Re:5 Completely Insane Facts About the Apple Approach to Taxes
by bornhuetter on Wednesday May 22, 2013 @10:53AM
(#5751254)
> As long as nothing illegal is happening
The problem is that it is not always clear cut what is legal and what is illegal when it comes to taxation on an international scale.
Tax laws are often written in language that lays out principles - such as profit should be booked in the country that the sale takes place in - but it is very easy to manipulate "profits" to make them appear in other countries. If a company goes too far to manipulate profits out of a country with relatively high taxes it can become illegal - but it would take a full investigation to determine this.
More certainly can and should be done to close loopholes and improve coordination between countries, but it is not a simple matter of a country writing "a new law" to fix the problem.
The problem is that it is not always clear cut what is legal and what is illegal when it comes to taxation on an international scale.
Tax laws are often written in language that lays out principles - such as profit should be booked in the country that the sale takes place in - but it is very easy to manipulate "profits" to make them appear in other countries. If a company goes too far to manipulate profits out of a country with relatively high taxes it can become illegal - but it would take a full investigation to determine this.
More certainly can and should be done to close loopholes and improve coordination between countries, but it is not a simple matter of a country writing "a new law" to fix the problem.