Belarusian independent daily fined for alleged tax irregularities :: Charter'97 :: News

A Belarusian independent business daily, Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta, has accused the authorities of putting economic pressure on the paper and attempting to close it down.

In a commentary published on 26 July, the newspaper reported that a recent audit conducted by the tax authorities of Minsk`s Kastrychnitski district found that the newspaper publisher, the Marat unitary company, "wrote down the unsold newspapers to the price of scrap paper and attributed the markdown in full to non-sale expenses which were taken into account while calculating taxable profits". The newspaper stressed that its accountants were acting in strict compliance with the Finance Ministry`s guidelines which stipulate exactly this procedure.

As a result of the audit, Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta will have to pay an additional 30.8m roubles in taxes, 12.3m roubles in penalties, and 3.4m roubles in late payment charges (a total of 21,700 dollars). The newspaper`s chief accountant also faces a fine of up to 3m roubles, the commentary said.