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Microsoft SEC 8-K: IRS is seeking an additional tax payment of $29B

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301–310 of 334 posts

Re: Microsoft SEC 8-K: IRS is seeking an additional tax payment of $29B

#301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every law is judged with the intent behind the action... except for taxes which is the single exception I know of. And here the intent is pretty clear.

I hope (and think) that laws are judged primarily by their text and entirely so when it can be determined that the facts match the text even if many of us wish the text was different in light of these specific facts. Criminal trials carefully lay out how the state believes the actions of the accused meet each required element of the crime. They don’t get to say “Foo definitely killed Bar. The law intends for people t…

> I hope (and think) that laws are judged primarily by their text and entirely so when it can be determined that the facts match the text even if many of us wish the text was different in light of these specific facts.

What do you think a legal test is?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_(law)

The canonical example of this is a restauraunt banning all head coverings. Despite the fact that technically everyone must adhere to it, since it disproportionally affects those who wear hijabs, it's considered a violation of civil rights.

These tests are created to help lower courts navigate grey areas, negligence is an area where this is applied a lot.

Re: Microsoft SEC 8-K: IRS is seeking an additional tax payment of $29B

#302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Big investors will have eyes and ears inside the IRS, so will have known for years about this already. Sorry, just so I'm clear, you are claiming that major hedge funds have "moles" in the IRS that illegally funnel them the private tax information of major public companies? What possible source do you have for this?

I don't think it needs to be "moles" There are tons of "Expert networks" companies where they tap key personnel for market info. I have received these sort of inquiries many times in the past. Hedge Funds are major users of these. I can easily see the line of inquiry not breaking the law but getting close enough to extrapolate information on the companies being targeted (IRS personnel, for example), without outright…

Not sure your explanation makes sense to me.

I'm also a part of a few expert netowrks and I probably get to take phone calls a dozen times a year to help people who need information on my area of expertice.

What specific person would someone contact to findout that Microsoft has unannounced tax liabilities that wouldn't' in anyway break insider trading rules?

Who possibly could attest to this type of information and would freely offer it up? No serious expert network member would ever do this as it would be the end of their career and expose them to serious jail time.

Perhpas you could fleshout your explanation some more here.

Re: Microsoft SEC 8-K: IRS is seeking an additional tax payment of $29B

#303

It feels like if we just made these big companies pay what they should in taxes we'd be able to take some big steps towards health care, better schools, improving our crumbling infrastructure...

I disagree. Corporate taxes are a drag on the economy, and maximizing economic performance is probably the single most effective thing we can do to improve quality of life for everyone long term. As an example, here's self-reported life satisfaction vs GDP per capita: https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_pr... . Similar graphs exist for life expectancy, years of education, calorie consumption, li…

Will the wealth then “trickle down” to benefit everyone? Yeah… I think I’ve heard this argument before.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/12/23/tax-cuts-...

Re: Microsoft SEC 8-K: IRS is seeking an additional tax payment of $29B

#304
post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every law is judged with the intent behind the action... except for taxes which is the single exception I know of. And here the intent is pretty clear.

Actually there seems to be a lot of intent in tax law, reading the wikipedia page about the Apple/Ireland controversy - some tax mechanisms/structures are specifically called out as not being available for firms looking to reduce their tax bill, use must be for genuine business requirements only.

despite what a lot of people think, you can ask for forgiveness from the IRS and will typically get it if you're a first time offender and it's clear your intent wasn't malicious.

Sometimes people screw up on their taxes, etc.

Re: Microsoft SEC 8-K: IRS is seeking an additional tax payment of $29B

#305
post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Dutch Sandwich sounds like two dry pieces of bread with a thin slice of cheese. I'd discourage MS from getting one.

After having just spent a month in Utrecht you are 100% right. Your comment made me smile.

Thanks :) Utrecht is a beautiful city. Funnily I have an Albert Heijn sandwich planned for dinner tonight.

Re: Microsoft SEC 8-K: IRS is seeking an additional tax payment of $29B

#306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Dutch Sandwich sounds like two dry pieces of bread with a thin slice of cheese. I'd discourage MS from getting one.

