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COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES | 6 Months Ended
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Jun. 30, 2022
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES | COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES Competition and Consumer Protection Reviews At times, online platforms, including online travel platforms, have been the subject of investigations or inquiries by various national competition authorities ("NCAs") or other governmental authorities regarding competition law matters, consumer protection issues, or other areas of concern. The Company is and has been involved in many such investigations. For example, the Company has been and continues to be involved in investigations related to whether Booking.com's contractual parity arrangements with accommodation providers, sometimes also referred to as "most favored nation" or "MFN" provisions, are anti-competitive because they require accommodation providers to provide Booking.com with room rates, conditions or availability that are at least as favorable as those offered to other online travel companies ("OTCs") or through the accommodation provider's website. To resolve and close certain of the investigations, the Company has from time to time made commitments to the investigating authorities regarding future business practices or activities, such as agreeing to narrow the scope of its parity clauses, in order to resolve parity-related investigations. These investigations have resulted in fines and the Company could incur additional fines in the future. In addition, in September 2017, the Swiss Price Surveillance Office opened an investigation into the level of commissions of Booking.com in Switzerland and the investigation is ongoing. If there is an adverse outcome and Booking.com is unsuccessful in any appeal, Booking.com could be required to reduce its commissions in Switzerland. Some authorities are reviewing the online hotel booking sector more generally through market inquiries and the Company cannot predict the outcome of such inquiries or any resulting impact on its business, results of operations, cash flows, or financial condition. The Company is and has been involved in investigations or inquiries by NCAs or other governmental authorities involving consumer protection matters, including in the United Kingdom and the European Union. The Company has previously made certain voluntary commitments to competition authorities to resolve investigations or inquiries that have included showing prices inclusive of all mandatory taxes and charges, providing information about the effect of money earned on search result rankings on or before the search results page and making certain adjustments to how discounts and statements concerning popularity or availability are shown to consumers. In the future, it is possible new jurisdictions could engage the Company in discussions to implement changes to its business in those countries. The Company is unable to predict what, if any, effect any future similar commitments will have on its business, industry practices or online commerce more generally. To the extent that any other investigations or inquiries result in additional commitments, fines, damages or other remedies, the Company's business, financial condition, and results of operations could be harmed. The Company is unable to predict how any current or future investigations or litigation may be resolved or the long-term impact of any such resolution on its business. For example, competition and consumer-law-related investigations, legislation, or issues could result in private litigation and the Company is currently involved in such litigation. More immediate results could include, among other things, the imposition of fines, payment of damages, commitments to change certain business practices, or reputational damage, any of which could harm the Company's business, results of operations, brands, or competitive position. Tax Matters French tax authorities conducted audits of Booking.com for the years 2003 through 2012, 2013 through 2015, and 2016 through 2018. In December 2015, the French tax authorities issued Booking.com assessments for unpaid income and value added taxes ("VAT") related to tax years 2006 through 2012 for approximately 356 million Euros ($372 million), the majority of which represents penalties and interest. The assessments assert that Booking.com had a permanent establishment in France. In December 2019, the French tax authorities issued an additional assessment of 70 million Euros ($73 million), including interest and penalties, for the 2013 tax year asserting that Booking.com had taxable income attributable to a permanent establishment in France. The French tax authorities also have issued assessments totaling 39 million Euros ($41 million), including interest and penalties, for certain tax years between 2011 and 2015 on Booking.com's French subsidiary asserting that the subsidiary did not receive sufficient compensation for the services it rendered to Booking.com in the Netherlands. In December 2021, the French tax authorities issued assessments on Booking.com’s French subsidiary totaling 78 million Euros ($81 million), including interest and penalties, for the tax years 2016 through 2018 asserting that the subsidiary did not receive sufficient compensation for the services it rendered to Booking.com. As a result of a formal demand from the French tax authorities for payment of the amounts assessed against Booking.com for the years 2006 through 2012, in January 2019, the Company paid the assessments of approximately 356 million Euros ($372 million) in order to preserve its right to contest those assessments in court. The payment, which is included in "Other assets, net" in the Consolidated Balance Sheets at June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, does not constitute an admission that the Company owes the taxes and will be refunded (with interest) to the Company to the extent the Company prevails. On February 8, 2022, the French Tax Court issued a decision in favor of Booking.com’s French subsidiary regarding the assessments of 3 million Euros ($3 million) for the tax years 2011 and 2012. In