Tax-leaks 2: 32 biljoen dollar in belastingparadijzen.

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Momentum Builds in U.S. to End Corporate Tax Evasion

The U.S. government’s main watchdog on Monday reported that U.S. corporations are paying taxes on less than half of their declared income, largely due to dozens of tax breaks that have come under increased scrutiny in recent months.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is reporting that U.S. companies received tax breaks worth around 181 billion dollars in 2011, slightly more than what they paid in taxes. That figure would make up the largest such sum since a major rewrite of the U.S. tax code took place in the mid-1980s.

"With Congress currently trying to figure out how to fund public priorities while bringing down the deficit, it’s just impossible to ignore offshore tax haven abuse anymore." -- U.S. PIRG's Dan Smith
A significant part of these breaks are due to a legal exemption under which U.S. companies are not required to pay taxes on income earned overseas until it is brought back into the country. Yet corporations have increasingly been accused of misusing this exemption, misreporting overseas income or lodging it in countries with low or loose tax regulations.

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Google boss defends 'immoral' UK tax arrangements

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt has offered an unyielding defence of the Big G's tax records in the UK. Schmidt claimed that Google, which paid only £6m in tax on its £395m revenue in 2011, not only complies with UK law, but that the services it provides are boosting our wobbly economy.

"We empower literally billions of pounds of start-ups through our advertising network and so forth and we're a key part of the electronic commerce expansion of Britain, which is driving a lot of economic growth for the country," he told the BBC's World at One today. In the UK, Google employs around 2,000 people, nearly 4 per cent of its worldwide workforce.

Its tax behaviour is nothing unusual, as Schmidt was keen to point out, and is similar to the way all multinational companies handle their taxes, including British companies in America.

Though Google is not breaking the law, its behaviour was described as "immoral" by Margaret Hodge MP, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. A hearing was called last year after it became known that Google, and other multinational companies such as Amazon, Apple and Starbucks, were paying little in the way of corporation tax. Between 2004 and 2010, Google paid a mere £8m to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.

Google pays less tax by putting all of its UK revenue through its 'HQ' in Ireland, which has a corporation tax of only 12.5 per cent, before passing it through tax haven Bermuda on its way back to the US. It's only paying tax on the 10 per cent commission paid by the Irish part of the company to the UK arm. Structuring your company in such a way as to minimise the tax you're liable to pay is entirely legal -- tax evasion, illegal; tax avoidance, legal.

"We fully comply with the law, and will obviously, should the law change, we will comply with that as well," Schmidt said.

Schmidt also spoke about his controversial trip in January to "by far the most isolated country on Earth", North Korea. It seems his aim was to get government officials to allow access to the Internet as a way of allowing North Korea to become a "proper country".

"The average North Korean person is completely cut off from any of the kinds of conversations or knowledge that's going on globally," he said, which is depressingly what the rulers of North Korea rely on.

What do you think about Google's tax affairs? If it isn't too taxing, share your thoughts in the comments, or our Facebook page.

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Op dinsdag 16 april 2013 11:25 schreef stopnaald het volgende:
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is reporting that U.S. companies received tax breaks worth around 181 billion dollars in 2011, slightly more than what they paid in taxes.

Je kunt je dan afvragen waarom er überhaupt nog belasting geheven wordt op deze bedrijven....maar Atlas Schrugged hoor! Yes, right!

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Angola deal to repay debt to Russia exposes EU tax havens

Case provides vivid example of plundering that can take place in developing nations with complicity of European banks and tax havens

A newly published report on a corrupt deal for the repayment of the Angola debt to Russia in the early 1990s was presented at the European parliament on Tuesday as a vivid example of the plundering that can take place in developing nations with the complicity of European banks and tax havens.

The Portuguese socialist MEP Ana Gomes and the Open Society Foundation hosted the public event at which the report, Deception in high places: the corrupt Angola-Russia debt deal, was presented.

Its author is Andrew Feinstein, a former South African member of parliament and current director of Corruption Watch UK. Gomes praised Feinstein for producing the report despite potential legal challenges, and said his Angolan partners had taken "serious personal risk".

The report provides a detailed account of the web of financial transactions involving Angola's $5bn (£3bn) debt to Russia, which evolved into the diversion of hundreds of millions of dollars of public funds to middlemen and senior government officials.

Millions of dollars were transferred through banks based in Switzerland, Luxembourg, Cyprus, the Netherlands, the British Virgin Islands and the Isle of Man to the benefit of powerful Angolan and Russian figures, the report shows.

As Feinstein explained, it had been much easier to trace the Angolan officials who benefited from the criminal transaction.

