ALRUD's Tax Practice advised NHL Enterprises, Inc., as part of conclusion of an agreement with Yandex, for the broadcast of NHL matches.

Specialists of ALRUD Tax Practice advised NHL Enterprises, Inc., which represents one of the first and most-prestigious professional hockey leagues in the world – NHL, in the course of coordinating an agreement with the Russian media giant, Yandex, to broadcast three seasons of NHL games.

The deal, closed in the fall of 2019, has become one of the most progressive and innovative in the field of sports broadcasting in Russia in recent years. It enabled not only to increase the interest in NHL matches of all hockey fans, including through the simultaneous broadcast of parallel matches of the league, but also to attract a new audience to the Internet broadcasts and webcasts of this popular sport.

$5
bln Deal amount, according to media report

As part of the transaction, specialists of ALRUD's Tax Practice advised our Client on the structure of granting rights to broadcast matches and tax issues, arising in the Russian Federation, in connection with the implementation of the transaction.

Taking into account the subtleties and details of the parties’ interaction, the volume and methods of providing access to content, as well as the structure of payments, our specialists faced not only the task to analyze the procedure for taxation of payments under the contract and the application of the Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation with the United States, but also to determine the actual beneficiary of income, considering the potential plurality of persons on the side of the contractor as well as the qualification of services as electronic for VAT purposes.

The ALRUD team, which worked on the project under the leadership of Maxim Alekseev, Senior Partner, included Elena Novikova, Of Counsel of Tax Practice, and Sergey Artemiev, Senior Associate of Tax Practice.