The EU’s most powerful official is under mounting pressure as dozens more multinational corporate names are dragged into the Luxembourg tax scandal following a new leak of confidential documents on Tuesday. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European commission, has been battling to distance himself from the growing furore over the… – Continue reading
SMALL Scottish businesses trading over the internet are being forced to turn down thousands of pounds of foreign business because of new European Union rules aimed at preventing tax avoidance by the likes of Amazon. From 1 January, VAT on what the EU deems “digital services” will have to be… – Continue reading
Sit down before you read this: Internet companies pay more corporation tax than the European average, in some cases many times more. According to the European Commission the average ‘effective’ corporate tax rate in the European Union and EFTA is 12.9%; in 2012 Amazon had a whopping 78% in corporation… – Continue reading
LUXEMBOURG — On the first floor of a rust-colored building near the main railway station, Marius Kohl spent years engineering this country’s most valuable export: tax relief. As head of a federal agency called Societes 6, Mr. Kohl approved thousands of tax arrangements for multinational corporations, sometimes helping them save… – Continue reading
Ireland puts an end to a tax loophole that saved Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook billions in taxes “Double Irish” might sound like a drink that corporate tax lawyers reach for at the prospect of paying higher tax bills, but it’s actually the name of a controversial — albeit legal… – Continue reading
Europe’s antitrust regulator is encroaching on what has been the preserve of national governments. There’s a new tax sheriff in town. Europe’s top antitrust regulator, the Brussels-based European Commission, has launched an unexpected assault on what it suspects are sweetheart tax deals for multinational companies, plowing into an area traditionally… – Continue reading
The screw is being turned on American companies that use complex structures to whittle down their tax bills. But is the latest EU probe a paper tiger or a game changer? It was supposed to be good news. Amazon’s announcement yesterday that it would hire 1,000 staff was dressed up… – Continue reading
European body adds another high-profile name to its crackdown on multinationals’ tax avoidance in bloc. The European Union is broadening its crackdown on multinationals’ tax avoidance schemes, opening an investigation yesterday into Amazon’s practices on suspicion the online retailer is not paying its dues on profits made across the 28-nation… – Continue reading
Amazon’s tax arrangements with Luxembourg are being investigated by E.U. regulators, as the online retailer becomes the latest global company to be accused of striking tax-minimising deals with member states that may break bloc rules. Corporate tax avoidance has come under the spotlight on both sides of the Atlantic in… – Continue reading
Amazon, the online retailer, is to face a formal investigation into its European corporate tax practices, the European Commission has announced. The Commission – the executive division of the 28-member European Union – says it will look at the tax agreement made between Amazon and Luxembourg. It suspects the deal… – Continue reading
Amazon is believed to have exploited a slightly different tax loophole in Luxemborg to wash away most local taxes The European Union (EU) made waves late last month when its antitrust regulators — a part of the trade-regulating body known as the European Commission (EC) — issued a preliminary finding… – Continue reading
The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to examine whether the decision by Luxembourg’s tax authorities with regard to the corporate income tax to be paid by Amazon in Luxembourg comply with the EU rules on state aid. The opening of an in-depth investigation gives interested third parties and… – Continue reading
The Californian corporation is Cork’s largest private employer, but has not won over all local hearts and minds. Now the city is at the heart of a fight over taxation that involves not just Ireland but also the European commission and the US senate Anger is mounting in Cork. The… – Continue reading
American technology companies are suddenly living in fear. European governments are finally standing up to the power of these giants that are happy to talk about the benefits their digital products and services bring to society while being accused of not paying their fair share of corporation tax, not doing… – Continue reading
As the finance ministers and central bank governors from the world’s 20 largest economies gather in a convention centre in the Australian city of Cairns this weekend, anti-capitalist protesters will likely accuse them of doing the bidding of the globe’s all-powerful multinational corporations. But the Group of 20’s financial chieftains… – Continue reading
