DutchNews.nl,
Wednesday 23 January 2013
The biggest
100 multinationals in the world pushed at least €57bn through the Netherlands
using Dutch tax deals in 2011, the Volkskrant reports on Wednesday.
Offshore Secrets |
Google, IBM
and Italian oil and gas group ENI head the list of companies using letter box
companies and advance rulings to cut their Dutch tax bills to between 0 and 5%,
the Volkskrant says.
Junior
finance minister Frans Weekers is today due to update parliament on measures to
improve transparency in advance tax deals for multinationals, following
pressure from MPs.
France
According
to the Financieele Dagblad on Wednesday, French state companies are among those
using the Netherlands to cut their tax bills.
Energy
firms EDF and GDF Suez, defence giant Thales and water firm Veolia are among
those which have recently set up financial holding companies in the
Netherlands, the paper says. The French state has a considerable shareholding
in all four companies.
EDF, for
example, has three Dutch holding companies which 'own' its interests in two
Polish power stations. The Netherlands does not charge the French firm any tax on its Polish dividends,
which in France would be taxed at 5%.
Starbucks
The letterbox
system allows multinationals and bands like U2 to cut hundreds of millions of
euros from their tax bills.
The issue
hit the headlines last November when it emerged US coffee giant Starbucks has
paid just £8.6m tax in Britain after 14 years of trading.
British MPs
are angry Starbucks UK pays a 4.7% fee to the coffee giant's Dutch arm for the
right to use its branding and coffee recipe. The fee reduces its UK tax bill.
Earlier
stories
- Tax deals for letter box firms under fire, MPs demand change
- Starbucks under fire in Britain over Dutch tax deal
- EU wants an end to letterbox companies
- Letterbox companies largely exempt from tougher rules
- The Netherlands is a popular tax haven for FTSE 100 firms
- Holland no longer a US tax haven
- More tax levied over tax haven income
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