Tele2 vowed to appeal a judgement by a Swedish court to partly reject its attempts to slash a tax bill on losses related to its now divested Kazakhstan joint venture, which potentially landed it with a SEK355 million ($43.6 million) bill.

In a statement, Tele2 said the Administrative Court in Sweden had turned down part of its claim to cut its liability due to “exchange losses” in connection with a loan agreement struck at the formation of its Kazakhstan joint venture, an asset the company sold in 2019.

If the ruling stands, Tele2 would be liable to stump up SEK355 million out of an original tax claim of SEK558 million, including related charges and interest.

Tele2 secured a discount on the original sum in September 2019, but subsequently did not make a provision in financial statements on the assumption it would win its appeal to have the amount reduced further. At the end of Q3 2019 its liability stood at SEK349 million.

In its statement today (6 January), the company said it would make “a decision” on including a provision for SEK355 million in its yet to be issued Q4 2020 report.