More than 99 percent of votes cast are in favor of relocation, the company just announced. Those percentages may change slightly as final voting comes in, but not enough to change the outcome.

Last month, Shell announced it would move its headquarters to the United Kingdom (UK). Until now, Shell has had a complicated corporate structure that it wants to eliminate.

Since the merger between British Shell and Dutch Koninklijke Olie in 2005, Shell has held two types of shares (Dutch and British). Moreover, on paper, this is a British company, headquartered in the Netherlands, which is then located in the Netherlands for tax purposes.

Additionally, Dutch shareholders do have to pay dividend tax – that is tax on the distribution of profits from a company to shareholders – and due to its controversial construction, this is not required for UK shares. It’s all very complicated. According to Shell, this structure hinders the company’s agility.

It’s easier to do business

Simplifying the company’s structure, with a single set of shares and headquarters in the UK, made it easier for Shell to raise funds by issuing new shares. Making acquisitions is also much easier.

Buying back shares, which companies do to please their shareholders, also becomes easier with a single class of shares. Well, that’s tricky: when buying a single share dividend tax is payable, while others are not. Shell has wanted to eliminate this for years.

Dividend tax

As a wholly British company, Shell is completely free from any fuss over dividend tax, which has been lobbied for in the Netherlands for years. In the UK, this tax does not exist at all. In a last-ditch effort to keep Shell afloat, the cabinet last month asked if there was support from Hague politicians for immediately abolishing the dividend tax, but that turned out to be a futile mission.

Shell denies that the dividend tax was the reason for the move, but the complex structure it now wants to remove is a direct consequence of the dividend tax.

Of course not Dutch

This dividend tax is clearly cited as a reason not to make Shell a fully Dutch company, which of course is also an option to organize the company more simply.

Finance Director Jessica Uhl emphasized that this would ensure shareholders who currently hold British Shell shares would suddenly have to pay the additional tax. That’s not an option.

Early 2022

The exact date of the move has not been determined, but the company has announced that the move will take place in the first three months of 2022.