Maersk, TotalEnergies Lose $190 Million Danish Tax Court Case

A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S and TotalEnergies SE lost a supreme court case in Denmark over taxable income from oil and gas facilities in Algeria and Qatar.

(Bloomberg) — A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S and TotalEnergies SE lost a supreme court case in Denmark over taxable income from oil and gas facilities in Algeria and Qatar.

The companies must pay tax on about 1.3 billion kroner ($190 million) of income generated from 2006 to 2008, the Copenhagen-based court said in a ruling on Wednesday, overturning a 2022 verdict by a lower court.

The assets were back then owned by Maersk, but acquired by TotalEnergies in a deal agreed in 2017, as the Danish company sold its oil and gas business for roughly $7.5 billion, including debt. The divestment by Maersk was part of a strategy to drop energy investments and focus on transport.

The court didn’t specify which company should pay the extra tax and representatives from both firms declined to comment when contacted by phone, saying they needed to review the verdict.

According to the court, the tax ministry had claimed Maersk’s oil business over the years provided services to two subsidiaries for free, which for tax purposes should have been settled at a market price. That meant it violated rules on transfer pricing.

The two companies should also pay 4 million kroner in legal fees and 3 million kroner in interest, the Supreme Court said.

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