April 2022, the French tax authorities refunded the 3 million Euros ($3 million) deposit related to those assessments, plus interest, and filed their notice of appeal of the decision. In October 2020, the Company initiated court proceedings with respect to the 2003-2012 permanent establishment assessments. That case is still pending in the French Tax Court. Although the Company believes that Booking.com has been, and continues to be, in compliance with French tax law, and the Company is contesting the assessments, during the three months ended September 30, 2020, the Company contacted the French tax authorities regarding the potential to achieve resolution of the matter through a settlement. After assessing several potential outcomes and potential settlement amounts and terms, an expense for unrecognized tax benefit in the amount of 50 million Euros ($59 million) was recorded during the year ended December 31, 2020, of which the majority was included as a partial reduction to the tax payment recorded in "Other assets, net" in the Consolidated Balance Sheets at June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021. In December 2020, the French Administrative Court (Conseil d’Etat) delivered a decision in the "ValueClick" case that could have an impact on the outcome in the Company's case. After considering the potential adverse impact of the new decision on the potential outcomes for the Booking.com assessments, the Company currently estimates that the reasonably possible loss related to VAT is approximately 20 million Euros ($21 million). In December 2018 and December 2019, the Italian tax authorities issued assessments on Booking.com's Italian subsidiary for approximately 48 million Euros ($50 million) for the 2013 tax year and 58 million Euros ($61 million) for the 2014 tax year asserting that its transfer pricing policies were inadequate. The Company believes Booking.com has been and continues to be in compliance with Italian tax law. In September 2020, the Italian tax authorities approved the opening of a Mutual Agreement Procedure ("MAP") between Italy and the Netherlands for the 2013 tax year and Booking.com has submitted a request that the 2014 tax year be added to the MAP. Based on the possibility of the 2013 and 2014 Italian assessments being settled through the MAP process, and, after considering potential resolution amounts, a net expense for unrecognized tax benefit of 4 million Euros ($5 million) was recorded during the three months ended September 30, 2020. In March 2021, the Italian authorities issued assessments on Booking.com's Italian subsidiary for approximately 31 million Euros ($33 million) for the 2015 tax year, again asserting that its transfer pricing policies were inadequate. Based on the Company's expectation that the Italian assessments for 2013, 2014, 2015 and any transfer pricing assessments received for subsequent open years will be settled through the MAP process, and after considering potential resolution amounts, an additional net expense for unrecognized tax benefit of 13 million Euros ($16 million) was recorded during the three months ended March 31, 2021. In August 2021, the Italian tax authorities issued a transfer pricing assessment on Booking.com's Italian subsidiary for approximately 114 million Euros ($119 million) for the periods 2016-2018. The Company has requested that the 2016-2018 assessments be added to the MAP. Because the unrecognized tax benefit recorded during the three months ended March 31, 2021 already reflected consideration of potential resolution amounts for Italian transfer pricing assessments for all open tax years, including 2016-2018, no additional unrecognized tax benefit has been recorded for the 2016-2018 assessments. In December 2019, the Company made a partial prepayment of 10 million Euros ($10 million) of the 2013 assessment to avoid any collection enforcement from the Italian tax authorities pending the appeal phase of the case. The payment, which is included in "Other assets, net" in the Consolidated Balance Sheets at June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, does not constitute an admission that the Company owes the taxes and will be refunded (with interest) to the Company to the extent that the Company prevails. A total of 5 million Euros ($6 million) of the net expense for unrecognized tax benefit recorded during the year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 has been included as a partial reduction to the tax payment recorded in "Other assets, net" in the Consolidated Balance Sheets at June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021. Similarly, during the six months ended June 30, 2022 the Company made deposits totaling 64 million Euros ($67 million) for the 2014 through 2018 assessments. The payments are included in "Other assets, net" in the Consolidated Balance Sheet at June 30, 2022. In June 2021, the investigative arm of the Italian tax authorities issued a Tax Audit Report for the 2013 through 2019 Italian VAT audit. While the Tax Audit Report does not constitute a formal tax assessment, it recommends that an assessment of 154 million Euros ($161 million), plus interest and penalties, should be made on Booking.com BV for VAT related to commissions charged to certain Italian accommodation providers. The Company believes that Booking.com has been, and continues to be, in compliance with Italian and EU VAT laws and the Company has not recorded any liability in connection with the Tax Audit Report. It is unclear what further actions, if any, the Italian authorities will take with respect to the VAT audit for the periods 2013 through 2019. Such actions could include closing the investigation, assessing Booking.com additional taxes and/or imposing interest, fines, penalties, or criminal proceedings. In 2018 and 2019, Turkish tax authorities asserted that Booking.com has a permanent establishment in Turkey and have issued tax assessments for the years 2012 through 2018 for approximately 835 million Turkish Lira ($50 million), which includes interest and penalties through June 30, 2022. The Company believes that Booking.com has been, and continues to be, in compliance with Turkish tax law, and the Company is contesting these assessments in court. The Company