The biggest alleged beneficiary is José Eduardo dos Santos, who has been the Angolan president since 1979. Documents show that Dos Santos received $36.25m from the diverted funds, and four other Angolan officials named in the report took between $3.35m and $13.25m.

The deal was intended to clear the debt owed to Russia for support provided by the former Soviet Union during Angola's 1975-90 civil war. In 1996, Russia decided that Angola would not be able to repay the entire $5bn debt, agreeing to accept $1.5bn instead.

While it is not uncommon for a creditor to engage a financially reputable middleman to collect debts, the report says that in this case the intermediary chosen was a company specially set up for the occasion, Abalone Investments, which had no assets and was registered on the Isle of Man.

Abalone was owned by two businessmen with a history of making money in deals with Angola: Arcadi Gaydamak and Pierre Falcone. They opened an escrow account at the Swiss bank SBS, which later became UBS, Switzerland's largest bank.

In Feinstein's words, UBS appeared to execute the transfers from Abalone's account without subjecting them to any meaningful internal review, or referring them to the authorities, despite the potential illicit risks involved.

In the first phase of the operation, between October 1997 and July 2000, Angola transferred $774m to Abalone's UBS accounts. Of that money, Gaydamak received $138m and Falcone $124m. UBS used this account to pay Angolan official José Leitão da Costa $3.35m.

"This raises the question why UBS didn't flag or report this obviously suspicious payment," Feinstein said.

Cypriot account named after Russian bank

Even though Abalone took no risk with the operation, the Russian side accepted far less of the agreed debt, leaving more money to the middlemen, the report says. On one occasion, Russia asked Angola to pay its debts directly to Russian bank Sberinvest. Gaydamak opened an account in Cyprus to which he gave the name "Sberinvest" and the Angolan money went there, without the knowledge of Falcone.

Angolan officials transferred $618m to the Sberinvest account in Cyprus, believing they were paying the Russians. Together with the earlier transfers of funds to the Abalone UBS account, these amounts should have erased Angola's debts.

But that didn't happen, Feinstein claims, because significant amounts remained with the middlemen, the Angolan beneficiaries and others who are not yet identified.

Both Angola and Russia lost from the operations. In the second phase of the debt repayment operation, Abalone was paying Moscow with Russian debt instruments at their face value, even though their market value was 10 times lower.

"The central point is that a number of individuals, some of which have not yet been identified, made vast profits at the expense of the people of Angola and Russia," Feinstein said.

He added that it was because of the facilitating role of banks, tax havens and the veil provided by front companies that national resources were stolen from the poorest citizens with impunity.

Feinstein's report makes several recommendations to Angola, Switzerland, the EU and its member states, and the financial sector to initiate investigations and take legal measures to prevent wrongdoing. In particular, he recommends that the EU's accounting directive, which will require reporting of payments to governments in the extractive and forestry sector, be extended to include the banking sector.

Gomes said she would send a copy of the report to EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton, and to European commission president José Manuel Barroso.

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'Buitenlandse bedrijven betalen nauwelijks belasting'

Nederland heeft een grote aantrekkingskracht op buitenlands kapitaal. Maar buitenlandse bedrijven betalen over slecht een klein deel van de 'investeringen' belasting, omdat alleen dat deel in de reële economie komt. Dat blijkt uit recente cijfers van de Organisatie voor Economische Samenwerking en Ontwikkeling (OESO), zo schrijft de krant Financial Times maandag. Voor Luxemburg geldt hetzelfde verhaal.

In Nederland zou vorig jaar 3,5 biljoen dollar aan buitenlands kapitaal zijn binnengekomen. Daarvan kwam slechts 573 miljard terecht in de reële economie, becijferde de OESO. De rest eindigde in brievenbusfirma's en holdingmaatschappijen die ontworpen en opgezet zijn om belastingaanslagen te vermijden. In Luxemburg zou 2,3 biljoen dollar zijn geïnvesteerd terwijl 122 miljard in de economie terecht kwam. In Nederland en Luxemburg kwam in 2012 samen evenveel kapitaal binnen als in de Verenigde Staten, Duitsland en Groot-Brittannië bij elkaar, aldus de OESO.

OESO-secretaris-generaal Angel Gurría zei eerder dat bedrijven bijna niets kwalijk is te nemen, omdat zij gebruik maken van regels en mogelijkheden die door overheden zelf zijn opgesteld. Deze praktijk vormt volgens hem een groot risico voor de belastinginning en de overheidsinkomsten.

