Deutsche Post in tax shock
The German postal company has avoided paying value-added tax (VAT) amounting to $800-million for 1998 and 1999 prior to its stock market listing in 2000, a member of parliament has charged.
The accusation from Free Democrat Party member Juergen Koppelin is based on a confidential memo from the federal audit office and follows the launch of Deutsche Post on the stock market at the end of 2000.
The tax break for Deutsche Post is “a case for the public prosecutor and the stock market supervisory authority”, Koppelin said.
Koppelin, who is a member of the German parliament’s public audit committee, confirmed that Deutsche Post had been spared by the finance ministry from paying hundreds of millions of euros in VAT.
The MP charged that the government had done this in order to make the shares more attractive.
“In my view the post stock market flotation has been manipulated,” he said.
“The federal state bedecked the bride with jewels before the wedding in order to cash in for itself.”
The company insisted on Thursday that its tax-breaks were legitimate and did not deceive potential investors, saying that they conformed with both national and European Union regulations.
Deutsche Post was exonerated from paying tax in areas where it had a monopoly such as letter mail, but according to Koppelin this was extended to other activities too.
