Taxes in more detail
An (inter)national trend is the increasing call for more transparency leading to new and additional compliance requirements. In this light, we monitor new (tax) legislation and initiatives thoroughly, both in the context of tax transparency and tax reporting.
Complying with the legislation in the countries in which we operate, we have filed a country-by-country report (CbCR) in the Netherlands and our CbCR notifications in other countries to the extent required.
In 2023, these (inter)national developments were discussed to assess whether our stance towards these developments should be adjusted. We continue to strive for optimal tax transparency. In 2023, a number of new tax laws on tax transparency and tax reporting were adopted which will become effective as from 2024. We will provide a short summary of those new tax laws that will have an impact for PostNL in 2024 in terms of tax compliance.
DAC-7
Non-public disclosure requirements for digital platforms as of 2023. PostNL will comply with these standards, with the first filing done by 31 January 2024.
Pillar One
Seeks to create a new taxing right based on a formulaic approach. Implementation planned postponed for 2024, although introduction of these rules is still uncertain given the international consensus needed. However, it is expected that a report will be issued on the so-called amount B (part of Pillar 1) and that the outcome thereof will be included in the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines as of 2024. For PostNL, no material impact is expected.
Pillar Two
Minimum (top-up) tax legislation that has been approved on 19 December 2023 in the Netherlands. For more information regarding Pillar Two, please see the Accounting policy note and Income tax note in the Financial statements section of this report, which specify the (expected) impact of Pillar 2 for PostNL.
CBAM
Relevant as of October 2023. The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is designed to counter the risk of carbon leakage and operates by imposing a charge on the embedded carbon content of certain imports that is equal to the charge imposed on domestic goods under the Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), with adjustments being made to this charge to take into account any mandatory carbon prices in the exporting country. Implementation to meet the periodic compliance requirement is in progress. The first filing was done by the end of January 2024.
Public EU Country-by-Country Reporting (EU CbCR)
On 6 July 2023, the Netherlands passed legislation to implement public country-by-country reporting under EU directive (EU) 2021/2101. Based on this new legislation, PostNL is required to publicly disclose a country-by-country report (CbCR), which includes tax and tax-related information for financial years starting on or after 22 June 2024. PostNL has included this information in its annual accounts since 2022, which underlines our tax policy and adherence to the TGC as regards tax transparency and reporting.
As a result of our continuous assessment of tax transparency developments, we outline the following details of our tax position.
PostNL General information in € million, unless indicated otherwise
| Year ended at 31 December | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Number of employees (average FTE) | 21,715 | 20,851 |
| Total revenue including interest | 3,148 | 3,184 |
| Profit before income taxes | (1,311) | 78 |
| Total income tax expense | (330) | 24 |
| Effective income tax rate | 25.1% | 30.6% |
The table above presents our total tax contribution for 2023. Given the different activities of PostNL, we pay a number of different taxes. In 2023, we paid €499 million in taxes (2022: €480 million). This figure includes corporate income tax, VAT and sales tax , wage tax & social security contributions, as well as other taxes in relation to PostNL's activities.
PostNL Taxes paid by type in € million
| Year ended at 31 December | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate income tax | (1) | 35 |
| Wage tax and social security contributions | 299 | 300 |
| VAT and sales tax | 147 | 143 |
| Dividend withholding tax | 14 | 2 |
| Other taxes | 21 | 17 |
| Total | 480 | 499 |
The comparison between 2022 and 2023 shows some general changes in our tax metrics. Corporate income tax increased substantially compared to 2022 due to preliminary payments made. VAT and sales tax decreased compared to 2022, mainly due to the lower business performance. Wage tax and social security contributions and the Other taxes are comparable in numbers to 2022.
PostNL Total revenue including interest by country
2023: €3,184 million (2022: €3,148 million)
PostNL Taxes paid by country
2023: €499 million (2022: €480 million)
PostNL Taxes paid by type
2023: €499 million (2022: €480 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) as well as a list of group entities in appendix 6.
PostNL General information by country, in € million, unless indicated otherwise
| Country | Number of employees (average FTE) | Total revenue including interest | Profit/(loss) before income taxes | Total income tax expense | Effective income tax rate (in %) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands | 19,913 | 2,721 | 73 | 21 | 28.5% |
| Belgium | 569 | 80 | 1 | 3 | 460.2% |
| France | 11 | 10 | 0 | (0) | -1.6% |
| Germany | 85 | 49 | 0 | 0 | 4.5% |
| Italy | 29 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 11.1% |
| Great Britain | 67 | 34 | 0 | (0) | -160.0% |
| Switzerland | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8.0% |
| Spain | 83 | 51 | 0 | 0 | 13.6% |
| Hungary | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 84.0% |
| Czech Republic | 12 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 19.0% |
| Poland | 4 | 3 | (0) | (0) | 19.0% |
| Russian Federation | 2 | (0) | (0) | (0) | 56.7% |
| United States | 8 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 27.9% |
| Canada | 22 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 6.4% |
| Hong Kong | 31 | 169 | 2 | (0) | -1.0% |
| Singapore | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25.6% |
| Total 2023 | 20,851 | 3,184 | 78 | 24 | 30.6% |
PostNL Total tax contribution (borne & collected) in € million
| Country | Corporate income tax | Wage tax and social security contributions | VAT and sales tax | Dividend withholding tax | Other taxes | Total tax contribution1 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| borne | collected | borne | collected | borne | collected | borne | collected | borne | collected | borne2 | collected3 | |
| Netherlands | 20 | (34) | 115 | (280) | 18 | (146) | 0 | (2) | 7 | (17) | 160 | (479) |
| Belgium | 0 | (1) | 9 | (16) | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 1 | (1) | 10 | (6) |
| France | 0 | 0 | 0 | (0) | 0 | (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | (1) |
| Germany | 0 | 0 | 2 | (2) | 0 | (6) | 0 | 0 | 0 | (0) | 2 | (8) |
| Italy | 0 | 0 | 0 | (0) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Great Britain | (0) | 0 | 0 | (1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | (0) |
| Switzerland | 0 | (0) | 0 | (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | (0) |
| Spain | 0 | 0 | 1 | (1) | 2 | (5) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | (6) |
| Hungary | 0 | (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Czech Republic | 0 | (0) | 0 | (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | (0) | 0 | (0) |
| Poland | 0 | 0 | 0 | (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | (0) | 0 | (0) |
| Russian Federation | 0 | 0 | 0 | (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | (0) |
| United States | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Canada | 0 | (0) | 0 | (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | (0) | 0 | 0 | (0) |
| Hong Kong | (0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | (0) | 0 |
| Singapore | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total 2023 | 204 | (35) | 129 | (300) | 21 | (143) | 0 | (2) | 8 | (17) | 178 | (499)5 |
- Zero amounts in this table are mainly the result of rounding in € million and therefore representing smaller amounts.
- Taxes borne represent the taxes that are an expense/(income) item as included in the income statement.
- Taxes collected represent the taxes (paid)/received included in our cash flow, also representing payments made on behalf of other parties.
- The difference between the corporate income tax borne (€20 million) and the total income tax expense (€24 million) is due to changes in deferred taxes, see note 2.4.2 to the consolidated financial statements.
- In 2023, as in 2022, we applied several tax allowances provided by law (e.g., the energy- and environmental investment allowance in the Netherlands). Tax incentives provided by law are not separately included in the table above.