SHV is committed to achieving the highest standards of Ethics and Integrity. In line with this commitment, SHV believes its obligation as a responsible taxpayer is to comply with the tax legislation of the countries in which it operates and pay the right amount of tax at the right time. SHV does not only comply with the letter of the law, but also with its spirit.

SHV uses business structures that are aligned with the business activities and that are only driven by commercial considerations. SHV only makes use of tax incentives where they are aligned with business activities and operational objectives, generally available to all market participants and specified by law. As such, tax always follows the business.

SHV pays tax on profits according to where value is created within the normal course of its business activities. SHV does not use aggressive tax planning strategies or tax havens to minimise its tax burden. The transfer pricing of intercompany transactions is done in accordance with the arm’s length principle developed by the OECD and is applied consistently.

SHV maintains an open and constructive dialogue with tax authorities based on transparency and trust. SHV engages with them with honesty, integrity and respect.

SHV and its Groups have more than 500 legal entities in 64 countries. Each year, SHV files a so-called country-by-country report with the Dutch tax authorities containing high-level data on the global allocation of income and taxes, and certain other measures of economic activity for all companies over which SHV has management control. The Dutch tax authorities exchange this information with other tax authorities around the world.

SHV provides an overview of the total corporate income tax expenses and corporate income tax payments in 2020 to tax authorities in the ten countries where SHV has the largest presence. These 10 countries represent around two-third of the business.

For each country SHV reports the earnings before tax (EBT), the corporate income tax expense in the income statement as well as the amount of corporate income tax paid and received on a cash basis. The tax expense reported in the income statement is the amount of current and deferred tax expense incurred in this financial year based on accounting rules. The tax paid means the net amount of corporate income tax actually paid to or received from the tax authorities in this year.

The following table specifies the net sales, EBT, income tax expense and income tax paid in 2020 for the top 10 countries. In this table, tax expenses are presented as negative amounts (income as positive amounts) and tax payments are presented as negative amounts (refunds as positive amounts). The data shown in the table on the next page is derived from internal management information systems.

#

Country

Net sales

Income before income taxes

Income tax expenses

Income tax paid

1

Spain

1,941.2

15.5

2.2

( 8.5)

2

France

1,757.8

35.6

( 14.4)

( 19.8)

3

Brazil

1,626.2

282.8

( 71.7)

( 30.1)

4

The Netherlands

1,354.8

30.3

38.4

6.7

5

United States of America

1,334.7

( 79.4)

10.5

( 2.4)

6

United Kingdom

1,209.2

73.3

( 5.0)

( 12.2)

7

Canada

1,129.3

9.9

( 9.1)

1.7

8

China

705.9

15.7

( 4.9)

( 4.1)

9

Germany

644.4

( 6.9)

( 15.1)

( 6.1)

10

Italy

621.7

53.8

( 15.4)

( 15.2)

Total top 10

12,325.2

430.6

( 84.5)

( 90.0)

Other countries

7,157.9

193.2

( 53.1)

( 72.8)

Total

19,483.1

623.8

( 137.6)

( 162.8)

Note: net sales represent sales on a country level and are reported on a non-consolidated basis.

In 2020, SHV reported an effective corporate income tax rate of 22.1%, reflecting earnings before taxes of EUR 624 million and a corporate income tax expense of EUR 138 million. SHV paid a net amount of EUR 163 million in corporate income taxes. Besides corporate income tax, SHV collected and paid many other taxes and contributions, such as state and local taxes, payroll taxes and consumption taxes.