Russia's laws on transfer pricing should apply to gas giant Gazprom, Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Shatalov said on Tuesday.
Media reports claim Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller has asked Prime Minister Vladimir Putin not to extend the law, which is to come in force from 2012, to apply to the gas giant. Shatalov confirmed that Putin ordered the Finance Ministry to discuss the question.
"The transfer pricing law should be fully applied to (Gazprom). We do not want any exceptions," Shatalov said.
The transfer pricing law envisages control by the Federal Tax Service of deals between interdependent companies at non-market prices. Companies often use such schemes to evade tax payments by, for example, redistribution of overall profit to a firm or subsidiary with a low tax burden.
