Discussion the introduction of a new system of taxation in the oil industry for the second year is moved to the background — more pressing are the problems of filling the budget. Now the Ministry of energy invited the oil companies to submit a new list of pilot projects for the introduction of the added tax income (JPM). This means that the discussion back a year ago when the same list of “pilots” were selected for the introduction of tax on financial result (NFR). Meanwhile, today the Ministry of energy and industry are forced to not comment on the prospects of PDM, and to criticize the idea of accelerating the “tax maneuver” with the lifting of export duties, which would help the Finance Ministry to obtain additional revenues.
Oil companies are afraid of losing benefits for export duties and tax on mineral extraction (met) for fields in East Siberia if the authorities impose these taxes is levied, said on Thursday the source of “Interfax”. The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of energy invited the oil companies to decide on pilot projects, which may be common mode NDM, during the week. “This is a brand new system involving the taxation of cash flow, whereas the Ministry of energy is always discussed with the companies the parameters of taxation on profits. So the oil companies at a meeting in the Ministry of energy proposed to revise and submit updated lists of existing fields in Western Siberia under pilot projects”,— said the Agency interlocutor.
In the past year, the company has already prepared about 20 fields for pilot projects NFR, but the option of tax expected taxation of profits (revenues from sales minus current expenditures and investment). The Finance Ministry always feared that such a scheme may lead to the fact that the oil companies can be profitable to increase investment, and as a result, projects may not be base for tax on profits.
The Deputy Minister of energy Kirill Molodtsov said that the meeting was working and it was not discussed acceleration “tax maneuver” (reduction of export duties on oil while increasing the mineral extraction tax) or the introduction of excise tax on crude oil (about the presence of such ideas wrote on Wednesday, Vedomosti). The interlocutor of “Kommersant” in the Ministry of energy stated that there “had never seen such proposals”. The head of the Ministry of Finance Anton Siluanov also said that “for the first time about it hears”. The economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev has opposed this idea, noting that the reduction in export duties on oil has to occur within already agreed parameters of the maneuver. Vice-President of LUKOIL Leonid Fedun said that “extremely negative” refers to the idea of zeroing of export duties “for the simple reason that we need fiscal stability”.
Sources of Kommersant in the industry believe that the main sense of possible acceleration of the “tax maneuver” would be that in this case the Ministry of Finance was able to increase revenues from oil companies in the context of current low oil prices. But the zeroing of the export duty will lead to dire consequences for Russia’s refining industry. Therefore, according to interlocutors “Kommersant”, if the government deem it necessary to increase the tax burden on the oil sector, we will do this through a simple increase of the mineral extraction tax, as happened last year.
