Tajikistan mobile operator Tcell announced an appeal against what it considers to be an illegal tax claim. The authorities in Tajikistan are basing their tax claim on revenue that Tcell has never generated, so called 'unrealised revenue‘. Tcell and its advisors are of the opinion that there is no legislative support in the National Tax Code, the company and its parent company Telia announced.
The size of the claim is around TJS 155 million (SEK 178 million), including penalties and interest, and it follows a tax audit for the period May 2015 to June 2016 made by the national tax authority.
In September 2016, Telia Company announced that it had signed an agreement to sell its 60 percent holding in Central Asian Telecommunications Development, which controls Tcell, to the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), which currently holds 40 percent.At the time of signing, the transaction was expected to close by the end of 2016, subject to necessary regulatory approval. Currently it is difficult to project when that will happen, Telia said, as the time period for the necessary approval has expired without any clear response from the relevant authority.
