of 8 August 2023, so the status has to be checked by source country for the specific year.

Deadlines: filing and payment are different dates

A return on income for the past year is filed no later than 30 April of the following year (Article 229 of the Russian Tax Code), and the tax is paid no later than 15 July. If you are filing a return solely for a deduction or to offset losses, the April deadline does not apply to you — you can apply later, but the period for reclaiming an overpayment is limited, and it is worth checking it in the current wording of the code.

What to gather in advance

• A certificate of income and tax withheld from each Russian broker.
• The broker's annual report for every account, including the foreign one.
• Confirmation of the tax withheld abroad — in a form the tax office will accept.
• Documents supporting your costs: the purchase price, commissions, accrued coupon income paid to the seller.

It is useful to check which payments actually went through the portfolio during the year: the dividend calendar and the nearest payments — {{dividend_calendar|limit=5}}. Corporate actions — conversions, splits, exchanges — also change the tax cost of a security, and there is a separate guide on this. The terms used in a broker's report are explained in the glossary, and the parameters of individual issues can be found in the sections on bonds and OFZ.

Common mistakes

Investors declare the withdrawal of money instead of the financial result. They forget that a loss is also a reason to file. They calculate income in foreign currency and fail to convert it into roubles at the exchange rate on the date of the income and on the date of the expense separately. They carry only the profitable trades over into the return, although the base is calculated on the total.

An honest caveat

Specific rates, thresholds and maximum deduction amounts are deliberately not given as figures here: they change, and they should be supplied by the platform's database, not by the author's memory. Before filing, check the current wording of the Tax Code or consult a tax adviser — especially on foreign income, where the rules have changed most often.