Banking, Money and Taxes in Russia
While they have stabilised recently, post-communism Russian banks have had a nasty history of collapsing suddenly. This has caused a serious distrust of banks by most Russians and many prefer to keep their savings under the mattress. The best idea is to open an account with an international bank and to transfer the money you want to save to a bank in your home country. 
Not many Russians have any savings – salaries are still very low while the cost of living is high - and many Russians get paid illegally (their contract will stipulate a small, nominal salary to keep tax payments low and then they will be given envelopes with cash to supplement this amount). With the world economy in the state that it is, many Russians are finding that this system has backfired on them as they cannot legally dispute a dramatic cut in salary. Residents pay a standard personal income tax of 13%, which is deducted by the employer. Tax returns do not need to be filed by taxpayers. You will need to find out if a tax treaty exists between your country and Russia to determine whether you need to pay Russian taxes or not. It is best to get professional advice on Russian taxation, as it can be very easy to fall foul of the law in this area.
While trading in US dollars or Euros is illegal in Russia, you might see prices marked in YE, or units, which are loosely linked to the US dollar. This is due to the dramatic fluxes in the value of the Russian rouble in the past. The Russian rouble seems to have now recovered from the rampant inflation it was subject to in the 1990s. Each rouble equals 100 kopeks and notes are in denominations of 10, 50, 100, 500 and 1000. Trade in the country is still largely cash-based, so if you are going anywhere outside Moscow or St Petersburg make sure you have enough cash with you. You will probably struggle to get hold of roubles outside of Russia, so make sure you have some cash on you to exchange on arrival.
Not many Russians have any savings – salaries are still very low while the cost of living is high - and many Russians get paid illegally (their contract will stipulate a small, nominal salary to keep tax payments low and then they will be given envelopes with cash to supplement this amount). With the world economy in the state that it is, many Russians are finding that this system has backfired on them as they cannot legally dispute a dramatic cut in salary. Residents pay a standard personal income tax of 13%, which is deducted by the employer. Tax returns do not need to be filed by taxpayers. You will need to find out if a tax treaty exists between your country and Russia to determine whether you need to pay Russian taxes or not. It is best to get professional advice on Russian taxation, as it can be very easy to fall foul of the law in this area.
While trading in US dollars or Euros is illegal in Russia, you might see prices marked in YE, or units, which are loosely linked to the US dollar. This is due to the dramatic fluxes in the value of the Russian rouble in the past. The Russian rouble seems to have now recovered from the rampant inflation it was subject to in the 1990s. Each rouble equals 100 kopeks and notes are in denominations of 10, 50, 100, 500 and 1000. Trade in the country is still largely cash-based, so if you are going anywhere outside Moscow or St Petersburg make sure you have enough cash with you. You will probably struggle to get hold of roubles outside of Russia, so make sure you have some cash on you to exchange on arrival.
