MOSCOW, March 31 (Reuters) - Russia's Federal Tax Service has proposed to the government changes in tax administration which, if put into practice, could boost the budget by up to 1.3 trillion roubles ($38.35 billion), Interfax reported on Tuesday.
The proposals were downplayed at the Economy Ministry, which plans to submit its own suggestions on tax in coming days.
The tax service proposes a 0.5 percent crisis-time corporate tax on financial operations -- such as payments for goods, services or labour via a bank account -- as well as increasing the time for chasing up unpaid taxes to 3 years and scrapping rapid refunds of value-added tax (VAT), Interfax said.
The proposals were submitted to the government on March 23, according to Interfax, which saw the text of the letter. The measures could mean extra revenues of over 900 billion roubles for the state budget and around 400 billion roubles for regions.
Mikhail Mokretsov, the head of the tax service, confirmed to Interfax that the letter had been sent, adding that it was prepared in response to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's request to look at new sources of tax revenue.
A source at the Economy Ministry played down the significance of the tax proposal and said the government would have other options to consider.
"We will have our own suggestions, probably on Thursday," the source said on condition of anonymity.
Economy Minister Elvira Nabiullina said last week that her ministry would soon put forward proposals on corporate tax breaks to help companies through Russia's first recession in a decade [ID:nLO937165]. Russia expects a budget deficit of around 3 trillion roubles or 8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year, as the global economic crisis dents revenues. [ID:nLI364533] (Reporting by Toni Vorobyova; Editing by Ron Askew)