According to research by “Standard” and ORF, entrepreneur Stefan Pierer had to pay millions of euros in back taxes relating to life insurance in Liechtenstein. According to media reports, KTM boss Pierer filed a voluntary disclosure in 2017.
20.8 million euros transferred
Pierer founded a life insurance company in Liechtenstein in 2003, whose assets were invested in a Swiss AG and a company in the British Virgin Islands, according to “Standard”. The income was not taxed. Through a tax agreement with Liechtenstein, funds parked there anonymously would either have been disclosed to Austrian finance or would have been subject to a tax on deductions. At the end of 2013 – shortly before this came into force – Pierer transferred 20.8 million euros back to Austria.
The income from the insurance in Liechtenstein would have resulted in a tax reduction of around six million euros between 2007 and 2013, plus claim interest and a tax increase, writes the “Standard”. According to documents from the responsible tax office, Pierer has to pay more than eight million euros, but has filed a complaint against the payment of the interest and tax increase, the outcome of which is not clear.
