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Google Businesses The Almighty Buck Technology

Google Shifted $23 Billion To Tax Haven Bermuda in 2017, Filing Shows (reuters.com) 210

schwit1 shares a report: Google moved 19.9 billion euros ($22.7 billion) through a Dutch shell company to Bermuda in 2017, as part of an arrangement that allows it to reduce its foreign tax bill, according to documents filed at the Dutch Chamber of Commerce. The amount channeled through Google Netherlands Holdings BV was around 4 billion euros more than in 2016, the documents, filed on Dec. 21, showed. For more than a decade the arrangement has allowed Google owner Alphabet to enjoy an effective tax rate in the single digits on its non-U.S. profits, around a quarter the average tax rate in its overseas markets. The subsidiary in the Netherlands is used to shift revenue from royalties earned outside the United States to Google Ireland Holdings, an affiliate based in Bermuda, where companies pay no income tax.
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Google Shifted $23 Billion To Tax Haven Bermuda in 2017, Filing Shows

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  • guess that youthful idealism turned into middle-aged "I got mine, do no good"
    • by Anonymous Coward

      Every year that Google has existed, it has sold you out. Everyone, every year. No exceptions.

      In related news, 2019 is the Chinese Year of the Stealth Project.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      No, it was when they went public.

      Once a company goes public, EVERYTHING it does is about raising the stock price. It would sacrifice employees to the pagan gods if shareholders liked that.

    • Part of the problem is that there are so many forces that will disadvantage a company for doing the right thing. A company doesn't grow with having a big Money Bin, that is just sitting there. The most successful company tries to put every dollar gain back into the system to grow the company and expand further. Unfortunately the progressive tax structure slows growth of a company, by in essence taking money it could be reinvesting it and forcing it to be liquid, for a period of time so it can be paid in t

      • by Anonymous Coward

        poor google, these progressive taxes have totally prevented it from "growing" into a nearly trillion dollar company.

        Your argument falls flat on it's face. Companies like Google, write the tax laws, and prevent small companies from getting tax breaks, while they eat them up themselves. Your whole economic worldview is complete bullshit.

        You can't sit here and talk about companies struggling to grow, when the companies in question are Google, Amazon, Apple, Exxon.

      • by skegg ( 666571 )

        +1

  • by andrewbaldwin ( 442273 ) on Thursday January 03, 2019 @03:03PM (#57900228)

    For the avoidance of any doubt I do not condone arson, larceny or other illegal/antisocial actions.

    That said, I would dearly love the following scenarios to play out:

    A major fire to break out at an Amazon warehouse or Google office. When they call the (taxpayer funded) fire services they get told "oh we only operate the phones here - you'll have to source the water from Ireland, the crews from Luxembourg, the appliances from Bermuda... after all that's where you operate isn't it? You don't want to get involved with civil society - well provide your own protection through self funding then!"

    Similarly for break-ins/vandalisation at Facebook's offices ... "here's a crime number for your insurers... we'll get back to you when we've dealt with incidents affecting those who do engage with civil society and contribute to the common good".

    Or roadworks right outside the offices of Vodafone, Oracle, Microsoft - started and then de-prioritised to serve ordinary folk who pay their way - "yes, we'll get back to fixing your road in due course...".

    After all disrupting these organisations wouldn't be a big loss because they don't pay much into society now anyway.

    The "I'll keep whatever I can and get everyone else to cover externalities and emergencies" rejection of paying the same taxes as others do should come back to bite them when they discover they're neither all powerful nor an island sufficient unto themselves.

    Now, whether the government provides good levels of service for the taxation raised is a separate debate; certainly there are many areas where it could do better. Enriching yourselves by demanding the same benefits as everyone whilst doing everything to avoid the common obligations is the behaviour of an antisocial bully.

    • Re: (Score:1, Troll)

      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • "Employers should not be taxed"
        That is your opinion and you are entitled to it. I would disagree (without gratuitous insults).

        By the same token, absentee employers should get no benefits. If they see no obligation to share society's costs then society should see no obligation in providing support or dealing with their externalities.

        If anyone went to these companies and demanded that they provide goods without payment they'd say 'No' -- yet they are quite happy to demand the converse situation.

        The taxes pai

    • by swillden ( 191260 ) <shawn-ds@willden.org> on Thursday January 03, 2019 @03:39PM (#57900426) Journal

      A major fire to break out at an Amazon warehouse or Google office. When they call the (taxpayer funded) fire services they get told "oh we only operate the phones here - you'll have to source the water from Ireland, the crews from Luxembourg, the appliances from Bermuda... after all that's where you operate isn't it? You don't want to get involved with civil society - well provide your own protection through self funding then!"

      What do local fire departments and roads have to do with federal income taxes on foreign earnings? You do know the latter doesn't pay for the former, right?

