The ninth Moscow arbitration court has dismissed an appeal by Russia's largest advertising operator, News Outdoor, against a ruling ordering the company to pay 1.341 billion rubles ($45 million) in taxes and penalty fees, the court said on Monday.
News Outdoor, the outdoor advertising subsidiary of News Corporation owned by U.S. tycoon Rupert Murdoch, switched illegitimately to a simplified tax system in 2005 and 2006 without delivering the requisite documents to the tax authorities, and did not let tax officials conduct a check at its offices, according to court documents.
After the tax authorities studied the company's accounting operations with its business partners, it decided to charge the company 297.463 million rubles of profit tax, 678.95 million rubles of value added tax and 368.800 million rubles in penalty fees.
News Outdoor runs outdoor advertising campaigns for Russian and foreign advertisers and works with the largest Russian and international media agencies.
News Corporation also owns smaller Russian advertising businesses, such as Mosgorreklama, and radio stations belonging to the News Media radio Group.
MOSCOW, August 2 (RIA Novosti)
