01-03-2011, 07:56 AM
From http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/pub...9391.shtml
How to make 10 billion Euro and pay nothing in tax
By h.b. - Feb 27, 2011 - 7:14 PM
ExxonMobil Spain has done so by establishing a ETVEExxon Mobil - EFE[URL="http://www.typicallyspanish.com/spain/uploads/4/exxonmobil.jpg"]
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A report in El PaÃs indicates that the largest company in the world has been using Spain as a tax haven. ExxonMobil Spain which has only one employee, made 9.9 billion € over the past two years and has paid not a single € in tax.
The company did so via a legal formula to save tax, though an ETVE, Institution Holding Foreign Securities.
Hacienda considers such bodies as a grand centre of fraud, and note that the income of an ETVE is not taxable, but its costs are tax deductable.
The system was established in 1995 to attract foreign investment in exchange for the almost complete freedom of tax, with Spain trying to copy similar holdings' in Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland and other countries. Under the Spanish system the only benefit to the taxman came from the initial investment made.
Ministry for Industry data for last year saw more than 2 billion € enter Spain in ETVE's between January and September, about 22% of the total foreign investment in the country.
El PaÃs says that Hacienda has no plans to change the law, considering that any changes now would generate uncertainty and scare away investors.
How to make 10 billion Euro and pay nothing in tax
By h.b. - Feb 27, 2011 - 7:14 PM
ExxonMobil Spain has done so by establishing a ETVEExxon Mobil - EFE[URL="http://www.typicallyspanish.com/spain/uploads/4/exxonmobil.jpg"]
[/URL]
A report in El PaÃs indicates that the largest company in the world has been using Spain as a tax haven. ExxonMobil Spain which has only one employee, made 9.9 billion € over the past two years and has paid not a single € in tax.
The company did so via a legal formula to save tax, though an ETVE, Institution Holding Foreign Securities.
Hacienda considers such bodies as a grand centre of fraud, and note that the income of an ETVE is not taxable, but its costs are tax deductable.
The system was established in 1995 to attract foreign investment in exchange for the almost complete freedom of tax, with Spain trying to copy similar holdings' in Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland and other countries. Under the Spanish system the only benefit to the taxman came from the initial investment made.
Ministry for Industry data for last year saw more than 2 billion € enter Spain in ETVE's between January and September, about 22% of the total foreign investment in the country.
El PaÃs says that Hacienda has no plans to change the law, considering that any changes now would generate uncertainty and scare away investors.
The most relevant literature regarding what happened since September 11, 2001 is George Orwell's "1984".
