Sold an apartment in Russia: how to prove the origin of the money to an EU bank | Alliance

Sold an apartment in Russia — how to prove the origin of the money to a bank in the EU

Money from selling an apartment is one of the sources an EU bank understands best: it comes with a contract, a date, an amount and a tax. The bank will accept this money if it sees the whole chain — from the right to the apartment to today's account balance. A break in any link, and the chain as a whole does not work, however much money there is.
Below: which documents are accepted, in what order to collect them, and what to do if there is no trace of the payment.

1. What exactly does an EU bank want to see when the money comes from selling an apartment in Russia?

Five documents linked into one chain: the sale and purchase agreement, proof of your right to the apartment before the sale, a document showing the money was received into an account, a tax return with proof that the tax was paid, and a statement of the movement of funds from the sale to the present day. Each subsequent document must match the previous one in dates, amounts and names.

The bank checks not the amount but the path: where the apartment came from, to whom and for how much it was sold, where the money arrived, whether the tax was paid and where the money has been kept since then.
A break in the chain is the main reason for a refusal, and it can be closed neither by a verbal explanation nor by the size of the balance.

What the bank does not accept as proof: cash, handwritten receipts and the formula "a relative gave me the money" without documents. This is not the strictness of a particular bank — it is the standard source-of-funds check for a client with a Russian passport.

2. Which sale passes the check and which does not?

A sale passes when the buyer's money arrived in your account and can be traced from that account to the present day. It fails when payment was made in cash, through a safe deposit box or to a third party's account — no matter how lawful the deal itself was.

A sale without a tax return is acceptable if no tax arose under the law: the minimum holding period had expired and no return was filed.
In that case, the place of the tax return in the chain is taken by a document on the holding period — the bank must see why there is no tax, not merely that there is none.
A sale several years ago passes if the money was visible in accounts all that time; money kept "at home" and deposited later in cash does not.
A sale to a relative passes on general terms: the agreement, transfer of title, payment into an account, tax. Kinship does not replace a single document and does not speed up the check.

3. What documents make up the chain and how should they be prepared for the bank?

Documents for each link — from the right to the balance:

• right before the sale — an extract from the EGRN (the Russian real estate register) or a certificate showing the basis and date of acquisition;

• the deal — a sale and purchase agreement stating the price and payment terms, and the registered transfer of title;

• the payment — an account statement showing receipt from the buyer, a payment order, a letter of credit or a document confirming disbursement under the letter of credit;

• the tax — a tax return stamped as received and proof of payment, or a document on the holding period if no tax arose;

• movement of funds — statements for all accounts where the money was kept from the sale to the present day, including transfers between your own accounts.

Formalities: notarized copies with an apostille and a translation by an authorized translator — into Romanian or English, as the bank requires.
The asset jurisdiction in which Alliance handles the deal is Romania, and the bank is BRD or BCR; their requirements for language and certification differ and are clarified before submission, not after.

4. In what order should the package be put together, and how long does the check take?

First the assessment, then the documents, then the bank — and only then the transfer.
The package is submitted before the money is transferred, not along with it: the bank has the right not to credit an incoming payment whose source has not been agreed.

• Assessment: which source goes into the deal and whether there are enough documents for it.

• The chain: from the right to today's balance, with no missing links.

• Legalization: apostille and translation according to the specific bank's requirements.

• Submission to the bank: the package before the transfer, answers to requests in writing.

• Transfer: only a lawful one, and only after the status.

Timelines — based on practice, without promises: the check takes from several weeks, and each request for additional documents adds time. The bank responds in writing, and each request has a response deadline; a client's silence closes the case faster than a refusal.

A separate point about depth. The bank has the right to request documents going back many years — including what money was used to buy the apartment that was sold, if that purchase was recent.
This is the standard check, not suspicion: the further back the chain goes, the fewer questions there are about its end.

5. What if there is an agreement but no trace of the payment?

Restore the trace rather than explain its absence.
Payment in cash or through a safe deposit box is the most common reason a lawful sale fails the check.

What can be restored: documents on placing money into and withdrawing it from the safe deposit box, with the amount and dates; the buyer's receipt referring to the deal; a cash deposit into an account within a reasonable time after the deal; a tax return with an amount matching the agreement; details of the notary or registrar who handled the deal. Each such document is one more link, and the more of them there are, the higher the chance that the bank will accept the chain.

If it cannot be restored, this money does not go into the deal.
The assessment looks for another source: salary, dividends, another sale with a clean payment, savings with a history.
This is not giving up the purchase — it is replacing a link the bank will not accept with one it will.

6. How does Alliance handle proof of the source of funds?

As a procedure with a named law and a named authority: Romanian Law 129/2019 on preventing money laundering, supervised by ONPCSB, Romania's financial intelligence unit; the bank, the notary and the lawyer are reporting entities, and a request for documents from each of them is mandatory by law.
The company works under a contract that sets out the timelines, the fee and the procedure; the contract is concluded with an individual. Office in Constanța, licenses publicly available on the website.

The transfer route is only a lawful one and only after the status: first the residence permit lifts the cap and the payment restrictions, then comes a source agreed with the bank, then the transfer.
The Russian side of the route — the Bank of Russia's currency rules and notifying the tax authority of a foreign account — is checked as of the transfer date.
The payment restrictions under Article 5b(2) of Regulation 833/2014 are covered on a separate page of the cluster.

The entry point is a free compliance assessment with a written opinion.
The first section of the opinion covers whether the status is attainable.
The second covers the source of funds: which links exist, which are missing and whether they can be restored.
The result is a mapped-out route with the sequence, timelines and budget, or a reasoned refusal explaining why.
Personal sanctions are an absolute boundary.
The order of work is strict: status first, then money, then the asset.

7. Where do you start if the apartment has already been sold?

With the statement for the account the money came into: if it shows the payment from the buyer, the chain can be assembled; if not, you need to start by restoring the payment, and that will take time before any deal.

Alliance carries out a free compliance assessment with a written opinion. The first section of the opinion covers whether the status is attainable. And a straight answer: whether this structure suits you. The assessment is free, commits you to nothing and may end in a reasoned refusal explaining why.

Questions and answers

I sold a year ago and the money was kept at home — will it be accepted?

No, not in this form. There must be an unbroken banking trail between the payment from the buyer and today's balance. If the money was withdrawn and deposited back, the bank will see two transactions with no link between them; the link is restored with documents, not with explanations.

The sale was to a relative — how do I prove it?

The same way as any sale: the agreement, transfer of title, payment into your account, tax or a document on the holding period. If the payment went not into your account but into a relative's, the chain is broken at its most important link.

How many years of history does the bank ask for?

There is no fixed number. The bank follows the chain from the source to the present day, however many years it covers, and has the right to ask what money was used to buy the apartment itself. The older and cleaner the history, the shorter the check.

Alliance Consulting contacts

Sergey Valentinovich Kononov

Phone: +380 68 265 64 42; +40 775 249 442

Telegram: @alliance_consulting_SRL

Website: https://alliance-consulting-srl.com

Constanța, Bulevardul Mamaia 203, 3rd floor, office 6

Mamaia-Sat, Aleea D30, Nr. 8