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

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.

Comments

Re:So what?

[Anonymous Coward]

What is 23 billion compared to 23 trillion? 0.1%. Why does it matter? It doesn't when government spending is this out of control.

And what government spending is out of control?

Military and the interest on the national debt is getting out of control.

Maybe if we stopped being "Team America World Police" and causing more problems than we fix and stop the Republicans' borrow and spend philosophy, things would be better (They are NOT the party of fiscal responsibility and never have been). This last tax cut is going to add a couple of trillion to our debt which will raise interest rates and lower us regular people's standard of living. (Yeah sure, it's the gays, liberals and immigrants do that.)

At least the Democrats are cash and carry. They have the balls to raise taxes to pay for their programs. And I for one would love to have Eisenhower tax rates again. Inflation adjusted, folks making $2,000,000 per year in income would be taxes at 90% - if anyone thinks they'd be left with $180,000 is woefully ignorant of our tax system. And the same if anyone thinks it hurts small business people.

But let's cut entitlement programs - like Social Security and Medicare. I once saw a movie that dealt with that issue. It had Charlton Heston and the title was something "Green".

Re:Actions should have consequences

[swillden]

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.

Not exactly. This is about avoiding (legally) US corporate income taxes on foreign income, so it is about US revenue. And EU revenue, since it also avoids EU taxation. It's certainly not revenue that would pay for fire departments or roads in California, though.

It's worth pointing out here that the US practice of taxing foreign incomes of US companies -- on top of whatever the country in which the money is earned might tax it -- is a weird one, which no other major countries practice. It's the reason that tech companies have kept trillions parked offshore, because bringing it back would require paying taxes on it.

It's also worth pointing out, as TFA does, that the key governmental player in this particular tax avoidance scheme, Ireland, has been pressured into ending it, so Google will no longer be able to do this after next year.