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Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

theguardian.com

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Re: Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

#71

Post by crocal »

DrBazza wrote: post #24
CryptoPunk wrote: post #19

1. It's infeasible that Microsoft had profits of 200 billion euros. 2. A comment on the Guardian's journalists' potential financial conflicts of interest: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27352245

And for non-UK HN readers, the Guardian is a rather left-of-political-centre newspaper. Or generally, each UK newspaper has a particular take on UK politics, and generally employs journalists or freelancers that have the same or more extreme views.

I find ironic to portray as extremists journalists who report on a company that pays zero (0) taxes on revenues expressed in billions. I would rather apply the adjective to the reported company for some reason, but maybe we have different measuring scales.

Re: Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

#72

Post by callamdelaney »

tailspin2019 wrote: post #49
oarsinsync wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're in the UK and still using dividends as a significant method to self-compensate, you may benefit from speaking to a (better) accountant. (Your circumstances may vary, this is not financial advice, YOLO, etc)

> If you're in the UK and still using dividends as a significant method to self-compensate, you may benefit from speaking to a (better) accountant. I'm curious what you're eluding to here? Using dividends as a significant method to self-compensate (for single-person companies) seems to be a pretty common practice recommended by every UK accountant I've spoken to / used. EDIT: Updated for clarification

There's roughly £12,000 tax free allowance on salaries and only £2500 on dividends. The common recommendation is to maximize your tax free allowance (pay yourself 12k PAYE) and then pay out anything else as dividends (though dividends legally require you operate at a profit).

Re: Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

#74

Post by FranzFerdiNaN »

kowlo wrote: post #5

Meanwhile my (single-person) company is paying around 20% corporation tax, and then I'm getting taxed a further 20-40% on top of that when I pay myself.

This is working as intended. The entire tax system is rigged to benefit multinationals, with employees and small businesses forced to pay the tab.

Re: Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

#75

Post by rorykoehler »

jbverschoor wrote: post #64
rorykoehler wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely the amount you pay yourself is deducted from the amount you pay 20% corporate tax on before you are taxed?

There you pay 40-50% incometax first

No one pays that much in a progressive tax system. Every time this discussion comes up people spout off these numbers but if you calculate out how much you actually pay it's probably in the 20-30% of total salary range. That's still high but it's just dishonest and makes people look like idiots when they throw around 40% etc. If you are truly paying 40% of your income in tax you are earning millions and are benefiting massively from the system already.

Re: Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

#76

Post by tinomaxgalvin »

rorykoehler wrote: post #52
kowlo wrote: post #5

Meanwhile my (single-person) company is paying around 20% corporation tax, and then I'm getting taxed a further 20-40% on top of that when I pay myself.

Surely the amount you pay yourself is deducted from the amount you pay 20% corporate tax on before you are taxed?

Yes. So you either pay income tax OR corporation tax plus dividend tax, but not both.

Re: Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

#77

Post by maccard »

kowlo wrote: post #15
deafcalculus wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't salary a deductible expense?

You're right - but it depends how and when you pay yourself... a balance of salary and dividends, where dividends are not deductible. For me I may have a good year followed by a weak year, so I use last year's profit to keep me going!

If you're paying dividends, you're not paying 40% income tax on that.

Microsoft employees are also paying 20-40% income tax remember.

Re: Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

#78

Post by lukasm »

fallingknife wrote: post #12

Why can't governments learn that taxing corporations is pointless? The same revenue is can be raised more simply through sales tax and personal income tax on salaries and distributions.

> taxing corporations is pointless

the argument for taxing profits:

- incentivise investments

- companies are less likely to hide expenses like salaries

- It's more fair for high cost business (car company vs google)

Personally, I'd tax all corporation 3% of their revenue. You could lover it by to 2% by what is your operating profit ratio to revenue. You can lower it to 1% by a list of 20-30 deductibles e.g. you install solar panels. BUT the minimum you have to pay is 1%.

If your company cannot pay 1% of the revenue you don't have a viable business. Average corporation spends more on accounting and consulting.

Re: Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

#79

Post by callamdelaney »

waterglassFull wrote: post #39
malux85 wrote: post #2

I have to pay 40% of my income as income tax. I have HAD ENOUGH. This is infuriating. What can we do?

If you are fortunate enough to be in a position where you're earning enough to pay 40% tax then great for you! Paying tax is good for society, what's not great is companies avoiding it. The latter doesn't negate the former.

Oh, it's great that it's great society. Sucks pretty hard for him though.

Re: Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

#80

Post by tailspin2019 »

callamdelaney wrote: post #72
tailspin2019 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you're in the UK and still using dividends as a significant method to self-compensate, you may benefit from speaking to a (better) accountant. I'm curious what you're eluding to here? Using dividends as a significant method to self-compensate (for single-person companies) seems to be a pretty common practice recommended by every UK accountant I've spoken to / used. EDIT: Updated for clarification

There's roughly £12,000 tax free allowance on salaries and only £2500 on dividends. The common recommendation is to maximize your tax free allowance (pay yourself 12k PAYE) and then pay out anything else as dividends (though dividends legally require you operate at a profit).

Yep, totally understand that.

That's the standard common advice that I'm referring to and that the post I replied to seemed to suggest is not what a (better) accountant would recommend.

Unless I'm interpreting that post incorrectly.

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