Finance Ministry proposes NRET for Gazprom at 431 rubles per 1,000 cu m in 2012
MOSCOW. July 5 (Interfax) - Gazprom will pay a natural resource extraction tax (NRET) for gas (given cancellation of the tax break for gas exported on the Blue Stream pipeline) equal to 431 rubles per 1,000 cubic meters in 2012, 502 rubles in 2013 and 544 rubles in 2014, according to the draft main areas of tax policy published on the Finance Ministry's web site.
For other taxpayers, who do not own facilities in the country's unified gas-supply system, and for those whose combined ownership stake in system facilities is less than 50%, the tax rates - factoring in the cancellation of the Blue Stream tax break - will be applied with a reduced coefficient - 0.582 in 2012, 0.528 in 2013, and 0.511 in 2014.
In the event the Blue Stream incentive is retained, the NRET for Gazprom could be 509 rubles per 1,000 cubic meters in 2012, 582 rubles in 2013, and 622 rubles in 2014. The reduced coefficient for other categories of taxpayer involved in gas-extraction would in this case be 0.493 next year, 0.455 in 2013, and 0.447 in 2014.
Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Shatalov had said earlier that the Finance Ministry was suggesting setting a gas tax rate for Gazprom of 480 rubles per 1,000 cubic meters of gas next year, 600 rubles in 2013, and 635 rubles in 2014.
Shatalov also said that these rates were to be put into Russia's Tax Code as general gas NRET rates. A reduced coefficient for the rates for those "companies that are not of Gazprom," he said. The size of the reduced coefficient will be such as to apply to those rates already in the Code. So, for companies that are not part of Gazprom, the NRET rates on gas will not change in 2012-2013, and will align with those already written into the Code.
As of now, the Tax Code sets the 2012 gas-tax rate at 251 rubles per cubic meters and at 265 rubles for the following year.
The Finance Ministry suggests that in the future the NRET rate for gas be set in dependence on world prices for unprocessed hydrocarbons as taxes are levied on oil production, and also depending on the rate at which domestic gas prices rise, the draft tax policy says.
The ministry thinks that equalizing the tax burden on the gas and oil sectors ought to result in federal budget revenues rising by up to 150 billion rubles next year, by up to 168.3 billion rubles in 2013, and by up to 185.9 billion rubles in 2014.
The Finance Ministry also plans to add specific NRET rates for a host of solid subsurface resources (metals, salts, construction feedstock, etc.) using its experience setting with coal as a guide. It believes the NRET rates should be based on world prices if exports account for more than half of output.
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