12-10-06

Venezuela's tax authority Seniat has collected 1 tn bolivares ($ 465 mm at official rates) extra from oil companies for 2001-04 due to retroactive tax increases.
Seniat obtained the extra by retroactively increasing the tax rate for oil companies from 34 % to 50 %.

US oil company Harvest Natural Resources failed to pay an extra 33 bn bolivares from the retroactive increase, a Seniat spokesperson told.
The company will be given a "reasonable" amount of time to pay the back taxes, José Cedillo, Seniat general manager for special taxpayers in the capital region, said.

No sanctions are foreseen unless talks with that company break down, the official said. The 33 bn bolivares correspond solely to the 2005 fiscal year.
Over the last few years, Venezuela has moved to increase royalties and tax rates for oil E&P projects to a combined 83.33 % of profits.