Rostelecom faces tax claims

The Interregional Inspection Board of the Federal Tax Service of Russia for the largest taxpayers No.7 has served the national long-distance telecoms provider Rostelecom with an additional RUR 3.474bn ($128.5 million) tax bill for the fiscal year 2003. The claim is based on the inspection of the company’s tax payments for 2003.

The tax service claims from Rostelecom RUR 2.181 billion in unpaid tax, and RUR 1.293 billion in fines and penalties. The inspection was carried out from October 3 to April 27, 2006.

Rostelecom said it would challenge the tax claims in court, in accordance with Russian law. The company is a compliant taxpayer, and hopes to prove its case in court, Rostelecom stressed.

Rostelecom is a national long-distance and international telecoms operator. Its network in Russia numbers about 200,000 km of digital and analog lines. It accounts for the lion’s share of long-distance and international traffic and terrestrial television and radio broadcasting networks in the country. The largest shareholder is Svyazinvest, which controls 50.67 percent of Rostelecom’s voting shares. The company’s net profit grew by 25 percent last year to RUR 9.027 billion, under Russian accounting standards.