Nike is being investigated for possible fiscal benefits in the Netherlands

 

 

Nike’s operations in the Netherlands, under examination. The European Commission initiated an investigation to resolve if the country conceded fiscal advantages to the North American company in order to avoid taxation.

 

“The Member States should not authorize companies to implement complex structures to unduly reduce its taxable revenues that grants them an unjustified advantage in relation to their competitors,” explained the Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

 

The commissioner pointed out that from now on Brussels will examine in detail the tax treatment Dutch authorities negotiated with Nike between 2006 and 2015. In such period, the North American company signed five fiscal arrangements, two of them still effective.

 

The European Government concretely questioned the methodology of this agreements to calculate the income from royalties of two companies that Nike has in the Netherlands: Nike European Operations Netherlands and Converse Netherlands, through which Nike and Converse commercialize its products in Europe, Near East and Africa.

 

According to Brussels, this two companies got intellectual property licensing in exchange of the payment of a tax-deductive fee. In addition to this, in a preliminary analysis, the European Commission brought to light that these two societies from Nike do not have employees performing an economic activity.