Billionaire Fernand Huts, owner of Katoen Natie, the biggest logistics company operating at the port of Antwerp, is under investigation by the tax authorities.
They are demanding tens of millions of euros in unpaid taxes on dividends from his Belgian companies transferred to Jersey, De Tijd and L’Echo reported on Friday.
According to an investigation by De Tijd, Katoen Natie’s Belgian firms distributed their profits as dividends to their parent company in Luxembourg without withholding any tax. The money was then moved from Luxembourg to a trust in Jersey, a well known British tax haven.
Had the dividends gone directly from Belgium to Jersey, a 30% tax would have been applied.
Tax authorities believe the company exploited the EU “parent-subsidiary” directive, meant to prevent double taxation, since no tax was imposed in Belgium or in Luxembourg.
Over €66 million is being claimed for Katoen Natie SA alone, the financial daily reports.
Fernand Huts’s lawyers dispute the tax authority’s interpretation of the EU directive.
Following the newspaper reports, the 74-year-old businessman released an open letter to Finance Minister Jan Jambon, alleging that the leak of a confidential tax case was a form of intimidation by the tax administration.
He argued that it was aimed at swaying public opinion and legal proceedings.
When contacted by Belga News Agency, the minister’s office declined to comment.
