Russia/Cyprus Double Tax Treaty Protocol is a huge benefit for Russian investors. 



As of 1st January 2013, the Republic of Cyprus has been removed from the Russian Federation’s so called “Black List” of non-cooperative “tax havens”. This has huge beneficial tax implications for serious Russian investors as dividends received by Russian companies from Cypriot subsidiaries will now be free of tax provided certain conditions are met whereby the recipient must hold 50% or more of the shares for at least 365 days. This is great news for Russian holding companies with Cypriot subsidiaries and for international groups dealing with Russia’s related cross border investments as the presence of Cyprus in the “black list” meant that share dividends received by Russian companies were previously taxed at 9% in the Russian Federation.