The Azerbaijani Finance Ministry plans to finalize the draft amendments to the tax legislation by late June, Deputy Minister Azer Bayramov told media today. "Many questions have already been agreed," he said. "Others are under consideration." Azerbaijan may change the maximum tax income rate, the head of the department of individual registration of the Ministry of Taxes, Natig Shirinov said earlier.

State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) paid AZN 121.005 million to the state budget in April, 2012, up 30.3% compared to 2011. The company said in general SOCAR also transferred AZN 443.427 million to the state budget during January-April, 2012, up 25.6% compared to 2011. Besides, SOCAR paid AZN 15.816 million to the SSPF in April, 2012, up 36.6% from year earlier.

In January-April 2012 the Ministry of Taxes of Azerbaijan has provided receipt to the state budget of 2.24 billion manat of tax payments, the ministry said in a statement issued on Wednesday. Profit tax proceeds amounted to 46.2 per cent of total tax levies; value added tax - 20.9 per cent, income tax - 10.8 per cent, excise tax - 6.4 per cent, and other taxes - 15.7 per cent.

Turkey continues to support Nabucco gas pipeline project, Bloomberg reported with the reference to Levent Ozgul, director of strategy and business development in Turkish state pipeline company Botas, which is one of the shareholders in Nabucco consortium. "Botas and the Turkish Ministry of Natural Resources fully support it," Ozgul said. Nabucco is one of the Southern Gas Corridor projects, which is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region and Middle East to the European countries.

The number of people receiving labour pensions, amounted to 1,275,630 in Azerbaijan as of April 1, 2012, the State Social Protection Fund (SSPF) reported on Tuesday. Some 39 per cent (498,190 pensioners) of the people receiving labour pensions are male and 61 per cent (777,440) women. Of these, 807 941 receives a retirement pension, 333,730 are on disability and 133,959 people receive occupational pensions due to the loss of the head of household.

As a result of repair work, gas supplies via the Kazimagomed-Gazakh pipeline will be suspended on May 14-16, Azerigas production association of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) told Trend on Monday. During this period, interruptions to the supply will be observed in all villages and settlements of the Ismayilli region of Azerbaijan, the villages of Padar (Agsu region) and Garameryem (Goychay region).

The construction of Nabucco gas pipeline project, which is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region and Midlle East to the European countries may start in 2015, Bloomberg reported with the reference to Austrian OMV's gas head Hans-Peter Floren. "Should the owners of the BP Plc-led Shah Deniz field in Azerbaijan make a decision on whom to award its gas next year, construction could start in 2015 and be completed in 2018," Floren said at the company's annual shareholder meeting in Vienna.

The Azerbaijani State Social Protection Fund plans to fully complete assigning the pensions to automation by late 2012, chairman of the State Fund Salim Muslimov told media today. "This function will be fully automated after the process of gathering information about those pensioners who retired before 2006 is completed," Muslimov said.

The Azerbaijani Cabinet of Ministers approved the procedure of calculating the amount of customs debt on value added tax (VAT). The procedure was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers' decision on May 7, 2012. As the text of the decision was released on Tuesday on its website, it shows that the calculation of customs debt on VAT with respect to imported goods starts from the day of crossing customs border. With respect to exported goods it is from the date of submission of the declaration of goods while the taken tax rate becomes effective on that day and is used as a basis.

The OSCE Economic Forum, which will open in Batumi in the coming days, will be attended by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, Parliament's Speaker David Bakradze and Georgian MPs, Vice-Speaker, head of the Georgian parliamentary delegation to OSCE Gigi Tsereteli said at a plenary meeting on Tuesday. He said Georgia has not hosted forums of this scale. The event will be attended by delegations from 40 countries and representatives of the diplomatic corps, he said.