Pfizer using Dutch letterbox company to avoid taxes
A miracle like the loaves and the fishes in the Bible!
In May 2025, the EU Court ruled in favour of The New York Times in an appeal against the European Commission's decision to withhold text messages exchanged with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla during COVID-19 vaccine negotiations. The Commission faced significant criticism for a lack of transparency
Pfizer avoids taxes via the Netherlands and makes a profit worth billions
Round-Tripping Scheme: A 2025 U.S. Senate Finance Committee Investigation revealed that despite selling over $20 billion in drugs to American consumers in 2019 alone, Pfizer reported $0 in taxable U.S. profits by claiming 100% of that income was generated offshore.
The financial revenue flows through the Netherlands purely for fiscal optimisation. Pfizer does not manufacture its main vaccines or drugs there.
Through these accounting loops, the corporate entity became the most profitable operation in the Netherlands, netting billions while avoiding standard corporate tax rates ranging from 18% to 25% globally.
In response to widespread practices by multinationals, the Dutch government introduced new withholding tax measures targeting unusual tax constructions.
In Pfizer’s Form 10-K financial disclosures, the company revealed a massive $1.02 billion in corporation tax paid in Ireland for the 2025 financial year.
According to the US Senate Finance Committee Pfizer Investigation, Pfizer has historically slashed its global tax rate (ranging from 5.3% to 9.6% between 2019 and 2022) well below the 21% US federal rate. The committee attributes this to utilising flawed tax-code structures and shifting intellectual property to favourable jurisdictions like Ireland and Puerto Rico.
The $1.02 billion figure represents an official tax liability, rather than a philanthropic contribution or "gift."
The 10-K filing from Pfizer at the end of February shows its Irish tax bill in 2025 was $1.02 billion (€870 million), more than a quarter of its total $4.69 billion corporate tax bill and enough to make it one of the biggest taxpayers in the State.
Pfizer, like other companies contacted for this piece, did not comment on its Irish tax payments (Irish Times).
Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (2010-2024), now head of NATO: He did not shut down the letter-box nonsense from Pfizer. In fact, the country made little from Pfizer.
Many of Pfizer's activities outside the US are managed on paper by the letterbox firm named CP Pharmaceuticals International CV (CPPI).
CPPI has over 350 holdings worldwide, including dozens in the tax havens of Ireland and Luxembourg. In the first three months of this year, the company saw its revenue increase by 42%.
NL Times has said: "American pharmaceutical firm Pfizer has used a letterbox company in Capelle aan den IJssel in Zuid-Holland to steer 36 billion dollars in annual revenue as a means to avoid paying corporate tax on its profits, according to investigative journalism platform Follow the Money.
Even though the company develops medicine and vaccines with research grants and public funding, the company pays very little in tax, and almost no tax in the Netherlands, according to the report.
Many of Pfizer's activities outside the US are managed on paper by the letterbox firm named CP Pharmaceuticals International CV (CPPI). CPPI has over 350 holdings worldwide, including dozens in the tax havens of Ireland and Luxembourg.
From the office of 220 people, CPPI profited over 139 billion euros over the past decade. Its annual turnover was estimated at over 36 billion, according to Follow the Money. Pfizer employs over 80 thousand people worldwide."
In its business coverage, the publication reported that Pfizer's Dutch operations generated $11.4 billion in profit, highlighting the immense revenue flowing through its Netherlands-based hubs despite a broader post-pandemic decline in demand.
Research published last year showed that Dutch policy has allowed multinational businesses to legally avoid paying about 22 billion euros in annual taxes.
This year, the Netherlands ranked fourth on a list of the world’s biggest tax havens, according to the Tax Justice Network.
Profits are often funnelled by multinationals through subsidiaries and Dutch companies, thereby avoiding taxation on profits earned in other countries.
This money is often not taxable in the Netherlands either.
Discussion
Ireland accounts for 5.6% of the 81,000 Pfizer personnel, but it's important for tax-haven benefits.
In the U.S., Pfizer has paid tax rates that are unacceptably low, according to a Senator.
The 10-K filing from Pfizer at the end of February shows its Irish tax bill in 2025 was $1.02 billion (€870 million), more than a quarter of its total $4.69 billion corporate tax bill and enough to make it one of the biggest taxpayers in the State.
The data from this year will be available by country in 2027.
The top U.S. technology and pharmaceutical groups account for over 75% of Ireland's total corporation tax receipts.
Pfizer allocates intellectual property (IP) and patents to Irish subsidiaries. Royalties from global sales flow into Ireland rather than the U.S., avoiding higher American tax brackets.
Pfizer routed billions in U.S. consumer medicine sales through offshore subsidiaries, such as those in Ireland. This classified the earnings as foreign income.
Historically, Pfizer’s specific Irish tax payments were hidden within offshore consolidated filings. However, a newly enforced U.S. accounting rule (ASU 2023-09) requires large U.S. corporations to publicly disclose country-by-country tax details.
According to Pfizer’s latest 10-K regulatory filing, the company paid $1.02 billion in corporate tax to Ireland for the 2025 fiscal year.
This represents over 25% of its total global corporate tax bill, cementing Pfizer as an economic pillar in Ireland, where it employs over 4,500 people across sites in Dublin, Cork, and Kildare.
"Ireland's "gift" from Pfizer refers to the massive corporate tax revenue and heavy economic investment the U.S. pharmaceutical giant directs to the country.
Pfizer exerts significant economic and political influence over Ireland, largely because its major manufacturing plants account for a massive share of Irish corporation tax revenues and exports.
This reliance has created a tense dynamic where Pfizer’s cost-cutting pressures, merger tactics, and vulnerability to U.S. trade tariffs leave the Irish economy highly exposed.
Pfizer previously attempted to utilise Ireland's historically low corporate tax rate via corporate "inversions," highlighted by their abandoned $160 billion merger with Dublin-based Allergan, which was ultimately derailed by U.S. Treasury crackdowns.
"Pfizer routes a significant portion of its international revenue and intellectual property royalties through Irish subsidiaries, meaning billions of dollars in profit are booked and taxed in Ireland instead of the United States."
"U.S. multinationals have historically used Ireland to lower their global tax burdens.
By licensing the rights to drugs developed in the U.S. to their Irish entities, Pfizer can legally shift substantial profits to Ireland, which provides a highly favourable corporate tax environment."
