From 153 to 10 million euros: Glamco reaches a settlement with the tax authorities | Economie

The West Flanders Court of First Instance will decide on one of the tax disputes between the Glamco Group and the Special Tax Inspectorate (BBI) in Ghent on Monday. This relates to a dividend of €430 million received by Ghelamco at the end of 2016 from its Cypriot subsidiary Granbero Holdings.

The Tax Inspectorate has launched a 153 million euro tax claim in Glamco. According to the tax authorities, the company incorrectly applied the deduction for “certainly taxable income” in the amount of 430 million euros.

But outside the courtroom, Glamco negotiated the lawsuit with the tax inspectorate and that led to an agreement, de Tejd learned. Out of the original claim of 153 million euros, 9.2 million will remain in the agreement with the tax authorities, plus interest in default. The Bruges court is expected to bless on Monday. Glamco’s lawyers and IRS lawyers did not comment.

In another BBI case, the Bruges court has already delivered a ruling on January 17. This case concerns Elzenwalle, a company with the same name as the castle in Ypres owned by Ghelamco founder Paul Gheysens. In the ruling, which De Tijd has now been able to show, the court ruled that €33 million had been wrongly booked in Elzenwalle in capital gains on tax-exempt shares.

According to the court, this relates to an “unnatural and positive advantage” under which the company has to pay taxes at the normal rate. The court agrees with BBI in the case with its claim of more than 11.2 million euros, including a 10 per cent tax increase.

According to de Tejd, it cannot be ruled out that agreements will also come in other cases.

Read also: Tax authorities target millions of Glamco transactions