Azerbaijan, Baku, April 25 / Trend A.Taghiyeva, E. Ismayilov /
Turkey's Ministry of Finance refused simplification of the tax regime to TANAP, designed for the transportation of gas from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field to Turkey, Zaman newspaper reported on Wednesday with a reference to the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey.
In particular, it concerns the value added tax, income tax, excise tax, stamp duty and profit tax.
In response to the appeal of TANAP to simplify the tax burden, the Ministry of Finance of Turkey has committed itself to a VAT refund after completion of investing the total amount of investments by a company, which will implement the project.
The Finance Ministry also set a condition to increase the tax rate on profits from every barrel of oil pumped through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline.
Despite the refusal of the Finance Ministry to simplify the tax regime the final word in this process rests with the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey.
Azerbaijan and Turkey plan to create a pipeline from the eastern border of Turkey to the country's western border. At present the Turkish state owned energy company BOTAS has a 20 per cent stake in TANAP, while the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) holds 80 per cent in the project.
The initial capacity of the pipeline is expected to reach 16 billion cubic meters per year. About six billion cubic meters of the volume will be allocated to Turkey, while the rest will be transported to Europe. At present, Azerbaijan is on the verge of choosing the route for gas exports to Europe via Turkey. Azerbaijan currently exports gas to Turkey via the South Caucasus gas pipeline.