Tesla’s vast profits add little to Dutch Treasury
image: Milan Csizmadia via Unsplash
A seemingly huge car factory in Amsterdam turns out to be a financial hub in Tesla’s global empire. Jan van de Streek, Professor of Tax Law, investigated Tesla's annual accounts with ‘Follow the Money’: ‘We'll probably never discover how that works.’
On paper, one of Tesla’s largest car factories is located in Amsterdam. But in reality, it’s just a small showroom displaying a few models of cars. Behind the showroom, however, is a large office filled with Dutch tax experts who are focused on creating tax advantages for the company. Their endeavours are paying off: in the Netherlands, Tesla pays around 100 million euros in tax on profits while its turnover is 26 billion euros. An article in investigative journalism platform Follow the Money claims that Tesla has somehow secured a tax advantage with the Dutch tax authorities.
‘We have to accept that we’ll probably never discover how that works,’ says Van de Streek in the article. ‘Company tax data in the Netherlands is confidential. If questions are asked in Parliament about what we’re seeing here, then I know what the answer will be: the Ministry of Finance will remain silent on account of the duty of tax confidentiality’.