Taxes in more detail

We monitor (inter)national developments (in particular developments in the OECD and EU context) to improve tax transparency. Complying with the legislation in the countries in which we operate our activities, we have filed a country-by-country report in the Netherlands and our notifications in other countries to the extent required. Also in 2021, these (inter)national developments were discussed to assess whether our stance towards these developments should be adjusted. In terms of the outcome of this discussion, we continue to strive for optimal tax transparency, which includes taking the aforementioned developments, as well as competition considerations, into account. As a result of this assessment, we have decided to start as from 2021 with a more detailed breakdown of our tax position.

Given the different activities we operate across our business segments, we pay a number of different types of tax. In addition to corporate income tax, VAT and sales tax (borne and collected) and wage tax & social security contributions (borne and collected) are the most material ones. In 2021, we paid €547 million (2020: €448 million) in tax.

PostNL General information in € million, unless indicated otherwise

The comparison between 2020 and 2021 shows stability in our tax metrics in general. Both our corporate income tax and dividend withholding tax increased substantially compared to 2020 as a result of our improved financial performance and position.

PostNL Taxes paid by type in € million

Tax information per country

The vast majority of our business is concentrated in the Benelux. To provide transparency on the locations of our business, results and corresponding taxes, we provide a breakdown with general information and total tax contribution (borne and collected).

PostNL General information by country, in € million, unless indicated otherwise

PostNL Total tax contribution (borne & collected) in € million

• 1 Zero amounts in this table are mainly the result of rounding in € million and therefore representing smaller amounts.
• 2 Taxes borne represent the taxes that are an expense/(income) item as included in the income statement.
• 3 Taxes collected represent the taxes (paid)/received included in our cash flow, also representing payments made on behalf of other parties.
• 4 The difference between the corporate income tax borne (€83 million) and the total income tax expense (€74 million) is due to changes in deferred taxes, see note 2.2.2 to the consolidated financial statements.