Door de crisis en de bezuinigingen die veel landen moeten doorvoeren, is er de afgelopen tijd veel aandacht voor grote bedrijven die belastingafgifte vermijden door hun kapitaal via de meest fiscaal-vriendelijke routes te sluizen. De rol van Nederland als 'belastingparadijs' werd recent nog eens belicht, onder meer nadat bekend werd dat bedrijven als Google en Ikea op legale wijzen belasting ontduiken via toegestane Nederlandse financiële constructies.

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Op maandag 29 april 2013 10:58 schreef Pietverdriet het volgende:
Te zeggen dat slechts 573 miljard in de reële economie kwam..
573 Miljard binnengehaald aan investeringen zeg ik dan.

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Tax havens agree to more transparency

Britain’s Overseas Territories have bowed to pressure for greater tax transparency, in a move the government has hailed as “a turning point in the fight against tax evasion and illicit finance”.

The Treasury announced that Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands have followed the Cayman Islands by agreeing to share information automatically with Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

George Osborne, the chancellor, said: “This represents a significant step forward in tackling illicit finance and sets the global standard in the fight against tax evasion.” He urged other governments to follow suit in an effort to remove “the hiding places for those who seek to evade tax and hide their assets”.

The move by offshore centres to increase transparency follows the introduction of new legislation in the US, known as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, which threatens financial institutions with heavy withholding taxes if they do not comply.

The new agreements will involve the sharing of extensive information on bank accounts with Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The Overseas Territories will automatically provide names, addresses, dates of birth, account numbers, account balances and details of payments made into those accounts.

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Op zaterdag 4 mei 2013 21:44 schreef deelnemer het volgende:

[..]

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Weekers wil inzage database belastingparadijzen


Staatssecretaris Frans Weekers (Financiën) heeft contact opgenomen met de Amerikaanse belastingdienst. Hij wil inzage in een databestand over mensen en bedrijven die hun geld hebben gestald in belastingparadijzen om de fiscus te ontwijken. Dat meldt zijn woordvoerder zaterdag.

De belastingautoriteiten in de VS, Groot-Brittannië en Australië hebben deze week gemeld dat zij de database hebben en dat ze 400 gigabyte aan gegevens analyseren over 'complexe offshore-structuren'. Weekers wil graag horen wat de aard van die gegevens is.

Dagblad Trouw en andere internationale media hebben onlangs gepubliceerd uit deze database over belastingparadijzen. Daarin blijken namen te staan van politici, wapenhandelaren en zakenmensen. Trouw weigerde Weekers inzage te geven.

Nederlanders die op de lijst voorkomen, kunnen rekenen op actie van de staatssecretaris.

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G7 agrees action needed against tax evasion, says George Osborne

Chancellor states importance of nations' collective action over tax avoidance and evasion on final day of financial summit

The G7 group of industrialised nations has agreed collective action needs to be taken to target tax avoidance and evasion, the chancellor George Osborne has said.

Speaking at the end of the two-day summit of finance ministers and central bank chiefs in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, Osborne said it was "incredibly important that companies and individuals pay the tax that is due".

Osborne said there was also strong agreement among the seven member nations – the United States, Germany, Japan, the UK, Italy, France and Canada – on tackling tax cheats.

"We all agreed on the importance of collective action to tackle tax avoidance and evasion," he said.

"It is incredibly important that companies and individuals pay the tax that is due and this is important not just for Britain and for British taxpayers but also for many developing nations as well."

Osborne said British overseas territories "need to do more" to end tax evasion.

Asked about the future of tax havens such as Jersey or the Cayman Islands, he said he had already been very tough in his message to them but wanted to see more action.

"Of course you have to respect that many of these territories have important industries and we don't want to unnecessarily damage them.

"But it is necessary to collect tax that is owed and it is necessary to reduce tax avoidance and the crown dependencies and the overseas territories need to play their part in that drive and they need to do more."

The chancellor said there was also consensus to ensure banks are no longer "too big to fail".

He added there is an "improved outlook" for the world economy, with more agreement among the rich member nations on how to nurture the recovery than was often suggested, but admitted the situation remains fragile.

"We are of course meeting at a time when financial market sentiment has improved and there are signs that this is feeding through to an improved outlook in some of our economies," Osborne said.

"However we all agreed that growth prospects remain uneven and we can't take the recovery for granted."

While there were "still many challenges", he said, "this meeting confirmed that there are more areas of agreement between us on fiscal policy than is commonly assumed."

Among those attending the talks was Canada's central banker Mark Carney who takes over from Sir Mervyn King as Bank of England Governor in July.

King said the meeting had been the most productive of the 25 he had attended during his term at the helm.

