Maxim Alekseyev

Ekaterina Vasina, Senior Associate at ALRUD, prepared an article 'Marital agreement and cross-border divorce: a view from Russia' for the International Academy of Family Lawyers (IAFL). The article is devoted to particularities of marital agreements in Russia, their advantages for families with international lifestyle. Ekaterina explains the principals of the community property division between spouses if no marital agreement is concluded, the features of court disputes, in particular, in case of initiation of the proceedings by the spouses in several jurisdictions or existence of complicated ownership structures. Ekaterina also describes proposed amendments to the Russian Family legislation that may have significant impact on wealth planning. You can download it here.

On July 9, 2020, Kira Egorova, Of Counsel at the ALRUD Private clients practice, took part in the webinar “Global mobility and Swiss-based planning solutions for Russian UHNW families”, organized by the international Association STEP (Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners), of which she is a member. The event was attended by professional experts in private wealth planning and management – bankers, lawyers, service providers for wealthy clients from Italy, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Kira Egorova's speech was devoted to the topic “Wealth planning structures for Russian clients - how to use them today?”. She spoke about the structures that have historically been used by Russian clients for structuring property ownership and inheritance planning, about the specifics of their current regulation and taxation by Russian legislation, and shared with the audience answers to practical questions about how such structures can be used by Russian private clients and wealthy families today. Society of Trust and Estates Practitioners (STEP) is one of the world's largest associations of recognized experts in the field of private wealth. ALRUD and other STEP members help families with an international lifestyle plan their future.

Best Lawyers – one of the most authoritative international legal ratings – has published the results of the Russian legal market research 2021. The rating is based on the estimates of internationally recognized market players. This is not the first time that ALRUD has taken a leading position in key practices, and this year our experts have managed to expand their presence in the rating. Maxim Alekseyev, Senior Partner, is the winner of the Lawyer of the Year 2021 rating in the field of business administrative regulation. For the second year in a row, the labor practice team brings ALRUD the title of the Law Firm of the Year in Russia 2021. This year, Irina Anyukhina, Partner and Head of the Labor practice, becomes the winner of the Lawyer of the Year 2021 in the field of Labor law. Best Lawyers recommends ALRUD experts in the following fields of law: Arbitration and Mediation - Vassily Rudomino, Senior Partner, Magomed Gasanov and Sergey Petrachkov, Partners and Dmitry Kuptsov, Senior Associate Banking and Finance Law - Alexander Rymko, Partner Capital Markets Law - Vassily Rudomino, Senior Partner and Alexander Zharskiy, Partner Competition / Antitrust Law - Vassily Rudomino, Senior Partner, German Zakharov, Partner, Ruslana Karimova and Ksenia Tarkhova, Senior Associates, Roman Vedernikov, Associate Construction Law - Irina Anyukhina, Partner and Stanislav Veselov, Senior Associate Corporate Law - Maxim Alekseyev and Vassily Rudomino, Senior Partners, Alexander Zharskiy, Partner, Olga Pimanova and Oleg Ezhov, Of Counsels, Sergey Khanaev, Senior Associate, Dmitry Pashkov and Alexander Kleschev, Associates Corporate governance and Compliance - Alla Azmukhanova, Associate Criminal Defense - Alexander Mikhailov, Associate Information Technology Law - Irina Anyukhina, Maria Ostashenko and Anton Dzhuplin, Partners and Ksenia Erokhina, Senior Associate Insolvency and Reorganization Law - Vassily Rudomino, Senior Partner, Sergey Petrachkov and Alexander Zharskiy, Partners Intellectual Property Law - Irina Anyukhina and Maria Ostashenko, Partners and Ilya Khodakov, Associate Investment - Vassily Rudomino, Senior Partner Labor and Employment Law - Vassily Rudomino, Senior Partner, Irina Anyukhina, Partner, Olga Pimanova, Of Counsel, Margarita Egiazarova and Anastasia Petrova, Senior Associates Litigation - Vassily Rudomino, Senior Partner, Magomed Gasanov and Sergey Petrachkov, Partners, Boris Ostroukhov, Senior Associate, Denis Bekker, Associate Media Law - Irina Anyukhina and Maria Ostashenko, Partners Mergers and Acquisitions Law - Vassily Rudomino and Maxim Alekseyev, Senior Partners, Alexander Zharskiy and Andrey Zharskiy, Partners, Timur Akhundov, Senior Associate Privacy and Data Security Law - Irina Anyukhina, Partner Real Estate Law - Irina Anyukhina and Alexander Zharskiy, Partners and Aleksey Kalinkin, Associate Regulatory Practice - Maxim Alekseyev, Senior Partner and Dina Kravchenko, Associate Tax Law - Maxim Alekseyev, Senior Partner, Elena Novikova, Of Counsel, Sergey Artemiev, Associate Technology Law - Anton Dzhuplin, Partner Telecommunications Law - Irina Anyukhina and Maria Ostashenko, Partners Trusts and Estates - Kira Egorova, Of Counsel, Ekaterina Vasina, Senior Associate