    • I can’t tell if you’re a big statist or a rabid Libertarian.
      • I canâ(TM)t tell if youâ(TM)re a big statist or a rabid Libertarian.

        It's easy to tell! I'll give you a general guide.

        If they are advocating a course of action that hurts others, they are statists.

        If they are telling everyone to leave someone alone, they are libertarians.

        I'd say telling everyone to set fire to Google and Amazon properties falls pretty clearly in the "Fascist Statist" camp.

    • After all disrupting these organisations wouldn't be a big loss because they don't pay much into society now anyway.

      Ya, fuck all those employees. Oh, and the people using their mapping software, and any other services millions ( if not billions ) use each and every day.

      Sarcasm aside, I get the outrage; it seems as if google isn't paying "their fair share". What is their fair share? What's yours, for that matter? How are you sure you're paying your fair share?

      • by skegg ( 666571 )

        How are you sure you're paying your fair share?

        For one thing, I suspect none of the individuals here on /. use a tax haven to reduce their effective tax rate to zero.

        I take every effort to reduce my tax, very legally. So does Google, very legally.

        My gripe is that large corporations have access to tax havens. If I declare no income in Australia, but each week withdraw $5,000 from an overseas account via an ATM, the Australian Tax Office will eventually knock on my door and ask me to demonstrate how I maintain my standard of living while not submitting a

        • The employees use the schools, roads, and other tax-buying goods and services, and the employees pay taxes. Google, at least in the US, also pays employment tax for its employees. Why should jurisdictions where Google doesn't even have a presence take Google's money?

    • The difficulty is, this isn't a Google problem. It's a worldwide problem. Basically every large multinational corporation does something similar.

      Selectively punishing individual companies will do little to nothing to solve the overall problem. Such selective punishment basically encourages companies to try to cut individual deals with nations to avoid such selective punishment. That's a really, really bad precedent to set.

      What we really need are international standards for determining revenue/expense al

    • RTFS/RTFA - this is on overseas revenue, not US revenue. They pay 100% of their required taxes; the fact they can shift their overseas (not US-taxable) revenue around to lower tax rates has no bearing on the US revenue.
    • how about instead we just elect politicians who aren't corrupt and who will close tax loopholes and shelters? It's not even hard, just make it a point to vote for candidates who refuse corporate PAC money [justicedemocrats.com].
  • How nice that big companies can effectively cheat on taxes using dodgy accounting, and pass some of the loot along to C-levels and shareholders, while screwing everyone, the environment and the very economy we rely on to stay alive. Thanks Google.

    • If they are cheating, they'll be prosecuted and fined. They're doing what they can to lower their tax bills; I assume you take every deduction you're legally allowed to take? Why shouldn't someone else get the same grace you expect?
      • Not even close to comparable, for an individual this is closer to family trust arrangements.

        Me? No I don't make any money, my family trust charges for my time and pays me a modest salary of 20% of the charge rate, the remaining 80% is paid to my wife and three children, after the trusts expenses of paying for the mortgage, utilities, etc. All perfectly legal and above board.

        Yeah, they worked out how to shut that down pretty fast once it was used for a lot less than billions a year.

        • If that income is above $38,600 then you have to pay at least 15%, and up to 20% taxes on that income, or the "in kind" donation of assets. And yes, paying a mortgage for you, or letting you live in a house "rent free" qualifies as an in-kind donation of assets.
          • Sure, sure, and do you think that was how the tax code always was or .... ?

            It's a moral failing by Google and a Neglect of Duty by government to let it continue. The present day legality of it is completely beside the point.

            • The tax code has always considered "in kind" donations as taxable income. And again - this is NOT about Google's domestic income - this is foreign income, earned overseas. Do you realize the US is the only developed country that wants to tax individuals on income earned anywhere in the world? None of the EU does it, none of Asia does it. The US is quite tax hungry, even to the point of wanting a cut of foreign income earned by foreign companies outside the US...
              • The tax code has always considered "in kind" donations as taxable income.

                Always is a long time, and I would suggest in this case it's definitely bullshit. But the kind of Family Trust shenanigans that I was thinking of were exploited here for a long time, and there's still some exceptions built into the US law to make things convenient for the wealthy; like live-in nannys don't have to pay tax on their "free" room since they need access to the kids.

                And again - this is NOT about Google's domestic income - this is foreign income, earned overseas..

                Not sure how I care about the difference between where Google is dodging tax, is morality exclusively applicable in the US?

      • If they are cheating, they'll be prosecuted and fined. They're doing what they can to lower their tax bills; I assume you take every deduction you're legally allowed to take? Why shouldn't someone else get the same grace you expect?

