Budget losses due to tax reform for oil workers were estimated at 50 billion rubles

The Ministry of Finance of Russia has prepared the tax reform of the oil industry, in the framework of which it is planned to transfer the company from a fixed tax on mineral mining (NPPs) to the added income tax (NDD). The newspaper "Vedomosti" writes about this in the issue of July 7 with reference to two unnamed federal officials familiar with the materials of the Ministry of Finance.

It is expected that the reform will affect both new deposits and some old ones (a list of pilot projects should be compiled for them). Officials admit that in the case of the implementation of the proposals of the Ministry of Finance, falling budget revenues will amount to 34–40 billion rubles a year (if the reform affects old deposits with a total extraction of up to 10 million tons). If the reform spreads to deposits with total production of up to 15 million tons, budget losses will increase to 50 billion rubles.

The presentation of the Ministry of Finance states that to compensate for the losses of oil production in the Russian Federation should increase by 20-30%. At the same time, the unnamed representative of the ministry explained to the publication that “a tax experiment for old deposits is possible only if it is compensated for falling income - through increasing the rate of personal income tax for deposits, in respect of which the EU is not planned.” As far as it is planned to increase NPI, the interlocutor of the newspaper did not specify.

Oil companies themselves did not give comments on the tax reform. In January, at a meeting with the head of the Ministry of Energy, Alexander Novak, the oil industry already asked to “leave the industry alone”, since she has no reserves to withstand tax raising.

In early July, it was reported that the government approved the idea of ​​the Ministry of Finance to freeze budget expenditures in nominal terms in 2017-2019 at the current year. In this case, in real terms, expenses will be reduced over three years by about 20% of the 2016 level. In addition, the Ministry expects to increase the volume of external and internal borrowings in the next three years, as well as cover the budget deficit at the expense of the National Welfare Fund.