Swedish Tax Agency withdraws tax claim
Swedish Tax Agency withdraws tax claim
Solna November 29, 2007
The Swedish Tax Agency has withdrawn its statement to the County Administrative Court, that ICA should be denied interest deductions claimed in 2004-2005.
The Swedish Tax Agency has conducted an audit of the restructuring of the ICA Groups finance operations in July 2004. The Swedish Tax Agency issued in June a statement to the County Administrative Court that ICA should be denied interest deductions of SEK 1.7 billion claimed in 2004-2005. ICA has always been convinced that the deductions have been made in compliance with the tax rules and contested the Swedish Tax Agencys claim.
The Swedish Tax Agency has now withdrawn its statement and is no longer questioning the above interest deductions.
The Swedish Tax Agencys decision does not affect ICA ABs operating income, since ICA has not made any reservations due to the tax claim. The decision was expected and in line with the assessments ICA has made from the beginning.
For more information: ICAs press hotline, phone +46 70 253 66 60
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About ICA The ICA Group (ICA AB) is one of the Nordic regions leading retail companies, with around 2,250 of its own and retailer-owned stores in Sweden, Norway and in the Baltic States. The Group includes the sales companies ICA Sverige, ICA Norge and Rimi Baltic. ICA also offers financial services to Swedish customers through ICA Banken. ICA AB is a joint venture 40% owned by Hakon Invest AB and 60% by Royal Ahold N.V. of the Netherlands. According to a shareholder agreement, Royal Ahold and Hakon Invest jointly share controlling influence over ICA AB. Through Royal Ahold, ICA AB is part of an international retail network. For more information, please visit http://www.ica.se