MOSCOW, October 4 (RIA Novosti) - The Moscow Arbitration Court has partially upheld an appeal filed by the Tyumen Oil Company (TNK) and cut additional tax claims against it for 2001 from 4 billion rubles (about $140 million) to 40 million rubles ($1.4 million).
TNK had appealed against the Russian Federal Tax Service's additional back-tax demands, which were made on December 7, 2004.
The sum demanded was based on the service's investigations into the company's operations for 2001, when TNK was still a separate entity, before the joint venture TNK-BP was formed in September 2003. The total additional sum consisted of $80 million of principal debt and $60 million in fines and interest.
In April 2005, it surfaced that the Federal Tax Service had been carrying out further investigations into TNK. Following these investigations, a new back-tax demand for 2001 of $770 million was made on TNK and its subsidiaries. However, in August, the Federal Tax Service, after objections from the oil company, lowered this demand to $244 million. On August 18, TNK paid this sum.
