GoogleTaxesAndLaw

Google breaking the law
"What Google has done is illegal under EU antitrust rules," declared Margrethe Vestager, the European Union's Competition Commissioner.

"It has denied other companies the chance to compete on their merits and to innovate, and most importantly it has denied European consumers the benefits of competition, genuine choice and innovation."

Google hit with record EU fine for anti-competitive Practices

Ongoing Antitrust EU investigations
Antitrust: Commission sends Statement of Objections to Google on comparison shopping service; opens separate formal investigation on Android

Antitrust: Commission takes further steps in investigations alleging Google's comparison shopping and advertising-related practices breach EU rules*


 * "Do something about monopolies. The whole business model of Silicon Valley is monopoly." Thomas Frank

Collecting illegally personal info from kids and should be fined
google services are for audiences of 13 years and older, but when it comes for money the rules suddenly changes

Google shifted $23 billion to tax haven Bermuda in 2017: filing - Reuters - 2019
"Google moved 19.9 billion euros ($22.7 billion) through a Dutch shell company to Bermuda in 2017, as part of an arrangement that allows it to reduce its foreign tax bill, according to documents filed at the Dutch Chamber of Commerce. The amount channeled through Google Netherlands Holdings BV was around 4 billion euros more than in 2016, the documents, filed on Dec. 21, showed. The subsidiary in the Netherlands is used to shift revenue from royalties earned outside the United States to Google Ireland Holdings, an affiliate based in Bermuda, where companies pay no income tax.

The tax strategy, known as the “Double Irish, Dutch Sandwich”, is legal and allows Google to avoid triggering U.S. income taxes or European withholding taxes on the funds, which represent the bulk of its overseas profits. "

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-google-taxes-netherlands/google-shifted-23-billion-to-tax-haven-bermuda-in-2017-filing-idUSKCN1OX1G9

Aggressive_tax_avoidance Criticisms of Google - Wikipedia
"'the chair of the United Kingdom Public Accounts Committee, accused Google of being 'calculated and [...] unethical' over its use of the scheme. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt has claimed that this scheme of Google is 'capitalism', and that he was 'very proud' of it.'"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Google#Aggressive_tax_avoidance

How Google and Apple Make Their Taxes Disappear - Newsweek
http://www.newsweek.com/2014/12/26/how-google-and-apple-make-their-taxes-disappear-291571.html

Google Moved Billions Of Dollars To Bermuda To Avoid Taxes... Again - Forbes - 2016
"On Friday, Reuters reported that in 2014 the tech giant—which now falls under parent company Alphabet—transferred 11.7 billion Euros (approximately $13 billion) to Bermuda in an effort to minimize the taxes it had to pay on its income through a little tax maneuver that has been dubbed a "Double Irish with a Dutch Sandwich."

In the simplest of terms, Google, like many multinational corporations, used differences in the Irish and American tax codes to its advantage. A portion of Google’s profits are paid to an Irish affiliate as royalties on its patents (which are taxed at a lower rate). To further avoid taxes, this money is then routed to the company’s Dutch subsidiary, Google Netherlands Holdings BV. From there, the company tranfers its revenue to another affiliate, Google Ireland Holdings, which is based in the notorious tax haven of Bermuda—but registered in Ireland, Reuters reports. So there you have it—double Irish with a Dutch sandwich."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/abigailtracy/2016/02/19/google-moved-billions-of-dollars-to-bermuda-to-avoid-taxes-again

Google ducks $1.27bn bill for back taxes in France - The Guardian - 2017
A French court handed Google’s parent company, Alphabet, a reprieve from a 1.11bn-euro ($1.27bn) tax bill on Wednesday in a major victory for the tech giant.

The decision comes after six years of fighting with the French tax authority over back taxes it claims are due from the tech firm for the years 2005 to 2010.

The French tax administration argued that Google had to pay taxes in France because the California firm and its subsidiary in Ireland have been selling a service for inserting online ads to clients in France for years through its Google search engine.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/12/google-taxes-france-ruling

Steuerschlupfloch: Google-Mutter Alphabet vermeidet weiter Steuern in Milliardenhöhe - Heise.de - 2018
"Alphabet hat 2016 schon fast 20 Milliarden US-Dollar der Besteuerung entzogen und dank eines komplizierten Verfahrens wohl mindestens 2,4 Milliarden an Steuern eingespart. Das Schlupfloch bleibt noch bis 2020 offen."

https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Steuerschlupfloch-Google-Mutter-Alphabet-vermeidet-weiter-Steuern-in-Milliardenhoehe-3931187.html

Google Forced To Pay 13m of 6.4bn profits BUT Manages To Reduce The Amount
While we can clearly see such a deal is inadequate:

It is hard to believe that £13m tax payment on $6.4bn turnover is an adequate tax bill. It feels more like a PR deal designed to counter the reputational damage created by Google failing to pay a fair share of tax on the profits it makes from its economic activity in the UK.

From https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/23/google-paying-back-tax-only-a-beginning

We can then shortly see that the amount was even not completely true or paid by Google!

"The company’s accounts show that the government was only able to claw back less than £100m in corporation tax from Google for the 2005-2014 period, and not the £130m the chancellor claimed."

From https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/04/google-uk-tax-deal-share-options-scheme.

Google spends millions on academic research to influence opinion, says watchdog
In its Google Academics Inc report, the CfA identified 329 research papers published between 2005 and 2017 on public policy that the company had funded. Such studies have been authored by academics and economists from some of the world’s leading institutions including Oxford, Edinburgh, Stanford, Harvard, MIT and the Berlin School of Economics.

Academics were directly funded by Google in more than half of the cases and in the rest of the cases funded indirectly by groups or institutions supported by Google, the CfA said. Authors, who were paid between $5,000 and $400,000 (£3,900-£310,000) by Google, did not disclose the source of their funding in 66% of all cases, and in 26% of those cases directly funded by Google, according to the report. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/201