According to online reports, the Russian Ministry of Finance plans to impose value-added tax (VAT) on companies that rent mining equipment or data centers to overseas companies and mining pools. The new rules also apply to energy companies that provide electricity to overseas mining companies. The Ministry of Finance said the move aims to clarify the tax process for leasing mining equipment and establish tax rules for companies that provide "mining computing power" to non-Russian customers. VAT may apply to real-time, monthly or annual lease bills, and the lack of "clear explanations" in current regulations makes it difficult for companies to declare. Russian law that came into effect in January this year requires all industrial-grade miners and "mining infrastructure operators (MIOs)" to register a national directory. As of April 1, 116 MIOs and 606 industrial miners have been registered, but FTS believes that there are still a large number of companies that are not in compliance. The directory is managed by FTS and is currently formulating tax rules on mining companies and MIO's annual profits.