Ahold Delhaize loses another tax dispute

Just a month after Ahold Delhaize was ordered to pay back taxes to the Belgian tax authorities, the retail group was judged to be ineligible for a tax benefit in the Netherlands. Put together, both cases amount to more than half a billion euros.

Two setbacks

The tax dispute in the Netherlands revolves around the merger between Ahold and Delhaize in 2016: Ahold wanted to amortise a so-called ‘merger goodwill’ in connection with the synergy benefits that the merger would produce, over a period of ten years. However, the Dutch tax authorities did not agree. The retailer then went to court, but the court ruled against Ahold Delhaize, RTL Nieuws reports. As a result, the merged group will miss out on a tax benefit of 200 million euros over ten years. The group is considering appealing.

This is the second setback for Ahold Delhaize in a short time: in February, the company was ordered to pay a hefty 382 million euros to the Belgian tax authorities. That levy had to do with the acquisition of the American Delhaize stores by the merged group: those stores were undervalued according to the Belgian tax authorities. Ahold Delhaize has paid the levy, but has appealed in the hope of still getting the money back.