Advance tax in the amount of BGN 90 million has been transferred by “Lukoil” to the state budget of Bulgaria, Deputy Prime Minister Hristo Alexiev announced this to journalists.
He clarified that this represents general income tax, as well as 73 million in relation to the excess profits regulation.
Alexiev recalled that the company made a decision of the Supervisory Board to move all its economic activity from the Netherlands to Bulgaria. From now on, “Lukoil” will pay its taxes in Bulgaria, said Hristo Alexiev.
“These 90 million, in terms of size and amount, are more than the taxes that Lukoil has paid to the state 20 years ago. You may see that at the moment the fuel, for example A-95, is of the order of 2.70 – i.e. from the month of August, since the work of the caretaker government began, until now, fuels have dropped by about 60-70 cents.
On the one hand, we think that ‘Lukoil’ should pay all taxes in Bulgaria, but on the other hand, we will do everything possible to keep the fuel prices down. I.e. it is necessary to work in both directions – for the state to receive both its taxes here from ‘Lukoil’ and for fuel prices to go down even further. This is our priority policy.”
Hristo Alexiev answered a question of the BNR if the parliament adopts a decision that the state can take control of the oil refineries:
“This is not such an easy question. For the state to take over this management, very serious resources are needed, because it is not only the processing of crude oil in the refinery itself. This is logistics related to procurement, distribution. You saw what the state did to the state company in relation to fuels – two years there were no results and it was closed by the caretaker government. So the question is not operational control, the question is whether the state has the resources to carry out such control”.