Volkswagen is proving yet again that automakers are absolute geniuses at avoiding paying taxes.
The German automaker paid $5.58 billion to take over the precentage of Porsche AG that it didn't already own, Bloombergreports. And it also gave Porsche one share of VW stock -- a move which let VW save $1.1 billion in taxes.
By forking over that one additional share, VW was able to categorize the deal as a restructuring instead of a takeover.
The move, which was approved by German tax authorities, let VW take over Porsche two years earlier than planned. The companies have been working on a deal since 2009, when Porsche tried to buy VW.
VW isn't the only automaker that's found creative ways to avoid taxes. General Motors hasn't paid U.S. income taxes since it emerged from bankruptcy in 2009, even though it is making money. That's because, when the company emerged from bankruptcy it made a deal that allowed it to keep $18 billion in losses on its books. So as far as the IRS is concerned, GM hasn't made enough money yet to offset its old losses.
'via Blog this'
No comments:
Post a Comment