Washington, Nov. 6 (ANI): GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney's Bain Capital evaded about 102 million dollars in taxes by using a financial loophole in the Netherlands, according to a report.
An article in the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant and website Follow the Money claim that by routing its 2004 investments in Irish pharmaceutical company Warner Chilcott through the Netherlands, Bain Capital was able to dodge dividends and capital gains taxes.
Financial adviser Jos Peters estimated that the loophole allowed Bain to save about 102 million dollars.
In 2009, four years after investing in Warner Chilcott, Bain Capital moved the company's seat from Bermuda to the Netherlands to evade possible stricter tax laws on the island, De Volkskrant explained.
According to the Huffington Post, then two years ago, Bain Capital registered its interest in Warner Chilcott with the private Dutch company Alter Domus, which provides administrative services for multinational corporations and investment funds.
If a Dutch company owns more than five percent of the shares in another company, then that other company is exempt from paying taxes on all capital gains.
Through exemptions like that and a host of other complicated tax treaties, the Netherlands offers huge tax breaks to companies like Bain Capital, which is reported to have evaded 80 million euros in dividend taxes by running through the Netherlands.
"We are world champion in participants exemptions," Dutch financial adviser Jos Peters said.
According to the report, Follow the Money explained that Romney had left Bain in 1999 to run the Olympics in Salt Lake City, but his retirement package allowed him to participate in Bain deals and thus share in the profits. (ANI)