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Re:Facebook tax court trial begins over Ireland offshore deal by coral-snake on Wednesday February 19, 2020 @12:33AM (#22363272)
How would you avoid companies-as-expense accounts? If I form "Coral-Snake & Co.", wouldn't I be able to pay 0% taxes by just directing all income/expenses into that shell?

(Granted, I don't understand basically anything about tax law, so maybe this is already a well-defined problem with a well-defined solution.)

Re:Facebook tax court trial begins over Ireland offshore deal by asdfasgasdgasdg on Wednesday February 19, 2020 @12:37AM (#22363298)
By making it illegal. People already do that and when they get caught they sometimes go to jail or otherwise pay severe penalties. Also a company with no profits already pays no taxes so to the extent you wanted to roll the dice this way you could do it just as well under current law.
Re:Facebook tax court trial begins over Ireland offshore deal by seibelj on Wednesday February 19, 2020 @12:36AM (#22363286)
This is already doable with a multitude of ways. If I have profits, and I direct them to a business, then argue plausibly that my life expenses (lunches, travel, cars, computers) are for my business, I can write off all those expenses against my profits. Business owners do this all the time.
Re:Facebook tax court trial begins over Ireland offshore deal by hcknwscommenter on Wednesday February 19, 2020 @12:46AM (#22363333)
Business owners that do that had better be very careful and keep plenty of documentation. There are legal "tests" (read requirements) that must be met for those lunches, travel, cars, computers, etc. to be considered an expense. In many cases, any "non-business" use/benefit/enjoyment renders the entire expense not a business expense. Yes, it is not so rare for small business owners to play loose with the rules. And then they get audited and end up paying a lot in back taxes.
Re:Facebook tax court trial begins over Ireland offshore deal by coral-snake on Wednesday February 19, 2020 @12:39AM (#22363308)
Wouldn't a 0% corporate tax make it even more incentivized than it is today?

As a novice, this feels like an approach that punishes the well-off, who may not expend the resources to structure all assets/liabilities this way, at the expense of the super-well-off who will simply pay multiple other people to re-organize their own financials.

Re:Facebook tax court trial begins over Ireland offshore deal by manigandham on Wednesday February 19, 2020 @12:54AM (#22363371)
You can already show a $0 profit today and pay no income tax, but a business that generates income will always pay sales, payroll and other taxes anyway.
Re:Facebook tax court trial begins over Ireland offshore deal by dnautics on Wednesday February 19, 2020 @03:10AM (#22363859)
No, you'd have to show $0 income (ignoring for a moment the low 0% tax bracket). So, very much negative profit, unless you're not paying rent, fuel for your car, food, not to mention taxes like property taxes, sales taxes, etc.
Re:Facebook tax court trial begins over Ireland offshore deal by manigandham on Wednesday February 19, 2020 @03:15AM (#22363868)
Corporate taxes in the US are based on business profits. $0 profit = $0 net income (gross income minus expenses) => $0 income tax.

There's no such thing as a negative profit. That's called a loss.

Re:Facebook tax court trial begins over Ireland offshore deal by dnautics on Wednesday February 19, 2020 @02:56PM (#22369396)
by my reading the parent was comparing personal income tax policy with corporate income tax policy, and as a person you can take a loss and still be taxed.