TAX NEWS - DECEMber 2009

Alaska Tax: Alaska Department of Revenue - Oil & Gas Production Tax Annual Tax Return Form Project Implementation Guidance

The department has been working to develop a new reporting form to be used by producers and explorers for reporting annual oil and gas production tax information. The annual reporting form has been the subject of recent workshops and had been proposed to be used for the 2009 tax year. As the format and requirements of the form are still in development and to respond to industry concerns about companies' abilities to properly integrate the form requirements into their existing data reporting systems, the department's form requirements will be as follows for the Oil and Gas Production Tax Annual Return due on March 31, 2010:

1) Producers and explorers must file the 2009 Annual Tax Information Form and attach their tax computations to this form. These are the same reporting requirements and format that were required for 2008.

2) For 2009, producers and explorers should file the Tax Summary Form (copy attached) as a supplement attached to their annual filing. The summary form was developed in response to comments received at the department's workshops. It's future use will be integrated into the Oil & Gas Production Tax Annual Return Form Project.

3) Use of worksheets or forms from the proposed forms project is encouraged, but optional for the 2009 tax year filing. The Department anticipates that these worksheets and forms will be required for the 2010 tax year filing, as producers and explorers will have had ample time to integrate the form requirements into existing data reporting systems.

The 2009 Annual Filing will be required to be filed through OTIS with applicable attachments or supplemental information files, in the same manner as was done for the 2008 Annual Filing.

Additional workshops and modifications to the proposed forms will be announced at a later date.

Thank you for your participation and suggestions.