Former HOOPP employee reaches settlement in Netherlands tax case

A former employee of the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) has reached a settlement with Dutch prosecutors, agreeing to pay a maximum fine of €486,000 ($779,000) to resolve his role in an investigation. The prosecutors allege that HOOPP evaded more than €200-million ($321-million) in taxes between 2013 and 2018 by exploiting its favourable tax status in the Netherlands. The former employee, a 57-year-old trader, is described as having "knowingly accepted the significant risk" that the refund claims were incorrect, though he is not the ultimate decision-maker for tax matters. HOOPP is currently disputing the allegations and maintains that the issue is a dispute over the interpretation of a specific Dutch tax provision. The pension fund is appealing a January ruling by a Dutch tax court that found it wrongly claimed nearly €214-million ($343-million) in refunds. The core of the dispute centers on whether HOOPP met the criteria to be considered the beneficial owners of the shares it traded on the Dutch stock exchange.

(Source：Theglobeandmail)