"The documents are being coordinated in various ministries and agencies," a ministry spokesperson said without specifying the official bodies, the nature of disagreements and the timeframe for the bill to be sent for government approval.
Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Shatalov previously said that his ministry had certain technical disagreements with the economics ministry over the conditions under which the tax holiday could end earlier than in seven years.
Meanwhile, a source in the economics ministry said that it was considering extending a severance tax holiday from seven to 10 years.
"The severance tax will be abolished for oil deposits in East Siberia and the Timano-Pechora region [the republic of Komi and the Nenets autonomous area in Russia's far north] until it is 20% explored, but for no longer than 10 years," the source said.
He added that the tax holiday would start from the registration of an oil deposit rather than from the start of the production in order to stimulate companies to commence the development of oil deposits as early as possible.
The source also said the coefficient of gradual reduction of severance tax for old deposits that have been 80% explored had not yet been determined. The ministry had previously said it could be set at 0.8 or less.
