Taxation

Income tax

We have calculated our corporate (income) tax liability on the basis of the applicable tax rates, taking account of the tax rules and the valuation of temporary differences.
The effective tax rate for the profit before corporate (income) tax was -4.7%, compared with 8.9% in 2019. Despite the considerable loss before tax in 2020, the tax burden amounted to €117 million (2019: €21 million). This burden and the difference in tax rates can be explained, in particular, by the write-down of deferred tax amounts due to the lower expected future profit in the Netherlands and Germany.

Other tax information

Payroll tax is a tax that NS, as the employer, withholds from the salaries of its employees and then pays to the Tax and Customs Administration. In 2020, the Tax and Customs Administration granted a deferral of payroll tax due. NS’s costs are largely subject to the high VAT rate. NS can set off the VAT charged against the VAT that it has to pay on its sales. Most of NS’s sales are taxed at the lower VAT rate or are zero-rated. In the United Kingdom, the VAT rate on the sale of train tickets is zero. The taxable profit is liable to corporate income tax. The amounts paid or received are shown in the table below, in millions of euros.