Naftogaz considers multibillion-dollar claims voiced by State Tax Service head to be unfounded
NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy considers the multibillion-dollar claims against the company voiced by Head of the State Tax Service of Ukraine Oleksiy Liubchenko to be groundless.
In an interview with Interfax-Ukraine, Liubchenko said that the amount of claims against Naftogaz was estimated at UAH 34.6 billion, which included "the failure to include the amount of lost profit on gas transit operations recognized by the Stockholm court in the amount of UAH 71.86 billion, or $2.56 billion, in its income; overestimation of the cost by the amount of VAT tax liabilities, accrual on transactions for the supply of transit services to nonresidents, Naftogaz's failure to provide nominations to heat generating and heat supplying companies for the supply of gas and not reflecting such transactions in VAT tax liabilities.
In turn, Naftogaz said on its Facebook page that the stated claims arose largely due to different interpretations and legal collisions, which the company had repeatedly called for to be eliminated.
Naftogaz, in particular, recalled that it does not have the right to sell gas to companies that have a large debt to it and did not enter into an agreement on its restructuring, therefore, accusations of loss of profits due to failure to submit nominations for gas supplies to such companies sound illogical.
Claims of lost profits on gas transit operations are also unfounded, since Naftogaz, upon receipt of compensation from Gazprom in arbitration, reflected income and paid income tax and dividends on the profits.
In addition, the inclusion of VAT in the cost of the transit service is not a violation, as indicated by the clarification received by the company from the State Tax Service.
Naftogaz added that the old claims against the company and its management regarding allegedly non-payment of VAT on the sale of gas purchased from Gazprom to consumers are not true, in particular, UAH 8 billion accrued under this claim to be paid by Naftogaz Executive Board Chairman Andriy Kobolev were canceled by court.
In this regard, the company urged not to "juggle the huge sums that Naftogaz could allegedly bring, although, of course, they do not exist in nature."