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Netflix Europe offices raided in tax fraud probe

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Netflix Europe offices raided in tax fraud probe

#51

Post by thrw42A8N »

scotty79 wrote: post #50
thrw42A8N wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Revenue tax? We had that before the fall of the wall - not again please. The VAT system works well and should be used more.

Purchase tax would work like reverse VAT. Companies could be awarded tax credits for their sales (not 100% though) and pay tax on their purchases. This would be harder to evade and additionally incentivise companies to do more with less which might be good for environmental transition.

Why not 100%? How is that even supposed to work in low-margin markets like construction, where the profit is 100x less than the costs, so even 1% tax would erase it? But any markets really, this makes innovation and business so risky that I'd probably close down my IT company too.

Re: Netflix Europe offices raided in tax fraud probe

#52

Post by lm28469 »

thrw42A8N wrote: post #43
lm28469 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wasn't Uber or some other US company found doing something similar? Airbnb, they had to pay like 70k of tax a few years ago. There are employees who pay as much tax as single filers lol They paid 18% less tax in 2016 than in 2013 while the number of flats available on the site went from 30k to 300k https://www.lesechos.fr/2016/08/airbnb-na-paye-que-69168-eur...

> They paid 18% less tax in 2016 than in 2013 while the number of flats available on the site went from 30k to 300k Completely meaningless without also saying what their costs and investments were.

Well no that's not really what happens, what happens is that legally the french entity is just a service provider for the irish HQ. They pretend it's a simple marketing agency and that the real value is provided by the irish entity

Re: Netflix Europe offices raided in tax fraud probe

#53

Post by scotty79 »

mort96 wrote: post #49
scotty79 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's rich coming from French. Long time ago France Telecom bought Polish top phone network. Immediately rebranded it to Orange (despite the fact that the company had one of the strongest brands on market where it operated). Unsurprisingly the licensing fees for using Orange brand that the Polish company had to pay to France Telecom amounted to large percentage of taxable profits that the Polish company had. Overt t…

Nation state acts in its own interest, news at 11 No but seriously, this doesn't sound surprising? Why should France be against a French company buying up other companies and bringing revenue back to France

Do you want euroscepticism? Because that's how you get euroscepticism.

Re: Netflix Europe offices raided in tax fraud probe

#54

Post by _ink_ »

seiferteric wrote: post #5

I wonder how these "office raids" would work for remote first companies that don't have much of an office presence and with little or no physical documents and everything being stored in the cloud somewhere.

There was an interview with Anne Brorhilker, who used to be state's attorney and was investigating in CumEx cases. She stated that it is a huge pain, because you always need to ask the foreign agencies for assistance, which you sometimes simply won't get.

It was a good listen. At first she needed to go empty handed, but then teamed up with competent tech guys. After that the smug faces stating, that the amount of data would be to much to handle for her little department quickly turned into concerned faces.

Re: Netflix Europe offices raided in tax fraud probe

#55

Post by przemub »

DrillShopper wrote: post #26
marcinzm wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a government says do X and I will cut your takes by Y then is doing X immoral?

It depends on what X is. If X is "install solar panels" or "provide affordable housing" or "reduce greenhouse gas emissions" then X is very likely moral. If X is "lie to us about where your revenue came from" then X is very much immoral.

@bryanrasmussen I wouldn't put it past the Irish one!

Re: Netflix Europe offices raided in tax fraud probe

#57

Post by scotty79 »

thrw42A8N wrote: post #51
scotty79 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Purchase tax would work like reverse VAT. Companies could be awarded tax credits for their sales (not 100% though) and pay tax on their purchases. This would be harder to evade and additionally incentivise companies to do more with less which might be good for environmental transition.

Why not 100%? How is that even supposed to work in low-margin markets like construction, where the profit is 100x less than the costs, so even 1% tax would erase it? But any markets really, this makes innovation and business so risky that I'd probably close down my IT company too.

The strength of markets is that they adjust to environment. Taxation is a part of the environment. Taxation would be just priced in.

Why would it be risky to pay some percentage more on what you spend but not pay income tax at all?

Re: Netflix Europe offices raided in tax fraud probe

#58

Post by _ink_ »

diggan wrote: post #4

The meat: > Last year, French media outlet La Lettre reported that until 2021, Netflix in France minimised its tax payments by declaring its turnover generated in France to the Netherlands. > investigators are trying to determine whether Netflix continued to attempt to minimise its profits after 2021. Wasn't Uber or some other US company found doing something similar? First they were found to be in violation of some…

Is it illegal, tho?

Re: Netflix Europe offices raided in tax fraud probe

#59

Post by thrw42A8N »

scotty79 wrote: post #57
thrw42A8N wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not 100%? How is that even supposed to work in low-margin markets like construction, where the profit is 100x less than the costs, so even 1% tax would erase it? But any markets really, this makes innovation and business so risky that I'd probably close down my IT company too.

The strength of markets is that they adjust to environment. Taxation is a part of the environment. Taxation would be just priced in. Why would it be risky to pay some percentage more on what you spend but not pay income tax at all?

Markets will adjust, sure. It will be priced in, but that's the problem. They will become less efficient, quality will be worse, everything will be slower, more risk averse, and thus more expensive to the customer - that is necessary to survive in this new environment. That also means that people's income gets lower and grows slower.

It'd be risky because I have no idea if I'm actually going to make money or not. European states set very draconian rules like 1% daily interest on unpaid taxes - no way I'm taking this shit on.

Just do the same thing but with VAT...

Re: Netflix Europe offices raided in tax fraud probe

#60

Post by thrw42A8N »

lm28469 wrote: post #52
thrw42A8N wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They paid 18% less tax in 2016 than in 2013 while the number of flats available on the site went from 30k to 300k Completely meaningless without also saying what their costs and investments were.

Well no that's not really what happens, what happens is that legally the french entity is just a service provider for the irish HQ. They pretend it's a simple marketing agency and that the real value is provided by the irish entity

Doesn't matter - you can't make any judgement without knowing these numbers. They may have actually paid a higher tax rate than previously - we don't know.
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