Investor news

Fortum received positive administrative court decision in Sweden on hydro production related real estate tax for the years 2009–2014

03 July 2017, 9:00 EEST

FORTUM CORPORATION INVESTOR NEWS 3 July 2017 at 09:00 EEST

The administrative court in Stockholm, Sweden, has on 30 June 2017 given its decisions related to Fortum Sverige AB’s hydro production related real estate tax assessments for the years 2009–2014. The court decisions were in Fortum’s favour. The tax authority may appeal the decision. The disputed amount for the five years was a total of 510 MSEK (EUR 53 million). Fortum will book the tax income (subject to income tax) only after the legal decision has entered into force.

Fortum has paid its real estate taxes in accordance with current real estate tax legislation.

Hydro power plants have been subject to a real estate tax rate that has resulted to approximately 12 times higher real estate tax per kWh compared to any other production due to different tax rates and different valuation factors.

“Our policy is to pay taxes in line with existing legislation where the value is created. In this case we see that hydro production has been discriminated due to higher tax rates. Hydro production has been affected with increasing real estate tax burden, deteriorating not only the investment climate but also risking the sustainable operation of existing plants. The Swedish parliamentary decision to lower the hydro real estate tax rate to the normal level was positive for years to come. This decision eliminates the discrimination also for earlier years,” says Reijo Salo, Fortum’s Vice President, Corporate Tax.

In 2014, Fortum’s taxes borne totaled EUR 525 million, of which EUR 279 million in Sweden. Fortum’s total tax rate in 2014 was 14.3% and in Sweden 54.9%.


Fortum Corporation
Måns Holmberg
Acting Head of Investor Relations and Financial Communications


Further information:
Reijo Salo, Vice President, Corporate Tax, tel. +358 50 452 4443
Investors and analysts: Måns Holmberg, tel. +358 44 518 1518, Rauno Tiihonen, tel. +358 10 453 6150, and investors [at] fortum [dot] com

Read more:
Fortum’s tax footprint is available online:
http://apps.fortum.fi/investors/Fortum_Tax_Footprint_2016.pdf

Distribution:
Nasdaq Helsinki
Key media
www.fortum.com

Fortum
Fortum is a leading clean-energy company that provides its customers with electricity, heating and cooling as well as smart solutions to improve resource efficiency. We want to engage our customers and society to join the change for a cleaner world. We employ some 8,000 professionals in the Nordic and Baltic countries, Russia, Poland and India, and 62% of our electricity generation is CO2 free. In 2016, our sales were EUR 3.6 billion. Fortum's share is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. www.fortum.com