Russia: Beer business in Russia is soon to be checked up by the Natural Resources Ministry

Russia’s Ministry of Natural Resources is planning to start checking up business of water, juice, beer and vodka producers, Kommersant news agency communicated on April 21. The officials are interested in the severance tax, in particular, settlement of the tax levied on artesian water production. The results will be forwarded to tax authorities. In the Natural Resources Ministry, they are sure lots of violations will be revealed.

Pursuant to the RF Tax Code, the company is to pay severance tax of 5.5 % of the finished product value if it producers water from the water-well holes for further sale. However, most companies ignore such tax, Rinat Gizatulin, head of press service at Natural Resources Ministry, told Kommersant on April 20. So, a large scale probe has been planned for the bottled water makers of the Moscow Region and other regions of the Central District with “the results forwarded to the Federal Tax Service so that its officials could decide what to do with the tax dodgers,” Gizatulin specified. Moreover, the ministry’s press service promised to check beer, juice, alcohol producers, as they also use artesian water.

Top managers of many companies are just unaware whether their firms settle the above tax. “We are paying certain sum for well operation, but I know nothing as far as the severance tax is concerned,” Vyacheslav Merkulov, sales director of Ochakovo beer and soft drink maker, told Kommersant.

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