Dutch cheeses are not many, but they are tasty even in dry bread. Best paired with a generous cup of évasion fiscale.

The real crime is not adding enough roomkaas (creamcheese). Seriously, if you've never tried it you're missing out.

Re: Microsoft SEC 8-K: IRS is seeking an additional tax payment of $29B

#307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are correct, this is America where we do A LOT of things that are bad for us because they are profitable. I'm writing a long form article about this idea, how in America we do stuff like private prisons, allow pollution, the "family" court system and social media for kids even though some countries can easily fix these problems we refuse to address them because just TOO much money is being made (at least that's h…

I’d definitely love to read it when it comes out.

I'll be sure to post to HN :)

Re: Microsoft SEC 8-K: IRS is seeking an additional tax payment of $29B

#308
I'm in California. For the first time in 25 years, my taxes were recalculated.

I'm told I owe low five figures from three of the last ten years.

California has no limit on how far they can go back.

I file taxes with common software. No crazy deductions and mostly W2.

I made someone mad or "they" are feeling the capital flight and looking to fill the treasury.

Re: Microsoft SEC 8-K: IRS is seeking an additional tax payment of $29B

#309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It seems like Microsoft believes they can settle for something much lower. The stock price doesn’t seem to be hurting pre-market at all Given the Stock Markets inability to predict the Twitter buyout despite public documents stating Elon Musk's contract to buy at $54.20/share throughout 2022, I'm pretty sure that stock market investors are literally illiterate, unable to read public documents. Anyone who bought Twi…

There are a million reasons that those trades were not free money. e.g. it's quite expensive to short stocks like AMC. Not knowing that makes me think you weren't actually in that trade. Start putting your money in the market and you won't be talking about easy money for "anyone who can read" for very long.

I just had another poster on HN say something similar to me - but about property investing.

Their point was something along the lines of "it doesn't take a genius to buy low and sell high".

My counter point, to which I don't believe I ever got a response, was "oh? try it then"

Markets are easy to read in hindsight. Most folks are predicting a housing market correction over the next 12 months. But, they've been doing that for the past 12 months too, and it hasn't really happened yet (very mild).

So, when to buy? The answer is that it's quite complicated, and the work is in the individual deal - it requires a lot of research, understanding neighborhoods, WFH trends, how to spot "lipstick on a pig" house flips, regulatory issues, flood zones, insurance rates, mortgage rates, warrantable vs non-warrantable loans and what properties qualify, hurricane standards, wiring, electrical service, plumbing, STR income, occupancy rates, management fees, cleaning fees and quality, long term rental income, renter risk profiles and a million other things that go into understanding whether a deal will make money.

No, it doesn't take a genius, but it does take a lot of hard work.

Re: Microsoft SEC 8-K: IRS is seeking an additional tax payment of $29B

#310
post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On paper it makes sense to have a microprocessor guide the pressure used on fruit and vegetable pulp [0]. Between that and the introduction of software to manage the fruit supply chain, the Juicero embodied Marc Andreessen's prophecy [1]. Unfortunately, they got the verb wrong: software is eating _not_ drinking the world. 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juicero 1. https://a16z.com/why-software-is-eating-the-world/

Does it make sense to have an engine squeeze a pre-packaged bag of juice?

Of course not. However, it wasn’t prepackaged juice (liquid), it was pulp, the part of plants from which juice is squeezed.

Have you ever seen one of those machines in restaurants that from a hopper full of oranges, automatically slices, squeezes the juice into a glass and puts the rind etc into a composting bag? They do that to deliver a fresh glass of juice that people believe has a material difference from a can of frozen concentrate. Juicero was that but simplified and expanded to more than just oranges.

Consider the factory process of making different juices. Might use heat, introduce other molecules, etc. By performing part of the task in the factory and the final extraction onprem, there may be some meaningful differences in the consumable.

But sure, let’s all poke fun at something without considering the operational context.

https://www.ticomachine.com/faq/how-is-orange-juice-made.htm...

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