Pfizer of the United Staes has a history of secrecy and corporate fraud which benefits Ireland

Pfizer using Dutch letterbox company to avoid taxes

Pfizer has been the subject of significant controversy regarding both corporate fraud in the United States and aggressive tax avoidance structures that heavily utilise its operations in Ireland.

While the company's multi-billion dollar fraud settlements and its Irish tax strategies are separate legal issues, they collectively highlight how the corporation manages its global legal and financial liabilities. 

It's time for Pfizer, the American company, to get on its bike. By utilising complex international tax rules, the company managed to drop its effective global tax rate down to just 9.3% on those specific earnings. 

One of the first American pharmaceutical companies to establish operations in Ireland (1969), Pfizer has more than 4,500 employees across 4 Irish locations in Cork, Dublin, and Kildare.

In 2026, the total number of employees worldwide is 81,000.

At Pfizer in Ireland, non-management professionals (technicians, analysts) typically earn between €40,000 and €65,000 annually.

Management and senior technical roles command higher bands, ranging from €70,000 to over €130,000 per year, depending on the level of responsibility and experience.

Pfizer salaries vary by location (e.g., Dublin vs. regional sites like Cork or Kildare), role specifics, and annual performance bonuses or stock options.

Pfizer's operations in Ireland accounted for roughly a quarter of the company's total global corporate tax returns in 2025. 

The pharmaceutical giant's Irish tax bill was approximately $1.02 billion, representing more than 25% of its $4.69 billion global corporate tax obligations.

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 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).

 The $1.02 billion figure represents an official tax liability, rather than a philanthropic contribution or "gift."

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.