AB-InBev wins case against tax man

Belgium | AB-InBev has won a multi-million dollar case against the Special Tax Inspectorate (BBI), media reported on 22 June 2019.  

Thanks to a deal with the Belgian government, struck in 2012, the brewer only had to pay EUR 11 million (USD 15 million) in taxes on more than EUR 280 million (USD 370 million) in profits from 2011 to 2015. BBI, aka the tax man, huffed and puffed because of the loss in taxes to its coffers, but the Brussels court has now ruled AB-InBev’s conduct legal and the tax man’s objections invalid.

The case revolved around Ampar, the company that AB-InBev had founded in Belgium in November 2011 to act as its central procurement service. Following the tax deal, the beer group did not have to pay tax on 80 percent of the profit that came in at Ampar.

The activities of Ampar have since been transferred to Switzerland.