Joking about his impending departure, King said: "In a week in which retirement came to Sir Alex Ferguson, it is pretty clear it has to come to everyone. I am looking forward to a new life."

Also at the talks was IMF managing director Christine Lagarde as the body undertakes its annual health check of the UK.

The IMF, which will deliver its verdict later this month, has already suggested Osborne must be more flexible with his deficit-reduction plans.

Shadow treasury minister Catherine McKinnell said: "It's disappointing that this G7 meeting has failed to set out any concrete steps to promote economic growth or tackle tax avoidance."

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Op maandag 29 april 2013 10:58 schreef Pietverdriet het volgende:
Te zeggen dat slechts 573 miljard in de reële economie kwam..
573 Miljard binnengehaald aan investeringen zeg ik dan.

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Op dinsdag 23 april 2013 20:01 schreef arjan1212 het volgende:

[..]

kleine bedrijven krijgen geen subsidies en betalen wel 35% , daarom schaf de subsidies af en verlaag de belasting naar 22% eerlijker voor de kleinere bedrijven

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Fiscus breekt afspraak met Portugese energiereus open

De belasting die het Portugese energiebedrijf EDP in Nederland moet betalen, is verzesvoudigd na felle kritiek van de Europese Commissie. De overeenkomst hierover tussen EDP en de Nederlandse Belastingdienst is opengebroken na bemoeienis van de belastingactivisten van Tax Justice.

EDP schuift jaarlijks miljarden euro's aan leningen heen en weer naar een Nederlandse brievenbusfirma, om zodoende elders in de wereld zo min mogelijk belasting te betalen. Over deze constructie had het Portugese bedrijf vooraf afspraken gemaakt met de Nederlandse fiscus, maar die zijn onder druk bijgesteld.

Ommezwaai
De ommezwaai van de Belastingdienst blijkt uit het jaarverslag over 2012 van EDP Finance, de brievenbusfirma van het Portugese bedrijf in Amsterdam Zuidoost. 'De Nederlandse belastingdienst en EDP Finance hebben afgesproken de Advanced Pricing Agreement voor de vaststelling van de belastbare winst van de jaren na 2010 los te laten', aldus het recent gedeponeerde jaarverslag.

Het is zeer uitzonderlijk dat een belastingafspraak tussen een bedrijf en de fiscus na kritiek van buitenaf wordt herzien. Deze zogenoemde rulings - harde afspraken vooraf tussen de Nederlandse Belastingdienst en multinationals - vormen een van de pijlers van het succes van Nederland in het aantrekken van buitenlandse bedrijven en brievenbusvennootschappen. Deze week bespreken de Europese ministers van Financiën een voorstel van eurocommissaris ?emeta om dit soort regelingen te verbieden.

Omstreden
De belangenorganisatie Tax Justice stelde in juli 2012 bij de Europese Commissie vragen over de omstreden belastingafspraak van EDP met de Nederlandse fiscus. Door deze ruling wist het Portugese bedrijf zijn wereldwijde belastingdruk aanvankelijk sterk te reduceren. Dat voordeel wordt nu deels tenietgedaan door verplichte extra betalingen aan de Nederlandse fiscus.

In eerste instantie droeg EDP in 2012 over de winst van 43 miljoen euro van de Nederlandse brievenbus-bv slechts 2,2 miljoen euro af. De winstbelasting is door de ingreep verhoogd naar 13,5 miljoen euro.

Overdreven
'De herziening laat zien dat buitenlandse bedrijven soms overdreven lucratieve afspraken maken met de Belastingdienst', zegt onderzoeker Rodrigo Fernandez van SOMO. Dit onderzoeksinstituut bracht samen met Tax Justice de belastingroute van het Portugese bedrijf gedetailleerd in kaart.

'Het geval EDP laat zien hoe vooral overheden buiten Europa belastinginkomsten mislopen', zegt Fernandez. 'Nederland wordt daarbij op grote schaal gebruikt om met interne leningen van bedrijven te schuiven.'

Onderhandelen
De Belastingdienst zegt nooit afspraken te maken over het tarief van de winstbelasting van 25 procent. Over de hoogte van de winst die bedrijven in Nederland behalen, valt echter wel te onderhandelen. Daardoor kan de effectieve belastingdruk veel lager uitvallen dan het officiële tarief, constateert Fernandez. De brievenbusfirma van EDP betaalde volgens hem in Nederland gemiddeld slechts 3,7 procent belasting over de winst in de periode 2008 tot 2012.

Volgens EDP betaalde het bedrijf in Nederland veel minder dan het offici-ele tarief van 25 procent belasting, omdat bij de vaststelling van de winst 'bepaalde veronderstellingen en vereisten' werden vastgelegd.

