Commissioning serves as a ground for depreciation *

Russia - November 30 2012
In a letter dated 17 August 2012, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation (the "Ministry") commented on how to accrue depreciation on fixed assets.

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Deduction of VAT beyond the period in which the right to deduction arose *

Russia - November 30 2012
On 17 October 2012, the Federal Commercial Court of the Moscow District (the "FCC") reviewed a case on the possibility of deducting VAT beyond the tax period in which the right of the taxpayer to such deduction arose.

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Cyprus removed from Russia’s tax haven black list *

Cyprus, Russia - November 30 2012
Cyprus was removed from the black list of offshore areas providing preferential tax treatment and/or not providing disclosure and reporting data on financial operations (the "List").

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Expenses on interest payments cannot occur earlier than established in the loan agreement *

Russia - November 30 2012
On 25 September 2012, the Federal Commercial Court of the Central District (the "FCC") considered a case concerning the period in which a taxpayer can allocate to expenses sums of interest accrued.

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Tax authorities cannot require a transaction be recognised as invalid on the basis that it was entered into for the purposes of tax evasion *

Russia - November 30 2012
On 6 November 2012, the Presidium of the Supreme Commercial Court of the Russian Federation (the "SCC") tried a case in which it needed to rule on whether a transaction should be declared invalid.

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