BERLIN: German activities of U.S. agricultural merchant Archer Daniels Midland over a five-year period in what the company called a routine audit, although sources said ADM could face unforeseen liabilities.
Two sources familiar with the matter said the audit had been complicated by the departure of several senior trading officials from ADM’s German operations in previous years, of whom some had been made redundant through restructuring.
Due to a resulting lack of staff with the experience needed to field the authorities’ questions, ADM could have to pay more tax on billions of dollars of turnover, they added.
“This should have been a routine tax enquiry. The problem is they don’t have the people with the institutional memory necessary to answer the questions being asked by the tax authorities,” one of the sources said.
