Tax Strategy - PUMA United Kingdom Ltd ("PUMA UK")
INTRODUCTION
PUMA UK's ultimate parent company, PUMA SE is a German resident entity listed on the Frankfurt stock exchange.
This tax strategy (the "Tax Strategy") applies to all PUMA UK entities ("we" , "our" or "PUMA UK") including PUMA UK's overseas branches and operations.
Publication of this Tax Strategy is regarded as complying with our duty under Schedule 19 of Finance Act 2016 in respect of the financial year ended 31 December 2022.
APPROACH TO TAX GOVERNANCE & RISK MANAGEMENT
The Tax Strategy is owned, approved and implemented by the PUMA UK Board of Directors and has been developed with the oversight of the PUMA SE group tax team. The PUMA UK finance team are responsible for maintaining and updating the Tax Strategy in response to changes in the organisation or tax legislation and any amendments are subject to Board approval.
Where there is significant materiality or complexity associated with business changes or transactions, or where we lack the specific expertise in house, PUMA UK seeks external advice at the early stages to ensure any tax risk is considered and mitigated.
Risk is managed through the implementation of robust processes and controls, which ensure that correct tax treatments are adopted and that compliance requirements are dealt with on an accurate and timely basis. These processes are amended and developed in response to internal or external changes.
ATTITUDE TOWARDS TAX PLANNING
As displayed in PUMA's Code of Ethics, our tax culture can be summarized with its guiding principle "We pay our fair share".
We dutifully acknowledge our role as a taxpayer and operate in a manner in which our commercial objectives are aligned to meet our legal obligations in an ethical manner. We do not engage in artificial tax arrangements. We do not operate in a manner that we believe is contrary to the clear intentions of legislation concerned.
Therefore, we claim tax reliefs, allowances and government incentives where available and only in the manner they are intended (e.g. apprenticeships levy credits, capital allowances etc).
We seek to comply with all relevant laws of each jurisdiction, including following OECD transfer pricing guidelines.
ACCEPTABLE LEVEL OF TAX RISK
PUMA UK has a low tolerance for tax risk and is committed to paying accurate tax at the right time and in the right jurisdiction.
PUMA UK is averse to taking actions that could result in a dispute or challenge from the tax authorities and seek to operate within the intention of the law. We ensure that staff with tax responsibilities, as well as those whose business operations may have a direct tax impact;, have a clear understanding of how tax risk is identified, assessed managed.
HOW WE WORK WITH HMRC
PUMA UK is committed to:
- Promoting a professional, collaborative, open, honest and transparent relationship with HMRC;
- Discussing business activities and transactions with significant tax implications with HMRC in a timely fashion;
- engaging in timely dialogue with HMRC to respond to queries and information requests to ensure that HMRC is aware of how issues are progressing;
- working proactively with HMRC to resolve all tax disputes; and
- making appropriate disclosures in tax returns, reports and correspondence submitted to HMRC
Approved by the Board of Directors of PUMA UK on 20th February 2023