Gebonden
De Belastingdienst wil niet reageren op vragen over individuele bedrijven. De dienst zegt wel dat rulings alleen worden gewijzigd als een bedrijf zich niet aan de afspraken houdt. 'Een afgesloten ruling blijft gedurende de looptijd gelden. Beide partijen zijn hieraan gebonden. Als blijkt dat de gepresenteerde feiten naderhand anders zijn, of niet aan de voorwaarden wordt voldaan, vervalt de zekerheid vooraf automatisch. Aan de hand van het nieuwe feitencomplex zal dan beoordeeld worden wat de fiscale gevolgen zijn', aldus een woordvoerder.

De Nederlandse Belastingdienst ligt internationaal onder het vergrootglas na oproer in het Verenigd Koninkrijk over speciale belastingafspraken tussen koffieketen Starbucks en de Nederlandse overheid.

Afspraken
In 2011, het laatste jaar waarover cijfers beschikbaar zijn, sloot de fiscus 656 rulings af met buitenlandse bedrijven; 38 verzoeken werden dat jaar afgewezen. Voordeel van een ruling is dat een bedrijf voorafgaand naar zijn komst naar Nederland zekerheid krijgt over wat zij aan belasting moeten betalen. De afspraken gaan vooral over de vraag hoe een bedrijf zijn Nederlandse winst moet berekenen.

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Tax: how Amazon passed the Slough test and prospered

HMRC believes Amazon has no fixed place of business in the UK. Perhaps it needs to look again at what goes on in Berkshire

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The way companies are taxed has changed with the way corporations have developed in the last 100 years, expanding beyond national borders. The emergence of substantial international trade in the 1920s prompted countries to agree tax treaties in an attempt to ensure profits were appropriately taxed where they were generated.

Despite these efforts, tax engineers have caused problems for exchequers around the world for decades as they have built clever corporate structures to mimimise tax bills for their multinational corporate clients. The advent of the internet has opened up a new front in this battle for tax fairness.

A new generation of cyber-corporations have been able to tell the taxman they do not carry out taxable activities in territories from which they generate billions of pounds in sales.

The British tax authorities appear to agree that Amazon can avoid paying corporation tax on the profits it made on the £12bn of sales the internet giant has generated in the UK over the last four years.

Whether Amazon EU Sarl, its Luxembourg operation, amounts to a "permanent establishment" in the UK that can be taxed by HMRC is down to a combination of laws and accounting protocols set out in double taxation treaties, the HRMC rule book and OECD guidelines.

The Guardian has discovered that Revenue & Customs has four tests it applies to an overseas company to establish whether that company is liable to corporation tax on its activities.

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Op maandag 13 mei 2013 09:49 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:
Scratch one, down in flames:

[..]

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You think the government is fighting tax avoidance? Think again

By far the costliest tax avoidance takes the form of the corporate structuring that has repeatedly hit the front pages in the last couple of years, whether through Starbucks' payment of royalties to Amsterdam, Amazon's Luxembourg sales hub or Vodafone's multibillion-pound internal financing arrangements through the same grand duchy. And, as the Lords economic affairs committee pointed out last week: "There is a misconception that Gaar [general anti-abuse rules] will mean the likes of Starbucks and Amazon will be slapped with massive tax bills. This is wrong, and the government need to explain that to the public."

Outside the official definition of tax avoidance, the offshore schemes of Britain's biggest multinationals have not just escaped any clampdown, they have been rewarded with a rewriting of corporate tax law that makes them more irresistible than ever. Working closely with the companies most affected, in his last two budgets Osborne has relaxed – almost to the point of obsolescence – the so-called controlled foreign companies laws that were introduced by Nigel Lawson in the early 1980s to prevent companies shifting profits into their tax-haven subsidiaries.

The big four accountancy and tax consulting firms that were hauled before Margaret Hodge's public accounts committee a few weeks ago are probably licking their lips. KPMG touts for business in one of its pamphlets by pointing out: "For every £1m of finance income received in the UK, the finance company regime could save cash tax of £165,000." And even better: "As the new rules have been designed and enacted by the government, this should represent a low-risk tax-saving opportunity." What could be sweeter than state-endorsed tax avoidance?

But Osborne's new rules – as KPMG makes clear – give "UK based multinationals an opportunity to significantly reduce their tax rate". In other words, using "tax arrangements abroad" the largest multinationals won't pay even the new all-time-low headline tax rates.