The OECD wants to force businesses to declare their turnover and number of employees in each country where they are active. Among the multinationals targeted are digital giants Google, Apple and Amazon. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has announced an international action plan called “Project BEPS”, to target… – Continue reading
THE CLAMPDOWN on tax avoidance by multinational corporations has been bolstered by a series of recommendations made by the OECD. Companies including Google, Amazon and Starbucks have been in the firing line for their use of offshore jurisdictions to drive down their UK tax liabilities. In particular, the companies have… – Continue reading
Tax authorities in Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka state, are looking into why Amazon India does not pay value-added taxes – as required under the VAT Act, 2003 – on goods stored in its warehouses. The investigation was first reported by Deccan Herald late last month. Now the matter has… – Continue reading
Amazon has been accused of violating Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) laws in India by setting up business in the country. Seattle based Amazon.com, operating its business from Bangalore, is in confrontation with the Karnataka government’s commercial taxes department. While, the department argued that Amazon.com has violated FDI, regulations by making… – Continue reading
You’ll have to forgive Amazon for getting a little flustered when the British Parliament publicly blasted the company for “gaming the system” to dodge paying taxes. Amazon is an American company. They’re used to far more deferential treatment. Responding to how the company paid only $7 million in taxes despite… – Continue reading
Twitter is the latest major internet multinational to have opened up a Spanish subsidiary. But the popular micro-blogging site has followed in the footsteps of Google, Apple, Facebook and Linkedin, all of whom keep their Spanish corporate taxes down to the bare minimum by shifting their income to Ireland. Created… – Continue reading
Planting its European headquarters in Luxembourg has afforded Amazon significant tax advantages. That does not sit well in Britain, where members of Parliament from across the political spectrum have expressed outrage at the strategy. t would be hard to find anything better, unless, of course, you’re Cecil or Amazon. A… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – European officials have asked Luxembourg to hand over documents relating to U.S. online retailer Amazon’s tax affairs in the country, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing official sources. The EU’s competition commission has requested information from the Grand Duchy, where the online retailer’s main European operating company… – Continue reading
Amazon’s Luxembourg-located tax affairs are under the scrutiny of the EU’s Competition Commission as regulators and lawmakers in the bloc widen an investigation into tax avoidance strategies carried on at the European headquarters of big companies. Amazon looks likely to join Apple, Starbucks and Fiat Finance and Trade, all of… – Continue reading
The internet retail giant Amazon is facing fresh claims of tax avoidance after its latest accounts showed it routed more than £11 billion through its Luxembourg-based subsidiary in 2013 – yet paid only £4 million in UK corporation tax last year. Amazon trades through the Luxembourg subsidiary, Amazon EU SARL,… – Continue reading
First Minister Alex Salmond has refused to back calls for a boycott of Amazon after reports the company is engaging in large-scale tax avoidance. During First Minister’s Questions on Thursday afternoon, Scottish Green MSP Patrick Harvie cited concern over “further revelations about the scale of the scandal of tax avoidance… – Continue reading
Margaret Hodge, the chair of the public accounts committee, has called on shoppers to boycott Amazon after it was revealed that the online store paid just 0.1% tax last year. Drawing on the indignation provoked earlier by Starbucks, Hodge advised shoppers to shun Amazon, noting that it paid just £4.2m… – Continue reading
When it comes to tax, things are not always what they seem to be, as the recent news of Starbucks and Amazon shows. In a world where multinational corporations shift taxable profits to favourable jurisdictions, and sovereign nations use tax rates to improve their global competitiveness, things are not always… – Continue reading
The revised figure of more than £1.1bn now judged to be “at risk” by HMRC is an increase of 12% on 2012 and 65% on 2011, according to figures calculated by law firm Pinsent Masons. A crackdown on intra-group payments was announced in the chancellor’s Budget earlier this month as… – Continue reading
