Punishment for tax crime may be toughened

The transition to the system of paying the VAT upon receipt of goods is planned to take place in Russia in 2006, Russian Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin declared at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In his turn, Putin underlined that business entities should be prepared for the implementation of this system. In addition, the Finance Minister said that starting in 2006, advanced export payments would be exempted from the VAT. Kudrin deems it necessary to toughen the punishment for committing serious tax crimes.