IRS Auditing Google

theodp writes "Bloomberg reports that the IRS is auditing how Google shifted profits offshore to avoid taxes. According to Bloomberg, Google cuts its tax bill by about $1 billion a year using a technique that allocates profits to a unit managed out of a law firm in Bermuda, where there is no corporate income tax. In 2009, the most recent year for which records are available, this subsidiary collected 4.34 billion euros (about $6.1 billion) in royalties from a Google unit in the Netherlands. A spokesman for Google, whose stated mission is 'to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful,' called the IRS probe 'a routine inquiry' and declined to comment further."

Comments

Don't worry

[Anonymous Coward]

When the auditor drives away from Google in a brand new Jaguar, they will have found that nothing wrong is happening, and we will never hear of it again.

Good

[geekoid]

I like Google. Really like them, but this is good.
While the off shore practice they utilize isn't uncommon for large corporation, it is wrong.
Double Irish and Dutch Sandwich, and other loopholes need to be closed. If it means putting a company I like in the hot seat, so be it.