Tax law and tax disputes

On 6 October, Tax Law. The Special Part, a textbook for university students edited by Sergey Pepeliaev, was released for sale. The textbook is a continuation of the first volume of the textbook Tax Law, which was republished in 2015. 

Pepeliaev Group’s lawyers have been included in the Indirect Tax Leaders 2017 directory compiled by the International Tax Review journal. Pepeliaev Group’s senior partners Rustem Ahmetshin and Andrey Nikonov, partner Andrey Tereschenko and senior associate Petr Popov were among the leaders in indirect tax. 

Pepeliaev Group has been selected to advise Gazprom PJSC; it won in a public tender for advisory services in relation to the taxation of profit generated by the controlled foreign companies of the Gazprom group. 

The Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry commissioned Pepeliaev Group to analyse various payments which are similar to taxes and levies but are not included in the Russian Tax Code. These payments are collected in the most diverse industries and increase the real burden for businesses to finance their public commitments. It actually means that a parallel tax system is created. The amount of such payments already exceeds RUB 700 billion (1% of GDP). One of the most recent examples is the charge on 12-ton trucks, which sparked a massive public outcry. 

At the end of November 2015, a tax authority handed down a decision based on the results of a field tax audit of a foreign bank. The authority went back on a point that had previously been demonstrated in terms of expenses relating to futures transactions being legitimately deducted from the tax base for profit tax. Including fines, the amount claimed was more than RUB 300 million. 

World Tax, a directory of international tax firms, has placed Pepeliaev Group among the leaders (Tier 1) in the Russian market. Pepeliaev Group is the only Russian national law firm in Tier 1. 

Pepeliaev Group has been named external counsel of Gazprom Export. Our firm has won the public tender for advisory services relating to so-called 'deoffshorisation' matters. 

Russia's Constitutional Court has held to be invalid the requirement of the Russian Tax Code that a taxpayer should include in its tax base for VAT not only the cost of goods (work, or services) sold, but also the amount of an insurance payout the taxpayer has received because the buyer has breached its obligation to pay for the goods (work or services).