Note 25 Other operating expenses
€ million | 2017 | 2016 |
Additions / releases to provisions | 1 | 4 |
Premises and transport | 26 | 13 |
Rent and leases | 41 | 42 |
Corporate staff and ICT | 67 | 65 |
Sufferance tax and other tax | 143 | 154 |
Other | 51 | 55 |
Total | 329 | 333 |
Other operating expenses amounted to €329 million in 2017 compared with €333 million in 2016. The drop of €4 million was mainly due to the decline in sufferance taxes (by €11 million).
Sufferance tax and other tax charges in 2017 amounted to €143 million compared with €154 million in 2016. The reduction in the costs, by €11 million, is the effect of legislation relating to the phasing-out of sufferance tax. The new law prohibits any more municipal authorities from introducing sufferance taxes.
For further disclosures relating to the costs of operating leases, reference is made to note [19].
The auditors’ fees were as follows:
Auditors’ fees
€ million | 2017 | 2016 |
Description of services: | ||
Audit of the financial statements: | 0.8 | 0.8 |
Other assurance services | 0.2 | 0.2 |
Total | 1.0 | 1.0 |
The above fees relate to the activities carried out by the accountancy firms and external auditors in connection with the parent company and the companies included in the consolidation, as referred to in Section 1, subsection 1, of the Audit Firms Supervision Act (WTA), and the fees charged by the entire network of which the accountancy firm is part. These fees relate to the audit of the financial statements for 2016 and 2017.