Dutch ecologist party asks for investigation of Shell dividend tax payment

Sat 16 June 2018

The Dutch ecologist party, Groen Links, has asked parliament this Saturday to appoint a commission to investigate payment of taxes on dividends by multinational oil company Shell. According to newspaper Trouw, company has since 2005 avoiding this rate “with permission of Dutch Treasury, through Jersey, island of channel of La Mancha [a dependence British Crown]”. During those years, “Shell has distributed among its shareholders about 45 billion euros, of which 7 billion should have been entered in coffers of state.” Shell claims that it has not violated tax rules.

In a statement posted on its website, Marjan van Loon, president and director of Shell in Netherlands, describes rotational information as biased. “I’m astonished,” he says. “The fact that our headquarters is in Nerlands and we have two types of actions is very profitable for Treasury (…) The Dutch dividend tax, paid by beneficiary, does not exist in United Kingdom. When both branches of company, British and Dutch merged, a legal formula was sought to prevent British shareholders from being obliged to pay rates in force under Dutch law (…) We have always been transparent in our annual report, “he adds in note.

This Saturday, Jesse Klaver, leader of Groen Links has qualified tax agreement that differentiates Shell shareholders from “political cronyism.” “It gives impression that tax authority is collaborating to facilitate a corporate merger. It’s unheard of, “he said. He hopes to declare before investigating commission “all state secretaries of finance named since 2005, and all those responsible for Shell”. The fact that this type of investigation ends up being held behind closed doors does not concern him. “We talk about political responsibility,” he says. The Democrat Party and Christen Unie, a Protestant group, members of current center-right coalition, have asked Ministry of Finance to clarify tax-sanctioned agreements over past 15 years. They want to know if y suited to rules.

The oil company was born in 1907 from alliance between British Shell Transport Trading and Dutch Royal Dutch Petroleum. It happened to be called Royal Dutch Shell after merger of 2005. Van Loon alludes in his note to two groups of shareholders: A, Dutch, and B, British. The multinational is one of main defenders of abolition of tax on dividends, fixed today by 15%. This payment has been debated in Dutch parliament repeatedly, and last April, Mark Rutte, Liberal prime minister, was in a hurry to overcome a motion of censure promoted by this reason. With 67 votes in favor and 76 against, Rutte was accused of not having properly informed House about government’s alleged plans, allegedly analysed with business world, and aimed at suppressing tax.

SOURCE Turkey Telegraph – Breaking News & Headlines from TURKEY