<story><title>Google to end &apos;Double Irish, Dutch&apos; tax scheme: filing</title><url>https://www.reuters.com/article/us-google-taxes-netherlands/google-to-end-double-irish-dutch-tax-scheme-filing-idUSKBN1YZ10Z</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>crazygringo</author><text>&amp;gt; A Google spokesman on Tuesday confirmed it would scrap the licensing structure, saying this was in line with international rules and &lt;i&gt;followed changes to U.S. tax law in 2017&lt;/i&gt;... The &lt;i&gt;tax strategy was legal&lt;/i&gt; and allowed Google to avoid triggering U.S. income taxes or European withholding taxes on the funds, which represent the bulk of its overseas profits... Under pressure from the European Union and the United States, &lt;i&gt;Ireland in 2014 decided to phase out the arrangement, ending Google&amp;#x27;s Irish tax advantages in 2020.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is fantastic news because &lt;i&gt;laws were changed&lt;/i&gt; and that &lt;i&gt;worked&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;p&gt;The criticism towards Google, Apple etc. for minimizing their tax burdens has always been misplaced. Corporations are &lt;i&gt;supposed&lt;/i&gt; to maximize profits. And governments are &lt;i&gt;supposed&lt;/i&gt; to collect taxes in effective ways.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s always been a derelection of duty of &lt;i&gt;governments&lt;/i&gt; when these loopholes exist in the first place. So it&amp;#x27;s great news that with enough publicity, democratically elected lawmakers felt the pressure from voters to fix this.&lt;p&gt;In other words, &lt;i&gt;this is democracy working&lt;/i&gt; -- which is always nice to see.</text></comment>
<story><title>Google to end &apos;Double Irish, Dutch&apos; tax scheme: filing</title><url>https://www.reuters.com/article/us-google-taxes-netherlands/google-to-end-double-irish-dutch-tax-scheme-filing-idUSKBN1YZ10Z</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>Gladdyu</author><text>Not Google being good - Irish law has been changed such that it&amp;#x27;s no longer permitted.&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;The legislation passed in Ireland in 2015 ends the use of the tax scheme for new tax plans. However, companies with established structures can continue to benefit from the old system until 2020.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.investopedia.com&amp;#x2F;terms&amp;#x2F;d&amp;#x2F;double-irish-with-a-dutch-sandwich.asp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.investopedia.com&amp;#x2F;terms&amp;#x2F;d&amp;#x2F;double-irish-with-a-dut...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>