Through the "general anti-avoidance rule" and a regular stream of smaller specific anti-avoidance announcements, such as this weekend's move against a national insurance dodge, Osborne will sustain the illusion that tax avoidance is being fought on all fronts, confident that his bamboozled audience will never notice the abject surrender on the most important one of all.

bron

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Senators accuse Apple of 'highly questionable' billion-dollar tax avoidance scheme | Technology | The Guardian

Senators claim Apple has avoided paying billions in US tax by creating offshore entities that are not tax resident anywhere

Apple uses a "highly questionable" web of offshore entities to avoid paying billions in US income taxes, a Senate committee alleged on Monday.

The complex arrangement includes three subsidiaries, based ostensibly in Ireland, which appear not to be designated as tax resident anywhere, the committee said. A source on the committee called them "iCompanies – I for imaginary, invisible".

The commitee said that the arrangement, described by one senator as "the epitome" of tax-avoidance schemes, allowed Apple to pay only very small amounts of tax on much of its overseas profits, thanks to the Irish companies that exist "nowhere" for tax purposes.

Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, will answer the accusations at a hearing convened by the bipartisan permanent subcommittee on investigation in Washington on Tuesday. Apple vehemently denied the charges ahead of the meeting.

During its investigations, the subcommittee found that Apple considers three key subsidiaries, all based in Ireland, to have no tax jurisdiction at all. One of those Irish affiliates, Apple Sales International (ASI), reported sales income of $74bn over four years but paid hardly any tax. In 2011 ASI had pre-tax earnings of $22bn but paid just $10m in tax, a rate of 0.05%.

"Apple wasn't satisfied with shifting its profits to a low-tax offshore tax haven," said senator Carl Levin, the subcommittee's Democratic chairman.

"Apple sought the Holy Grail of tax avoidance. It has created offshore entities holding tens of billions of dollars, while claiming to be tax resident nowhere. We intend to highlight that gimmick and other Apple offshore tax avoidance tactics so that American working families who pay their share of taxes understand how offshore tax loopholes raise their tax burden, add to the federal deficit and ought to be closed."

Senator John McCain, the subcommittee's ranking Republican member, said Apple's "creation of companies that don't exist anywhere for tax purposes" was "the epitome of tax creativity".

McCain said his constituents were "mad as hell" to learn that Apple was paying tax rates that were sometimes lower than 1%. "I've never seen anything like this."

Levin said the repuercussons would be significant: "There are going to be some shockwaves, I believe, going through Europe when countries in Europe see Ireland not even implementing their own tax rate but working out a deal with Apple for a 2% rate instead of a 12% tax rate which Ireland is supposed to have."

Apple released Tim Cook's statement to the committee before the meeting. In it, he robustly defended the company, denying charges that the company uses tax gimmicks and pointing out that the company has created 600,000 jobs in the US and paid $6bn in taxes to the US Treasury in 2012. Cook also defends the Irish subsidiaries, which he says now employ more than 4,000 people.

"Apple complies fully with both the laws and spirit of the laws. And Apple pays all its required taxes, both in this country and abroad," the statement read.

"Apple welcomes an objective examination of the US corporate tax system, which has not kept pace with the advent of the digital age and the rapidly changing global economy. The company supports comprehensive tax reform as a necessary step to promote growth and enable American multinational companies to remain competitive with their foreign counterparts in both domestic and international markets," Cook said.

He characterised Apple's relationship with the Irish subsidiaries as "cost-sharing agreements" and said the subsidiaries shared risks as well as rewards. He said the arrangement was regularly audited by the Internal Revenue Service in the US.

The senators dismissed his argument, calling the practice a loophole that needed to be closed. "This is not an agreement between independent parties. These tax agreements they talk about are people all working for Apple sitting down and signing a piece of paper which shifts profits to a tax haven, that's what it is all about," said Levin.

Cook called for an overhaul of US corporate tax laws that should be "revenue neutral" for corporations. But critics charge his solutions are likely to exacerbate the issue.

"This is one of the most profitable companies in the world, and it has been acting like a back-alley thief trying to pick the pocket of American taxpayers," said Frank Clemente, campaign manager of pressure group Americans for Tax Fairness. He said a free repatriation would be "another mugging of the American people".

The committee will report more details of its findings at Tuesday's hearing. The news comes as Apple, Google, Starbucks and others face mounting criticism of their tax avoidance schemes in the UK.

Last week Margaret Hodge, the chair of the public accounts committee in the UK parliament, rounded the head of Google in northern Europe, Mark Brittin, during a hearing on the search firm's tax arranegments. "You are a company that says you 'do no evil'. And I think that you do do evil." She said the group's approach to tax in the UK was "devious, calculated and, in my view, unethical".

