During the court session, a representative of the Federal Tax Service said that the oil company's 2003 tax debt had already been paid off, excluding the fine, through the auctioning of Yukos' main production unit Yuganskneftegaz.
According to a Yukos lawyer, the tax bodies independently determined the procedure of recovery. They collected debts from 2000 and then those from 2003. Now they are going after the 2001 and 2002 debts.
It has been reported that the FTS inspectorate decided on December 6 of last year to collect an additional 170 billion rubles in back taxes for 2003. The actual debt is 86.2 billion rubles, but the company is being fined 14.8 billion rubles. Prosecutors have to prove that the company owes the remaining 70 billion rubles.
Yukos has contested the FTS decision and another hearing is scheduled for April 18.
