Global Tax 50 2014: Marius Kohl

Marius Kohl is a new entry this year

Before October, Marius Kohl was known only to his family, friends and companies that paid tax in Luxembourg. Then he gave an interview to the Wall Street Journal, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists – also in the Global Tax 50 this year – published leaked documents about tax rulings given to companies in that country and all hell broke loose, as far as tax avoidance in the EU was concerned.

Between 1981 and 2013, Kohl was head of Sociétés 6, described as the Luxembourg agency responsible for determining how much tax is owed each year by about 50,000, mostly foreign-owned, Luxembourg-registered holding companies.

"I could say 'yes' or 'no,' " Kohl told the WSJ. "Sometimes it's easier if you only have to ask one person." Luxembourg tax advisers have spoken about how foreign companies would troop into his office to get approval for their tax arrangements, which invariably related to booking profit in low-tax Luxembourg from business in other jurisdictions.

What has added spice to Kohl's revelations is that Jean-Claude Juncker, the new president of the European Commission, was Luxembourg's finance minister from 1989, stepping down from the position in 2009, and prime minister between 1995 and 2013. It would be easier for the Commission to address that country's generous tax rulings regime if it were not for this.

Despite the ructions his interview caused, Kohl has kept a low profile since. Indeed the WSJ did not publish a photograph of him and only described him as "a bearded 61-year-old with a ponytail". He has been a lot more forthcoming about his role in facilitating foreign companies' tax arrangements in Luxembourg.