Mar 27, 2006
LONDON (AFX) – Royal Dutch Shell PLC is facing a tax bill than could run into hundreds of millions of pounds following a decision by Chancellor Gordon Brown to change the rules on how some foreign companies are taxed, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported, citing tax experts.
Shell, which last year moved its headquarters to The Hague from the UK, will be among those companies that will be hit hard by the tax reforms, contained in the Budget.
Under the changes, the government is to tax companies that became non-resident for tax before April 2002 under “Controlled Foreign Companies and Residence” rules. Shell carried out its restructuring by “reversing” into another UK company which had been registered before 2002, the newspaper said.
Shell has always described the fiscal effect of its merger as “tax neutral”.
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