Eric Schmidt, the Google chairman, told the Observer at the weekend:"Given the intensity of the debate, not just in the UK but also in America and elsewhere, international tax law could almost certainly benefit from reform."

Bron: www.guardian.co.uk

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EU-top wil belastingfraude aanpakken

Het streven naar een Europese aanpak van belastingontduiking staat centraal op de eendaagse top van regeringsleiders en staatshoofden van de 27 EU-landen woensdag. Deze keer geen nachtelijke vergadering voor onder anderen premier Mark Rutte. Om 17 uur moet het overleg onder leiding van EU-president Herman Van Rompuy weer afgelopen zijn, zo is op te maken uit diens uitnodigingsbrief.

Europarlementariërs vrezen een tandeloze en besluitloze top. Zij riepen de EU-landen dinsdag in een debat dan ook op om echt wat te gaan doen aan belastingontduiking en belastingfraude. Zij willen dat de landen het verlies aan belastinginkomsten tegen 2020 gehalveerd hebben.

Jaarlijks lopen de EU-landen naar schatting 1000 miljard euro mis door belastingontduiking en fraude met belastingen. 'Hoe kunnen we aan eerlijke huishoudens en ondernemingen, die het gevoel hebben dat ze door bezuinigingsmaatregelen worden uitgeknepen maar wel eerlijk belasting betalen, uitleggen dat er anderen zijn die bewust belasting ontduiken?', aldus de voorzitter van de Europese Commissie José Manuel Barroso. HIj roept de lidstaten dan ook op om concrete maatregelen te nemen.

Van Rompuy heeft als voorzitter van de vergadering het onderwerp op de agenda gezet. Recentelijk doken nieuwe rapporten op over belastingparadijzen waar rijke Europeanen hun geld stallen om zo belasting te ontlopen.

Dwarsliggers
De lidstaten zullen zich waarschijnlijk uitspreken voor de automatische uitwisseling van gegevens van spaarders die in andere landen rekeningen hebben. De leiders zullen dwarsliggers als Oostenrijk oproepen om de EU-regels over te nemen.

Door geld in andere landen te stallen, proberen EU-burgers te voorkomen dat ze in hun eigen land belasting moeten betalen. Vijf landen willen de automatische uitwisseling bovendien uitbreiden tot winsten via dividenden of royalty's. Ook Nederland is hier voorstander van.
Bron: Volkskrant

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Apple betaalt in Nederland slechts 0,2 procent belasting

Overal ter wereld worden vraagtekens gezet bij de manier waarop Apple met belastingen omspringt. In Amsterdam zit een belangrijk radertje van de financiële constructies.

Apple, dat in de VS onder vuur ligt vanwege grootschalige belastingontwijking, betaalt ook in Nederland nauwelijks belasting. De Nederlandse dochters van het zeer winstgevende bedrijf droegen in 2012 bij een omzet van naar schatting 2 miljard euro in de Benelux slechts 5 miljoen euro (0,2 procent) vennootschapsbelasting af aan de Nederlandse fiscus.

Dat valt op te maken uit de jaarcijfers van Apple Benelux BV, dat de verkoop en marketing van Apple in België, Nederland en Luxemburg verzorgt. Apple Benelux is gevestigd boven de Apple Store aan het Leidseplein in Amsterdam.

Personeelsadvertentie
De omzet van Apple Benelux bedroeg op papier 42 miljoen euro, maar ligt in werkelijkheid veel hoger. Apple doet geen mededelingen over winsten en omzetten per land, maar uit een recente personeelsadvertentie waarin Apple een financiële controller voor België, Nederland en Luxemburg zoekt valt op te maken dat de Apple-omzet in de Benelux meer dan 2,5 miljard dollar (1,95 miljard euro) bedraagt.

Niet bekend is hoeveel Apple in werkelijkheid overhoudt aan zijn activiteiten in de Benelux. Met de winst die het bedrijf maakt op de verkoop van computers, telefoon en tablets wordt wereldwijd geschoven. De winsten in Nederland verdwijnen richting Ierland, blijkt uit KvK-gegevens. Apple Benelux BV is een dochterbedrijf van Apple Sales Ireland in het Ierse Cork, dat een belangrijke rol speelt in de wereldwijde belastingontwijking door het computerbedrijf.

Opvallend genoeg wordt de succesvolle Apple Store aan het Leidseplein niet aangestuurd door Apple Benelux, ook al is dat bedrijf daar vlak boven gevestigd. De winkel valt volgens de jaarstukken onder Apple Retail Netherlands BV in Amsterdam Zuidoost. Deze vennootschap - waarvan niet duidelijk is hoeveel belasting die afdraagt - wordt beheerd door een trustkantoor en is een dochter van het Ierse bedrijf Apple Retail Europe Holding - een andere belangrijke draaischijf in de wereldwijde fiscale structuur van Apple.

