MOSCOW, February 24 - RAPSI. A commercial court has delayed on Friday until March 26 its hearing of the Russian Authors Society's request to order the tax inspectorate to withdraw its decision claiming $18.8 million in supplementary taxes, the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com) reports from the courtroom.

The court postponed the case to allow the parties time to read additional documents.

Earlier, the court said the Federal Tax Service's inspectorate obligated it to transfer the sum to the budget as VAT arrears, tax on income received by a foreign organization from sources in Russia, penalties and fines.

According to the claim, the court suspended the tax authority's decision before the judicial act concerning the dispute came into effect.

The society stated in its claim that the funds transferred to its accounts are not its property and are to be distributed to the rights holders.

The society also said the recovery of 560.102 million rubles ($18.8) may result in the non-execution or only partial execution of its obligation to pay royalties to over 26,000 rights holders.

The Russian Authors Society was established in 1993 as an organization to manage copyrights on a collective basis.

The society manages copyrights on the basis of relevant assignment agreements with rights holders. The number of such arrangements with Russian rights holders exceeded 24,000 by January 1, 2010. In addition, the society entered into 174 such agreements with foreign rights holders in 68 countries. It represents in Russia about 2 million foreign music performers.