Telefonica to pay €135 mln to Spanish Taxman

 

Telefónica has reached an agreement with treasury officials to pay the some €135 million in back taxes inspectors determined that the telecoms giant owed after audits were taken covering the tax years from 2005 to 2007, according to a statement filed with the national stock market regulator CNMV.

Telefónica told the CNMV that there are other areas that are still in dispute, but it hasn't received documents pertaining to these controversies.

The telecoms giant said that last year the Supreme Court partially ruled in its favor in a long-running case Telefónica had filed against the Treasury over audits on revenue generated from 1998 to 2000. Another case before the High Court was resolved last December in favor of Telefónica over tax disputes from revenue coming from its overseas affiliates, the company said.

Telefónica also announced Monday that it mandated Goldman Sachs to sell just under 2% of its capital, which it holds as treasury stock.

The telecoms group, which has been trying to reduce a big debt burden, said that the sale of just over 90 million shares to investors, representing 1.979% of its capital, constituted its entire portfolio of treasury stock, Reuters reported.