Now-bankrupt oil major OAO Yukos, formerly Russia's largest oil producer, has paid 90 billion rubles ($3.8 billion) too much in taxes, a Moscow court said, the Vedomosti daily reported Friday.
The newspaper cites a ruling stating that a company only can be made responsible for a reacquiring tax offense - which in Russia means paying double the amount of the original fine - if the company committed the tax offense after it has been made responsible for the first one.
In 2004, the Russian tax authorities presented Yukos with tax claims for 2000 to 2003 amounting to RUB180 billion for committing the same tax offense several times.
However, Yukos should only have paid half that amount, as the original ruling was unlawful, the paper said.