Adds £118m to ‘tax under consideration’ from intra-group transfers • HMRC proposes further crackdown on intra-group transfers in Budget HM Revenue & Customs has increased the amount of tax it estimates has been underpaid by the UK’s largest businesses through transfer pricing arrangements by £118 million to more than £1.1 billion, an… – Continue reading
Apple, amazon, and other digital item retailers will have to charge 20% VAT starting in 2015 A long-standing tax loophole has been available in the UK that allowed buyers of digital download products to pay fewer taxes on their purchases of digital books, music, and apps. That loophole has now… – Continue reading
European Union competition watchdogs ordered Luxembourg to hand over details of tax breaks for businesses after they said the Grand Duchy was hindering a state-aid probe spanning several EU nations. Luxembourg refused to deliver details concerning the 100 largest companies benefiting from a special program for companies whose profits stem… – Continue reading
European Union antitrust regulators ordered Luxembourg on Monday to hand over information on its corporate tax practices as part of their investigation into tax loopholes which have allowed companies such as Starbucks and Apple to cut their tax bills. The move by the European Commission came after Luxembourg failed to… – Continue reading
Global technology giants such as Apple, Google and Amazon could soon be charged a tax on their UK activities in an attempt to stop them sidestepping their responsibilities. Britain is working with nine other countries to draw up shared dossiers on the tax affairs of such groups, it was revealed… – Continue reading
The benefits of the New Zealand Government’s desire to push export led growth, as part of its overall economic strategy, could be stymied by a lack of clarity over proposed cross-border tax changes. New research from the Grant Thornton International Business Report survey (IBR) reveals that New Zealand business leaders… – Continue reading
The largest US-based companies added $206 billion to their stockpiles of offshore profits last year, parking earnings in low-tax countries until Congress gives them a reason not to. The multinational companies have accumulated $1.95 trillion outside the US, up 11.8 per cent from a year earlier, according to securities filings… – Continue reading
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Imagine you have the choice between buying your electricity from a company that has a certificate proving that it pays its UK corporation tax in a fair and transparent manner, and a company that does not have that certificate. All else being equal, which would… – Continue reading
The online bookseller Amazon might suddenly find that the UK is more taxing than it would like. A UK judge ruled earlier this month that Amazon had infringed the trademark of soap maker Lush by posting advertisements on Google mentioning “Lush soap” and by offering customers who searched for “Lush soap”… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Amazon’s tax affairs could come under more scrutiny in Britain, tax experts said, after a judge questioned whether it really was organized in the tax efficient way it said it was. The ruling comes as big technology groups, including Amazon, face increasing scrutiny in Britain over their tax… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Plans to make companies reveal how much tax they pay country by country were abandoned on Wednesday, knocking back the efforts of lawmakers who had pushed to curb tax avoidance by multinational businesses. Schemes used by Starbucks (SBUX.O), Apple (AAPL.O), Amazon (AMZN.O) and other corporations operating within the… – Continue reading
Finance ministers and central bankers from the world’s most powerful economies have vowed to crack down on offshore tax evasion by big multinationals. Bill English was among the who’s who of the finance world meeting in Sydney yesterday. New Zealand is not one of the G20 but was conferred unofficial… – Continue reading
Some three hundred years ago Sir Walter Scott asked, “Breathes there a man with soul so dead who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land.” Well, in America corporations are legally deemed “persons,” so the answer to Scott’s question is “Yes,” at least when it… – Continue reading
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) collected more tax from smaller businesses than large multinationals last year as a result of its investigations into firms’ transfer pricing arrangements, according to figures obtained by Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com. Corporate tax expert Heather Self of Pinsent Masons said that HMRC… – Continue reading
France will not tolerate tax avoidance, says Francois Hollande French president Francois Hollande says that “everyone must be in the same competitive situation” French president Francois Hollande speaks during a press conference to present his 2014 policy plans at the Elysee presidential palace. Francois Hollande is making a state visit… – Continue reading
