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by molex333 4782 days ago
This is very old news (at least a year or two). This is such common practice that there is a nickname for it. It is called the double Irish http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Irish_arrangement
3 comments
ISL 4782 days ago
What's new is that the British government has decided to care.

See [1], search news for 'google tax', etc.

Edit: The Irish take is interesting [2]. The Cypriot crisis and Apple's decision to take out a huge loan rather than on-shore some offshore cash both provide further spice to the present arrangement.

[1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/may/18/eric-schmid...

[2] http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/no-wonder-the-nei...

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desas 4782 days ago
This is different.

The double Irish is legal for sales taking place in Ireland. The news article is alleging that the UK Google salespeople are making sales in the UK, in which case UK tax is due.

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markvdb 4782 days ago
You might want to have a look at:

* Taxodus, http://taxodus.net (tax avoidance game)

* Tax Free Tour, http://youtu.be/d4o13isDdfY (tax avoidance documentary by VPRO, a Dutch public broadcasting organisation)

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