AMSTERDAM: The state-owned Dutch railway company NS is continuing to cut its Dutch tax bill by routing the cost of new trains and their rental income through Ireland, the NRC reports on Wednesday.
Both the NS and the finance ministry have declined to comment despite finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem’s 2013 statement that the practice is ‘undesirable’ from society’s point of view and ‘should be ended’, the paper says.
In 2012, the Volkskrant reported that the NS had cut its Dutch tax bill by at least €250m since 1999 by routing the cost of new trains through Ireland. The NS’s 2014 annual report makes brief mention of the Dublin-based leasing company NS Financial Services but does state the company paid €11m in corporation tax in Ireland last year. Irish corporation tax is a basic 12.5%, half the Dutch rate. The last major purchase made by the Irish leasing company is 118 new Sprinter trains which will be delivered from 2018.
That contract is worth €500m. The purchase of the Fyra high speed trains from AnsaladoBreda also went through Dublin. The Netherlands itself has repeatedly been under fire for offering generous advance tax agreements with foreign companies, allowing them to reduce their tax bills at home.
