News online
Tonnes of money from tonnage tax for Maersk executives
17 June 2008
Huge tax breaks for individual Maersk executives on personal investments
The introduction of tonnage tax in Denmark in 2007 has generated tonnes of money for senior Maersk executives.
The Jyllands-Posten daily newspaper reported that Maersk director Knud Pontoppidan was able to deduct Dkr6.5m (US$1.3m) against his 2001 top rate tax bill, as a result of shares he held in the Richard Mærsk ship.
JP said he and 11 other Maersk directors switched their shares to a privately-owned shipping company that benefited from the new legislation. Tonnage tax was intended by the Danish parliament to benefit the shipping industry by inter alia allowing it to budget for tax due and to offer similar tax conditions to other countries.
Pontoppidan is thus liable for Dkr2,154 (US$446) in tax for his share of the ship’s earnings of Dkr20m a year, reported the paper. JP added that Pontoppidan and fellow Maersk director Eivind Kolding were able to deduct 70% of their investment against tax.
Ex-CEO Jess Søderberg has just drawn Dkr10m (US$2.1m) in dividend from shares he holds in various Maersk ships, according to JP. The shares are held in the shipping company he set up last summer. The accounts show he converted a deferred tax liability of Dkr3.4m (US$704,000) into an income, reported the paper.
JP quoted socialist member of the Danish parliament, Christen Amby, saying it is not surprising the Maersk executives set up shipping companies just three weeks after tonnage tax was introduced, all with almost identical names and with the same auditor, Grant Thornton. “They themselves pushed to get tonnage tax so it’s no wonder they are among the first to make use of it,” he says.
Back to current news online stories
|