Volledig legaal
De belastingroutes van Apple zijn volledig legaal en afgestemd met de belastingautoriteiten in alle landen waar het bedrijf actief is. Niettemin is er op Apple - net als op andere multinationals - steeds meer kritiek vanwege zijn belastingmoraal.

Topman Tim Cook moest zich dinsdagavond in een hoorzitting voor de Amerikaanse Senaat verantwoorden voor beschuldigingen dat het succesbedrijf via dit ingewikkelde netwerk van bedrijven grootschalig belasting ontwijkt.

Volgens een veertig pagina's tellend onderzoeksrapport van de Senaat zou het gaan om 44 miljard dollar (34,2 miljard euro) in de afgelopen vier jaar, waarover normaal gesproken belasting betaald had moeten worden. De Californische maker van onder meer de iPhone en iPad gebruikt brievenbusmaatschappijen in Ierland, waar het leeuwendeel van de internationale winsten naartoe gaat.

Mazen
Een van die 'postbussen', Apple Sales International, betaalde in 2011 bijvoorbeeld 10 miljoen dollar belasting over 22 miljard dollar winst. Dat komt neer op 0,05 procent. Een andere Ierse dochter, Apple Operations International, heeft over 30 miljard dollar aan winst tussen 2009 en vorig jaar helemaal geen belasting betaald. Door mazen in de wet vallen de Ierse dochters belastingtechnisch niet onder het lokale tarief en ook niet onder het Amerikaanse.

Het onderzoek leverde geen aanwijzingen op dat Apple wetten heeft overtreden. Het bedrijf ontkent dat ook. De 'kostenbesparende overeenkomst' uit 1980 met de Ierse dochters zou juist zorgen voor extra banen in de VS, waarover de Amerikaanse overheid weer belastinginkomsten ontvangt.

Ook Ierland wees elke verantwoordelijkheid dinsdag van de hand. Volgens vicepremier Eamon Gilmore is het Ierse belastingsysteem in deze zaak niet de kwestie.

Het horen van de hoogste Apple-baas is opnieuw een teken dat het parkeren van miljarden in belastingparadijzen door multinationals internationaal steeds minder geaccepteerd wordt. Onder meer Facebook, Starbucks en Google - dat in Groot-Brittannië wordt aangepakt - liggen ook onder vuur.

Belangrijke spil
Nederland is daarin een belangrijke spil. Uit onderzoek van de Volkskrant bleek onlangs dat de grootste multinationals ter wereld - waaronder Microsoft, Gazprom en Wal-Mart - hier sinds 2005 honderden nieuwe fiscale constructies hebben opgezet. In 2011 sluisden deze multinationals zeker 57 miljard euro van en naar Nederland, zonder veel belasting te betalen. Staatssecretaris Weekers wacht op de resultaten van een onderzoek.

Apple kreeg onlangs ook al kritiek omdat het bij beleggers 17 miljard dollar leende om dividend uit te keren aan de aandeelhouders, terwijl het buiten de VS meer dan 100 miljard dollar in kas heeft. Volgens Apple kan dat niet anders, omdat het 35 procent belasting moet betalen als die miljarden terugkeren naar de VS.

Diverse Amerikaanse bedrijven pleiten daarom voor een tax holiday. Zo'n tijdelijk lager tarief (5,25 procent) kwam er in 2004 onder president Bush. Volgens onderzoek leidde dat er inderdaad toe dat honderden miljarden terugvloeiden. Dat leverde evenwel geen nieuwe investeringen en banen op. Wel stegen de beurskoersen van de betreffende bedrijven sterk, en daarmee de inkomens van de bestuurders.
Bron: Volkskrant

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Op woensdag 22 mei 2013 11:17 schreef Svarabhaktivocaal het volgende:

[..]

En dat geloof je echt zelf? Er zijn genoeg mensen voor wie elke euro belasting er één te veel is. Dat zijn de mensen die rijk genoeg zijn om hun eigen boontjes te doppen en die verder geen boodschap hebben aan anderen. Niet voor niets weten rijken miljarden euro's naar belastingparadijzen weg te sluizen.

En als er geen belastingen worden geïnd, is er ook geen sociaal vangnet, zijn er geen pensioenen en gaan mensen dood aan ziektes omdat ze de kosten van hun behandeling niet kunnen betalen. Je opvattingen zijn bizar kortzichtig.