
Postat în original de
avram
Cine dupa cine traduce?
realitatea:
Google a evitat în mod agresiv plata impozitului pe profit în Marea Britanie, iar reputația sa nu va fi refăcută până când compania nu va începe să achite ceea ce datorează, se arată într-un raport al unui comitet al Parlamentului de la Londra, transmite MarketWatch. Raportul de 64 de pagini al comitetului pentru afaceri publice critică și autoritatea fiscală britanică pentru lipsa de reacție față de comportamentul Google și cere instituției să investigheze compania.
Comitetul, din care fac parte parlamentari din principalele partide din Marea Britanie, a arătat că eludarea fiscului de către multinaționale scoate în evidență probleme mai mari și cere guvernului să întărească autoritatea fiscală și să simplifice codul fiscal, astfel încât să fie mai puține lacune care să poată fi exploatate de companii.
Raportul critică și principalele firme de audit, pentru că ajută clienții să se folosească de lacunele legislative și să înființeze structuri artificiale pentru evitarea plății impozitelor.
Un purtător de cuvânt al Google a declarat că grupul respectă legislația fiscală din Marea Britanie. "Este clar din raport că acest comitet parlamentar vrea să vadă companiile internaționale plătind impozite mai mari acolo unde se află clienții lor, dar lucrurile nu funcționează așa în ziua de azi. Salutăm apelul ca actualul sistem fiscal să fie simplificat și mai transparent", a spus purtătorul de cuvânt.Raportul a fost publicat după ce comitetul a organizat o serie de audieri aprinse în ultimele șase luni, analizând dacă marile companii plătesc suficiente taxe.La audieri au participat directori ai Starbucks, Amazon.com și ai marilor firme de audit. Google a fost evaluată în mod special, Matt Brittin, unul dintre directorii importanți ai companiei în Europa, fiind audiat timp de două ore.
wsj:
LONDON— Google Inc. GOOG +0.58% has aggressively avoided paying corporation tax in Britain and its reputation won't be restored until it begins to pay what is due, a UK parliamentary committee said Thursday, in the latest sign that governments around the world are stepping up scrutiny of the tax affairs of multinational firms.
In a strongly worded 64-page report, the public affairs committee also criticized the UK tax authority, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, for failing to challenge Google about its "highly contrived" tax arrangement and called on it to fully investigate the Internet giant.
The committee, made up of lawmakers from the UK's main political parties, said tax avoidance by multinational firms was illustrative of wider problems and urged the government to strengthen HMRC and simplify the tax code so there are fewer loopholes for the firms to exploit. It also criticized the main accountancy firms for helping their clients use the loopholes and establish artificial tax structures.
A Google spokesman said the company complies with all tax rules in the UK
"It's clear from this report that the public accounts committee wants to see international companies paying more tax where their customers are located, but that's not how the rules operate today. We welcome the call to make the current system simpler and more transparent," the spokesman said.
The report comes after the committee held a number of heated public hearings over the last six months examining whether large companies are paying enough tax. Top executives from Starbucks Corp. SBUX +2.36% and Amazon.com Inc., AMZN +1.52% as well as representatives from the main accountancy firms, appeared during the hearings.
But Google faced particular scrutiny, with the committee last month grilling Matt Brittin, one of the company's top executives in Europe, for two hours.
The scrutiny centered on whether Google completes sales of its products and services in the UK, therefore making it liable to pay more tax in Britain.
Margaret Hodge, the committee's chairwoman and a lawmaker in the opposition Labour Party, said despite Google generating $18 billion of revenue from the UK between 2006 and 2011, the company paid the equivalent of just $16 million in taxes to the UK government.
Google says all its sales are completed in Ireland, and as a result it pays the bulk of its corporation tax there, where the tax rate is 12.5%, rather than in the UK, where the rate is 23%.
"This argument is deeply unconvincing and has been undermined by information from whistleblowers, including ex-employees of Google, who told us that UK-based staff are engaged in selling," Ms. Hodge said. "The company's highly contrived tax arrangement has no purpose other than to enable the company to avoid UK corporation tax."
Ms. Hodge said the revelations of tax avoidance had damaged Google's reputation—damage she said wouldn't be repaired until the company paid its fair share of tax in the country where it earns its profits.
Last month, Google's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt , wrote in a column in the UK's Observer newspaper that the company tried to "do the right thing" on taxes and supported "meaningful tax reform."
Tackling tax avoidance will be one of the main issues under discussion when world leaders gather in Northern Ireland next week for the meeting of the Group of Eight leading nations.
However, the issue isn't straightforward. As governments publicly state their intention to crack down on tax avoidance and evasion, many are also trying to attract business to their shores by offering low tax rates and deals for companies.
Indeed, the UK government is itself lowering corporation tax rates.
"This government is committed to creating the most competitive corporate tax system in the G-20, but this goes hand in hand with our call for strong international standards to make sure that global companies, like anyone else, pay the taxes they owe," a UK treasury spokeswoman said.
John Dixon, a partner at financial services Ernst & Young, refuted the report's comment that the main accountancy firms are promoting artificial tax schemes.
"We do not offer advice on tax evasion, nondisclosure or artificial schemes and would always refuse to act for companies requesting advice in this area. What we do is offer legitimate tax planning to clients, which is disclosed to HMRC and other regulatory authorities," he said.
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Cred ca realitatea traduce prost si "putin"
, sau asta inseamna o stire in romania?
Ultima modificare făcută de Tom; 13th June 2013 la 23:27.
Nu trimite PM cu intrebari, posteaza pe forum! Nu ofer sfaturi, audit sau raspunsuri pe PM.