Is the Google edifice cracking?

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The Sunday Times reports this morning that:

Barney Jones, 34, who worked for the internet search giant between 2002 and 2006, has lifted the lid on an elaborate structure which diverts British profits through Ireland to the Bermuda tax haven.

Although Google's London sales staff would negotiate and sign contracts with British customers, and cash was paid into a UK bank account, deals were technically booked through its Dublin office to minimise its liabilities here. Jones, a devout Christian and father of four, is ready to hand over a cache of more than 100,000 emails and documents to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), detailing the “concocted scheme”.

Much more follows.

The problem with a lot of tax planning that looks too artificial to be true is that it's almost impossible to deliver in practice. Will that be the undoing of Google?

 

 


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