This year has forced changes to the plans of many people around the world. A few months ago, it was hard to imagine that meetings and deals would be arranged only by video link, offices equipped at home, and that vacation, or a long-awaited meeting with your family, would depend on the measures of a particular state to prevent the spread of the virus and policies to close borders. This new way of private and business life may lead to new realities of taxation, residency and application of currency legislation. It is already clear that earlier strategies for living in certain countries, making investments, performing different types of transactions and taxation of certain types of income may not work, due to the forced stay in a country different from the country of your “ordinary”, or intended residence. Despite the fact that, in certain cases, the provisions of the Double Taxation Agreements may still be applicable, and states may adopt special tax-residency rules for the year 2020, individuals may nevertheless face new requirements that apply to them in the country of their actual residence, for the current year. The above-mentioned refers in particular to the following groups of individuals: Those, who mainly live outside the Russian Federation and are subject to taxation under foreign law, but due to the pandemic situation, will spend more than 183 days in Russia in a calendar year, ended 31st December 2020; Those, who currently stuck outside the Russian territory, but normally live in Russia and are Russian tax residents. The change of tax status may lead to a number of legal consequences, both for the individual and for his/her business in Russia and abroad. In addition, the number of days spent on the territory of the Russian Federation affects not only taxes, but also obligations (and in some cases restrictions) under the Russian currency legislation. ALRUD team has prepared guidance material for better understanding of the specifics of Russian tax and currency resident status: Currency control issues for special residents 2020 Download file Tax issues for individuals, Russian tax residents 2020 Download file The tax issues for individuals, who are non-residents in the Russian Federation, but receive income from Russian sources, should be analyzed separately. If, due to the current situation in 2020, a non-resident individual is not able to obtain a Tax Residency Certificate in the “usual” jurisdiction (e.g. due to a long stay outside the “usual” jurisdiction), the following is recommended: To check the criteria for tax residency in the country (countries) of stay in 2020, analyze possible consequences of being recognized as a tax resident in that jurisdiction (those jurisdictions); To check the applicable Double Taxation Agreement between that jurisdiction (those jurisdictions) and the Russian Federation, if income from Russian sources is received; To contact the tax authority of the “usual” country of residence to clarify the possibility of obtaining a Tax Residency Certificate for 2020, taking into account the current situation. We hope that the information provided herein will be useful for you. If you or any of your colleagues would like to receive our newsletters via e-mail, please fill in the 'Subscribe' form at the bottom of the page. Practice: Tax Private clients Note: Please be aware that all information provided in this letter was taken from open sources. Neither ALRUD Law Firm, nor the author of this letter bear any liability for consequences of any decisions made in reliance upon this information.

On January 29th and 30th, the 6th Annual Russian Wealth Advisors Forum was held in Zurich, Switzerland. Maxim Alekseyev, ALRUD Senior Partner, and Kira Egorova, ALRUD Private Clients Practice Counsel, attended as speakers and active participants in discussions. Russian Wealth Advisors Forum is the principal and most well-established event of the client’s private clients industry calendar. Every year, this Forum gathers on the same platform: clients and leading consultants, lawyers, bankers, as well as representatives of family offices, from Switzerland, the UK, the USA, Russia, Italy and other countries. The event is organized by Adam Smith Conferences in partnership with Boltenko Law. Agenda 2020 was a review of current issues of preservation and management of private capital in our modern environment of transparency and exchange of information. Experts discussed the topic of finding effective strategies and solutions for clients at the time of increasing attention from Russian and international regulators. Maxim Alekseyev took part in the main panel discussion «The World Has Changed: What Russian HNWIs Should Do to Stay Wealthy», giving an overview of key trends in Russian practice and private capital industry. He also spoke at the session «Family Governance: How to Have a Happy Family and Stay Rich» on the family governance instruments and issues. Kira Egorova was a leading expert at the session «Importance of Nuptial Agreements: I Am Getting Married, What Should I Do?» devoted to nuptial agreements and ongoing court practice on their use in Russia and the United Kingdom.

Maxim Alekseyev, ALRUD Senior Partner, and Alexander Zharskiy, ALRUD Partner, helped produce an article for 'Ъ'. This article discusses the most important innovations in the tax sphere for 2018-2019. You can find out more about changes in the Russian law, the application of the Russian law to M&A transactions and other important trends, from the full text of the article.