Peter Kavelaars, Professor Fiscal Economics at Erasmus School of Economics, comments on the controversial tax deal that the Dutch Tax Authorities has concluded with Shell in 2005 in RTL Nieuws and NPO Radio 1. This deal exempted British shareholders of Shell from paying dividend taxes in the Netherlands, which has led to a loss in tax revenue of over 7 billion euros. According to Professor Kavelaars, however, there is not much going on.
That the Dutch Tax Authorities agreed upon the deal, is because the profits of Shell were made in the UK and thus the Netherlands never had the right to tax the British shareholders on the dividends payed by Shell from this profits, states Professor Kavelaars. Because of the merger, the Netherlands suddenly obtained the right to tax these dividends. However, if the Netherlands would have exercised this right, the merger would not have been in the interests of the shareholders and would probably never have been completed. Therefore, the deal that the Dutch Tax Authorities agreed upon is understandable.
- More information
For more information, read the whole article of 16 June 2018 of RTL Nieuws (in Dutch), watch the news broadcast of 16 June 2018 of RTL Nieuws (in Dutch) or listen to the interview of 18 June 2018 of NPO Radio 1 (in Dutch) .