has not recorded a liability in connection with these assessments. In December 2021, the Company paid approximately 118 million Turkish Lira ($7 million) of the assessments in order to preserve its right to contest a portion of the assessments in court. The payment, which is included in "Other assets, net" in the Consolidated Balance Sheets at June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, does not constitute an admission that the Company owes the taxes and will be refunded to the Company to the extent the Company prevails. The Company is also involved in other tax-related audits, investigations, or litigation relating to income taxes, value-added taxes, travel transaction taxes (e.g., hotel occupancy taxes), and other taxes. Any taxes or assessments in excess of the Company's tax provisions, including the resolution of any tax proceedings or litigation, could have a material adverse impact on the Company's results of operations, cash flows, and financial condition. Other Matters Beginning in 2014, Booking.com received several letters from the Netherlands Pension Fund for the Travel Industry (Reiswerk) ("BPF") claiming that Booking.com is required to participate in the mandatory pension scheme of the BPF with retroactive effect to 1999, which has a higher contribution rate than the pension scheme in which Booking.com is currently participating. BPF instituted legal proceedings against Booking.com and in 2016 the District Court of Amsterdam rejected all of BPF's claims. BPF appealed the decision to the Court of Appeal, and, in May 2019, the Court of Appeal also rejected all of BPF's claims, in each case by ruling that Booking.com does not meet the definition of a travel intermediary for purposes of the mandatory pension scheme. BPF then appealed to the Netherlands Supreme Court. In April 2021, the Supreme Court overturned the previous decision of the Court of Appeal and held that Booking.com meets the definition of a travel intermediary for the purposes of the mandatory pension scheme. The Supreme Court ruled only on the qualification of Booking.com as a travel intermediary for the purposes of the mandatory pension scheme and did not rule on the various other defenses brought forward by the Company against BPF's claims. The Supreme Court referred the matter to another Court of Appeal that will have to assess the other defenses brought forward by the Company. The Company intends to pursue a number of defenses in the subsequent proceedings and may ultimately prevail in whole or in part. While the Company continues to believe that Booking.com is in compliance with its pension obligations and that the Court of Appeal could ultimately rule in favor of Booking.com, given the Supreme Court’s decision, the Company believes it is probable that it has incurred a loss related to this matter. The Company is not able to reasonably estimate a loss or a range of loss because there are significant factual and legal questions yet to be determined in the subsequent proceedings. As a result, as of June 30, 2022, the Company has not recorded a liability in connection with a potential adverse ultimate outcome to this litigation. However, if Booking.com were to ultimately lose and all of BPF's claims were to be accepted (including with retroactive effect to 1999), the Company estimates that as of June 30, 2022, the maximum loss, not including any potential interest or penalties, would be approximately 313 million Euros ($328 million). Such estimated potential loss increases as Booking.com continues not to contribute to the BPF and depends on Booking.com's applicable employee compensation after June 30, 2022. The Company accrues for certain legal contingencies where it is probable that a loss has been incurred and the amount can be reasonably estimated. Such accrued amounts are not material to the Company's balance sheets and provisions recorded have not been material to the Company's results of operations or cash flows. From time to time, the Company notifies the Dutch data protection authority in accordance with its obligations under the E.U. General Data Protection Regulation of certain incidental and accidental personal data security incidents. Although the Company believes it has fulfilled its data protection regulatory obligations, should the Dutch data protection authority decide these incidents were the result of inadequate technical and organizational security measures, it could decide to impose a fine. The Company has been, is currently, and expects to continue to be, subject to legal proceedings and claims in the ordinary course of business, including claims of alleged infringement of third-party intellectual property rights. Such claims, even if not meritorious, could result in the expenditure of significant financial and managerial resources, divert management's attention from the Company's business objectives and adversely affect the Company's business, results of operations, financial condition, and cash flows. Building Construction As of June 30, 2022, the Company had a remaining obligation of 5 million Euros ($5 million) related to the turnkey agreement for the construction of Booking.com's future headquarters in the Netherlands, which will be paid through 2022, when the Company anticipates construction will be complete. In addition to the turnkey agreement, the Company has a remaining obligation at June 30, 2022 to pay 67 million Euros ($70 million) over the remaining initial term of the acquired land lease, which expires in 2065. The Company has made and will continue to make additional capital expenditures to fit out and furnish the office space. At June 30, 2022, the Company had 16 million Euros ($17 million) of outstanding commitments to vendors to fit out and furnish the office space. Other Contractual Obligations The Company had $812 million and $511 million of standby letters of credit and bank guarantees issued on behalf of the Company as of June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively, including those issued under the revolving credit facility. These are obtained primarily for regulatory purposes. See Note 9 for information related to letters of credit issued under the revolving credit facility.

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