Deputies' eyes were opened to the new excise tax

The Ministry of Finance proposes to introduce an excise tax on household heating oil from mid-2013 - a petroleum product that in practice is often used as a replacement for low-quality diesel fuel, but is not subject to excise duty. The problem has existed for quite some time, but starting next year, after the ban on the circulation of fuel worse than Euro-2, it may take on a different scale. In addition, revenues from the new excise tax, which could amount to about 46 billion rubles in 2013-2015, will somewhat mitigate the severity of the issue of filling road funds.

The idea of introducing a new excise tax was presented by Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Budget and Taxes Leonid Simanovsky at a meeting of the tax subcommittee. According to him, the government proposed to impose an excise tax on heating oil produced from diesel fractions of direct distillation and secondary origin, boiling in the temperature range from 160 to 360 degrees. Director of the Department of Tax and Customs Tariff Policy of the Ministry of Finance Ilya Trunin said at a subcommittee meeting that now “the production of diesel fuel under the heating oil label is a way to evade paying excise duty” (quoted by Prime). The so-called light heating oil is actually not fuel oil, but a distillate. Heating oil has a higher sulfur content, but from the point of view of practical use, in most cases it is an analogue of low-quality diesel fuel - but, unlike the latter, it is not subject to excise duty and is therefore cheaper. For example, on Tuesday, on the St. Petersburg International Trading Exchange exchange, heating oil with shipment by rail was offered in the range of 26-30 thousand rubles. per ton, while the winter diesel fuel index amounted to 34.3 thousand rubles. per ton. “To sell heating oil under the guise of diesel at gas stations, it is mixed with regular diesel fuel, and in winter with jet fuel,” says Mikhail Turukalov, general director of the NP Council for Commodity Markets.

To close this loophole, the government proposes to impose an excise tax on heating oil from the middle of next year - at rates of 5.86 thousand rubles. per ton in 2013, 6.45 thousand rubles in 2014 and 7.73 thousand rubles in 2015. The rates for the first two years coincide with those prescribed in the current version of the Tax Code for diesel fuel “Euro-2” and below. However, the current technical regulations provide that starting next year, the circulation of fuels of class below Euro-3 will be prohibited, which may encourage refiners to label the produced petroleum products as heating oil. In this case, the introduction of an excise tax will ensure budget revenues. According to the Ministry of Energy, in 2010 the production of heating oil in the Russian Federation amounted to 1.34 million tons, in 2011 - already 2.73 million tons. “Most likely, more heating oil and its analogues are being produced,” says Mr. Turukalov. Based on the production indicator for last year, possible revenues from the future excise tax can be estimated at 8 billion rubles. in 2013, 17.6 billion rubles in 2014 and 21.1 billion rubles in 2015.

During the discussion of proposals from the Ministry of Finance, deputies noted that heating oil is used to heat non-gasified houses in Siberia and the Far East, and if an excise tax is introduced, the cost of heating will increase. In addition, according to the deputies, it is worth clarifying the very definition of household heating oil. As a result, it was decided to postpone the decision and invite the Ministry of Finance to present detailed statistics to the next committee meeting.

Yuri Barsukov

The Ministry of Finance is dancing from the stove