Vimpelcom, Russia's second-largest mobile telecommunications firm has revealed that it disagrees with the Russian Federal Tax Service over a claim for back taxes totalling 1.9 billion rubles ($70.5 million).
According to Vimpelcom, the demand included 1.5 billion rubles ($55.5 million) in tax arrears, as well as 405 million rubles ($15 million) in fines and penalties relating to the year of assessment 2003/2004.
In documents filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Vimpelcom stressed that the claim is not a final tax demand but a preliminary notice. However, the company added that it does not agree with the conclusions of the preliminary assessment, and will object to the tax demand in a written response, which must be received by the tax inspectorate within two weeks.
The tax demand came on the same day that the Moscow tax authorities told the firm that they will reimburse 796 million rubles ($29.5 million) in extra taxes for different items during the same years, 2003 and 2004.
It is not the first time that Vimpelcom has been issued with claims for unpaid taxes by the Russian authorities. In February 2005, the company agreed to pay RUB344.9 million (US$12.4 million) in back taxes, as well as RUB129.1 million (US$4.7 million) in fines and penalties for 2002.
A significant portion of this tax claim, exclusive of fines and penalties, was the result of the authorities claiming that value added tax offsets were made incorrectly.
Vimpelcom is also not the only telecommunication company to have recently been accused of underpaying taxes in Russia. On Tuesday, Rostelecom, Russia's national long-distance telecommunications operator, announced that it had received a decision on tax claims relating to the company’s 2003 tax return for a total of 3.5 billion rubles, of which 1.3 billion rubles consisted of fines and penalties.
According to Rostelecom, the tax inspectorate's claim is "without merit", and the firm indicated that it will seek to prove its position in the courts if necessary.
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