Companies which are fined for cartel forming and breaking competition law cannot deduct those fines from tax, the (Dutch) High Court said on Friday.
The decision upholds a lower court ruling dating from 2008.
The High Court said the fine is meant to be a punishment. However, cash sums paid to offset any financial gain made by the cartel can be offset against tax, the court said.
Yes, I am on a spree today, but I cannot believe some of the stuff I read. A number of Dutch companies who were fined because of their bad corporate practices tried to deduct said fines from their tax bill as a “corporate expense”. The Dutch equivalent of the Supreme Court said “NO!”. I wonder if the judges also gave them the side eye.
I cannot believe they even tried this.
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