27 May 2004 03:55
Yukos may use $800 million in liquid assets to pay tax debt (Part 4)
MOSCOW. May 27 (Interfax) - Yukos may use $800 million in liquid assets if a higher instance court compels the
company to pay 99.4 billion rubles in taxes, says a Yukos press release.
The company's liquid assets may amount to $1.1-1.2 billion in the second quarter of 2004.
If the court agrees with this way of paying the extra taxes, the company could pay 60%-70% of them in the third and
fourth quarters of this year, the press release says.
"The company, acting in the interests of all shareholders, will protest the May 26 ruling of the Moscow
Arbitration Court, and do its best to meet all commitments to employees, shareholders, partners and clients," the
press release says.
"Being a meticulous tax-payer, Yukos confirms its readiness to do its best to meet the demands of governmental
institutions, if a higher instance court confirms the lawfulness of the May 26 resolution of the Court of
Arbitration," it said.
"We will do everything possible to settle the tax debt," he said.
"Communication with state officials is non-existent at the
"Company management has thoroughly analyzed Yukos tax-paying practices in 2000 and other periods, and did not
find the risks of non- payment of taxes exceeding the equivalent of $3 billion in 2000. All taxes paid by the company in
2000 were equivalent to $1.922 billion," the press release says.
"The fact that three years after numerous inspections and a PriceWaterhouseCoopers audit, a governmental
organization has found, and a court has quickly confirmed, the evasion of a tax sum twice exceeding the average tax
indices in the industry is incomprehensible for us. According to the tax service and the court, the revenue tax on Yukos
in 2000 must have reached 59% of sales revenues, or 107% of profits confirmed by international audit," the press
release said.
Yukos would like to conduct negotiations with state officials on the settlement of the tax debt, Yury Beilin, deputy
head of the Yukos board, told a news conference in Moscow on Thursday.
moment," he said. "We have written the prime minister, the Finance Ministry, and Alexander Zhukov, but we
have received no response. We have not conducted any negotiations with state officials on any specific issues,"
Beilin said.
"We would like to believe that the state is not planning to bankrupt the company, but is only seeking additional
taxes," he said.
On Wednesday, the Moscow Arbitration Court decided to recover from Yukos an additional profit tax from 2000,
including fines and penalties in the amount of 99.4 billion rubles (an equivalent of $3.4 billion) based on the Tax
Ministry's lawsuit. [RU EUROPE EEU EMRG BUS LAW] te tl av tj <>
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