        If they're cheating they likely will not be prosecuted or fined. The overwhelming amount of violations of laws (tax, traffic, securities, etc.) are never prosecuted, let alone punished. Punishment requires the will and means to indict, prosecute, convict, and execute judgment. A lack in any of part of the chain precludes punishment. The big companies recognize the weakness of the punishment chain, especially in the global context where no single legal authority exists and where individual national inter

  • by Impy the Impiuos Imp ( 442658 ) on Thursday January 03, 2019 @03:04PM (#57900234) Journal

    Ignore chatter. Here is the end game: if they paid more taxes, this would not reduce borrowing one iota, as this would give politicians a few more billion to spend.

    There is no "fair share" since that presumes some fixed level of spending. But spending is tied to what they can get away with to buy votes. It will always increase even as times get better and better.

    • by dwpro ( 520418 )
      I'd say a 'fair share' is proportional to what your average working citizen (me) pays. How am I going to compete against products and services from an international corporation when my tax burden adds an extra 15% cost?
    • I am mildly annoyed at you. It is only 7 days into the new year and yet you have already hit what I consider a +6 comment. Usually, I only see 2 or 3 of these in a single year so either this year is looking to be a bumper crop of deeply insightful comments or I am doomed to suffer a drought for the rest of this year.

      Well done. :)

  • Don't blame the company, blame the politicians who carve out these arcane exemptions to benefit their campaign contributors. If one company can use the exemption then it won't be long before others follow suit.
  • Are there still /. users today who remember the time when Google was created, with their famous "Don't be evil" catch phrase ? Remember when Google was seen by the entire /. community as basically the second coming of Christ, and anyone who dared even hint at anything remotely negative about this company was instantly dowmodded into this abyss ?

    Remember those who predicted that this new, innovative, enthousiastic and idealistic enterprise would soon be corrupted by the gangrene of corporate filth, and how t

  • by Kohath ( 38547 ) on Thursday January 03, 2019 @03:16PM (#57900306)

    Proving that they're progressive about your life and your money and the choices you should be allowed/denied. When it comes to what's good for Google, all that progressive dogma falls away and they might as well be a bank or a drug company or an oil driller. All that progressive dogma is just a show to trick the rubes. Hope none of you were gullible enough to take it seriously.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • by epine ( 68316 )

        All progressive dogma always falls away when it hits home.

        Unlike most military engagements, you at least know who the bastard is and what the bastard's done before you rip him a new one in cold blood, so I'd say that's still pretty far to the progressive end of the spectrum.

    • Google are what are often called politely "New Democrats" and not so politely "Clinton Democrats". They're Progressive on Social Issues, meaning they don't mind gays, especially since gays tend to be higher income earners and thus good customers (or product in google's case, since they're basically an ad agency). When it comes to matters of money they're hard, hard right.

      The American media is like this too. Folks talk about the "Liberal Media Bias" because the media pushes climate change, abortion right
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • And they de-monitized my $90/yr YouTube account. Sheesh.
  • Because people have this mistaken belief that taxing corporations means you're not taxing people, and so it somehow decreases the tax burden on people if you tax corporations.

    Corporate profit is taxed. The remaining profit is then distributed to shareholders as distributions. If you increase corporate taxes, the shareholders get less money as distributions. If you decrease corporate taxes, the shareholders get more money as distributions. So a tax on corporate profit is the same a tax on shareholder
  • Tell me, do you willingly pay more in taxes then you need to? Do you use every deduction you can to AVOID taxes. Use every write off? Give extra money at the end of the year to maximize the amount of money you keep?

    Now tell me, you own Google stock and hear they are not using their own financial/tax/lawyers people to maximize profits. There would be a stock holder uprising. Why are we giving away money freely when we could do more to save it. And don't forget, most of us own this stock through a 401K

  • Disallow such actions, and tax them on their true holdings and earnings. If they resist, dissolve the corporation and jail the execs for 500 years each.

  • Let he who doesn't try to reduce his tax bill cast the first stone.

  • More money for salaries, less for government.
  • In the 80s we called 'em "limousine liberals".

    Oh, you thought the high taxes, "fair share", "progressive" stuff applied to us, Google? Ah, no, lol, that's just for you.

    Now shut up and pay us to install a surveillance device in your house. (Oh, and go shout at Ajit Pai some more, your two minutes hate isn't over yet.)

  • An entity trying to rake in as much money as it can. What a shocker!

    Or is it a shocker because all y'all commoners were bullshitted into thinking how everybody is or is supposed to be an angel/fairy when it comes to morality, and then every now and again you hear news such as this (don't worry, next month you'll read about amazon or whatever other company, football player, or politician) ?

    You go and be moral, pay up. They'll take that money, and run to Bermuda with it. And be sure to teach your offspr

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