ABN AMRO must pay a fine of 14 million euros for complicity in tax evasion. The Public Prosecution Service accuses a foreign bank in this case of intentionally filing incorrect corporate tax returns. The Public Prosecution Service is summoning the American bank Morgan Stanley for this.
Research by the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) shows that a Dutch subsidiary of Morgan Stanley filed five corporate tax returns between 2009 and 2013.
According to the Public Prosecution Service (OM), these returns were “intentionally filed incorrectly.” For example, 124 million euros in dividend tax was settled and evaded.
ABN AMRO emphasizes that it was “not involved” in the tax returns. Predecessor Fortis Nederland was involved in “transactions in Dutch derivatives and shares with this foreign financial institution.”
“ABN AMRO will pay a fine of 14 million euros,” the bank writes in a press release. By paying, “ABN AMRO closes an old file that originated with Fortis.” The fine puts an end to the criminal investigation for ABN AMRO, the Public Prosecution Service reports.
The Public Prosecution Service is also summoning Morgan Stanley in this case, reports news agency ANP. Justice states that a subsidiary of the American bank received a large number of shares at the moment the dividend was paid out. This allowed the subsidiary to offset the dividend with other taxes. That would be a trick for prohibited tax evasion, with the shares returning abroad after the payment.