Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tax avoidance is legal, tax evasion is illegal. There’s a big difference. If the IRS wins their suit then it will be shown to be no different than tax evasion in this case though :-)
Tax avoidance is your civil duty, tax evasion is illegal
Facebook tax court trial begins over Ireland offshore deal
151–160 of 333 posts
Re: Facebook tax court trial begins over Ireland offshore deal
#152Surely this is more about political coercion than tax? Amongst all US companies that offshore profits, including the likes of Halliburton, Facebook has been singled out because the US administration wants the company to do it's bidding regarding policy and algorithms for political advertising? Especially considering all the other political reprisals and pardons that are in the news, following the impeachment acquitta…
> Surely this is more about political coercion than tax? What's the difference? It good anyway for the US because it would set an important precedent for future litigation on the matter of profit offshoring.
I think the problem is the precedent would effectively be "Do what the president says or we'll single you out for punishment".
Re: Facebook tax court trial begins over Ireland offshore deal
#153Surely this is more about political coercion than tax? Amongst all US companies that offshore profits, including the likes of Halliburton, Facebook has been singled out because the US administration wants the company to do it's bidding regarding policy and algorithms for political advertising? Especially considering all the other political reprisals and pardons that are in the news, following the impeachment acquitta…
With companies that huge, everything is political. It comes with the size.
Re: Facebook tax court trial begins over Ireland offshore deal
#154Surely this is more about political coercion than tax? Amongst all US companies that offshore profits, including the likes of Halliburton, Facebook has been singled out because the US administration wants the company to do it's bidding regarding policy and algorithms for political advertising? Especially considering all the other political reprisals and pardons that are in the news, following the impeachment acquitta…
> including the likes of Halliburton
Halliburton uses a different scheme. Its assets are physically offshore, though there are R&D and depreciation shenanigans (buy out of American profits, depreciate against onshore expenses, and tax the production where it happens).
Facebook, on the other hand, claims most of its assets, which are principally intangible, live in Ireland. Its American sub is charged massive licensing fees by the Irish sub, thereby shifting away profits.
Legally speaking, apples and oranges.
Re: Facebook tax court trial begins over Ireland offshore deal
#155Surely this is more about political coercion than tax? Amongst all US companies that offshore profits, including the likes of Halliburton, Facebook has been singled out because the US administration wants the company to do it's bidding regarding policy and algorithms for political advertising? Especially considering all the other political reprisals and pardons that are in the news, following the impeachment acquitta…
> US administration wants the company to do it's bidding regarding policy and algorithms for political advertising? Unfounded conspiracy theory? Just because they haven't gone after other companies, doesn't mean they shouldn't go after Facebook. They might believe the other companies are guilty but don't have enough evidence to win the trial. Facebook is clearly a US company. Founded and HQ'd in the US, so they shoul…
> Facebook is clearly a US company. Founded and HQ'd in the US, so they should be paying US taxes.
If most of the advertisers are outside the US, most of the users are outside the US, and most of the servers are outside the US, I think you will agree that it's not reasonable to say ALL of the profit should be taxed in the US.
Which part of the profit should go where is an endless debate among pundits, politicians and academics.
Re: Facebook tax court trial begins over Ireland offshore deal
#156Surely this is more about political coercion than tax? Amongst all US companies that offshore profits, including the likes of Halliburton, Facebook has been singled out because the US administration wants the company to do it's bidding regarding policy and algorithms for political advertising? Especially considering all the other political reprisals and pardons that are in the news, following the impeachment acquitta…
As is usually the case with this administration, sometimes you can agree on things they do but it is never for the right reasons.
Re: Facebook tax court trial begins over Ireland offshore deal
#157Surely this is more about political coercion than tax? Amongst all US companies that offshore profits, including the likes of Halliburton, Facebook has been singled out because the US administration wants the company to do it's bidding regarding policy and algorithms for political advertising? Especially considering all the other political reprisals and pardons that are in the news, following the impeachment acquitta…
A lot of unfounded speculation in your comment. It seems more politically-motivated than rooted in facts.
Secondly, have you done your research? Surely Facebook is not the only company being targeted by the government right now. I can assure you that, surely there are more.
Thirdly, as much as I might dislike an administration, I won't take the giant, speculative leap as to assume that I know exactly what they're thinking.
Fourthly, if this "quietly disappears", why would you automatically assume the administration's involvement? Again, there are presidents I strongly dislike, but part of remaining objective requires grounding your position in fact. Facebook has world class lawyers. Having worked in the legal field for numerous years, I am more than positive that Facebook has made many things "quietly disappear" on their own.
Re: Facebook tax court trial begins over Ireland offshore deal
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
> US administration wants the company to do it's bidding regarding policy and algorithms for political advertising? Unfounded conspiracy theory? Just because they haven't gone after other companies, doesn't mean they shouldn't go after Facebook. They might believe the other companies are guilty but don't have enough evidence to win the trial. Facebook is clearly a US company. Founded and HQ'd in the US, so they shoul…
> Facebook is clearly a US company. Founded and HQ'd in the US, so they should be paying US taxes. If most of the advertisers are outside the US, most of the users are outside the US, and most of the servers are outside the US, I think you will agree that it's not reasonable to say ALL of the profit should be taxed in the US. Which part of the profit should go where is an endless debate among pundits, politicians and…
Except Facebook makes most of its money from US users not from international users.
Also hard to argue that their campus that houses the majority of their employees in the US isn’t the one generating the IP.
Re: Facebook tax court trial begins over Ireland offshore deal
#159People looking at their personal income tax return: Woah, this is more complicated than I expected - should probably pay a professional accountant to sort this out for me People reading news articles like this: Look at these stupid professionals arguing about how international tax law in the $XB range when one side is so obviously wrong, and the correct outcome is really straight forward.
It's almost like the expectation that companies pay proper taxes to the countries they exist in IS pretty straight forward.
Re: Facebook tax court trial begins over Ireland offshore deal
#160Surely this is more about political coercion than tax? Amongst all US companies that offshore profits, including the likes of Halliburton, Facebook has been singled out because the US administration wants the company to do it's bidding regarding policy and algorithms for political advertising? Especially considering all the other political reprisals and pardons that are in the news, following the impeachment acquitta…
> US administration wants the company to do it's bidding regarding policy and algorithms for political advertising? Unfounded conspiracy theory? Just because they haven't gone after other companies, doesn't mean they shouldn't go after Facebook. They might believe the other companies are guilty but don't have enough evidence to win the trial. Facebook is clearly a US company. Founded and HQ'd in the US, so they shoul…
The more I learn about what goes on in the world the more I ask myself "who does this benefit?" and many conspiracy theories seem to make a lot more sense. Governments and other large organizations have such a long and common history of doing shady things that it's really hard to give them the benefit of the doubt.