Putin signs law on amendments to Russia's Tax Code

President Vladimir Putin signed the federal law "On Amendments to Part Two of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, Making Alterations and Amendments in Some Other Statutes of the Russian Federation, and Invalidating Some Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation", says a statement released by the presidential press service on Saturday. The State Duma adopted the Law on 21 May 2003, with the Federation Council endorsing it on May 28.

The new federal Law enacts a new Chapter of the RF Tax Code titled "Taxation in Performance of Production Sharing Agreements". The Chapter establishes a special tax scheme applicable to parties involved in production sharing agreements made in compliance with the federal law "On Production Sharing Agreements".

This new special tax scheme provides that instead of paying the cumulative taxes and duties currently tax required by Russia's legislation, a party to a production sharing agreement shall from now on yield a share in its production specified in such an agreement, with the exception of some taxes and duties stipulated by the new Law.

On the one hand, the new federal Law is to create the most favourable conditions for investors injecting capital in prospecting and production of mineral resources, and, on the other hand, it is to guarantee that the state gain due share of the profits generated by respective entities from these activity.