Tax Strategy
Embracing our fiscal responsibilities to deliver value
Smurfit Kappa Group plc, a FTSE 100 Company, is one of the leading providers of paper-based packaging solutions in the world, with 48,000 employees in 350 production sites and with revenue in excess of €12.8 billion in 2022. We are located in 22 countries in Europe and 13 in the Americas. We are the only large-scale pan-regional provider in Latin America.
We are an integrated manufacturer of paper-based packaging solutions. We aim to create long-term value for our shareholders by meeting our customers' growing demand for paper-based packaging solutions. We have an unrivalled portfolio of packaging solutions, which is constantly updated with our market leading innovations. This is enhanced through the benefits of our integration, with optimal paper design, logistics, timeliness of service, and our corrugated packaging plants sourcing most of their raw materials from our own paper mills.
Our products, which are 100% renewable and produced sustainably, improve the environmental footprint of our customers.
Our approach to tax
Our business activities generate significant amounts of tax, including corporate income taxes, value added taxes, employment taxes, wealth taxes and other transaction taxes. We are committed to complying with tax laws in a fair and responsible manner and to having open and constructive relationships with tax authorities. We aim to pay an appropriate amount of tax and we engage with global initiatives to improve and simplify tax regimes that promote greater transparency, tax certainty and a sustainable contribution to all our stakeholders and to the communities in which we operate.
We have a responsibility to our shareholders to be financially efficient and to deliver returns on their investments which includes managing and maintaining an appropriate tax contribution. As part of this strategy we seek to avail of tax incentives and exemptions offered by governments in support of their own employment and economic development objectives and which are openly available to all taxpayers.
Fiscal Contribution
In 2022, we recorded pre-tax profits of almost €1.3 billion with an associated tax expense of €348 million for an effective tax rate of 27%. We paid €321 million in corporate income tax in the period. We also paid dividends of €332 million on which we remitted approximately €36 million in taxes on behalf of our shareholders.
In addition to corporate income taxes, our businesses remit payroll taxes and make social security contributions for and on behalf of employees as well as collecting and remitting value added tax or similar sales or transactional taxes in the countries in which we operate.
Read our Tax Strategy in full
In the document below you will find further details on:
- Our approach to tax
- Fiscal Contribution
- Tax Governance, Controllership and Risk Management
- Attitude towards tax planning
- Relationship with revenue authorities and policymakers