Corporate Tax Avoidance - A poll

[DJ Leon]

As a consumer, I don't think you can avoid companies that avoid tax. All multinational companies do it. Your phone company does it, your broadband/TV provider does it, your energy company does it and the company whose browser or software you are using does it.

This is the way big business works. A change in the law is needed to change it and I assure you there is NO chance that it will ever happen.

 

[piersa]

it seems you have mis-understood a significant detail. there is no one pretending that they are selling a service as intellectual property. they are licencing the Starbucks name, logos etc as IP, which it is. should they be allowed to do so within their own company is seperate matter. but eitherway, there's no legal question, its openly done by many companies. i think usally the parent compnay runs the satelite operations as franchises, which make it look better.

I was under the impression that they were avoiding paying CT because they had their business registered in another country rather than it having anything to do with intellectual property. Am I wrong?

 

[beorhthelm]

I was under the impression that they were avoiding paying CT because they had their business registered in another country rather than it having anything to do with intellectual property. Am I wrong?

its both. they register a business in a low tax country, then channel money to that company by charging royalty fees to the subsidaries in UK and elsewhere.

 

[BadFish]

As a consumer, I don't think you can avoid companies that avoid tax. All multinational companies do it. Your phone company does it, your broadband/TV provider does it, your energy company does it and the company whose browser or software you are using does it.

This is the way big business works. A change in the law is needed to change it and I assure you there is NO chance that it will ever happen.

Are there degrees of avoidance though? Surely some companies have a better record with the issues that others and these are the choices we can make. Didn't someone post a link to an ethical choice website earlier?

 

[Westdene Seagull]

everyone i know uses or would use any available tax reduction/avoidance option made available to them. got a pension? got a ISA? been on a booze cruise? paid a tradesman cash for a reduced price? so why get in a froth because a company does the same?

Hammer, nail, head !

I'd also point out that by being on the internet the OP is most likely using a company that uses tax avoidance techniques.

 

[Bozza]

NSC today paid £1545.80 in corporation tax. So you can keep using this site safe in the knowledge that NSC is making a full and proper contribution to UK PLC.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

And if you believe that companies should be able to use these loop holes do you not feel that the same privileges should be available to the tradesman in the street? Seems very unfair that only international corporations can get away without paying tax purely because of their size .

It's quick and easy to set yourself up as a limited company, take a low salary from said company and pay yourself dividends - hey presto, tax avoidance for the single one man band.

 

[Guinness Boy]

As a consumer, I don't think you can avoid companies that avoid tax. All multinational companies do it. Your phone company does it, your broadband/TV provider does it, your energy company does it and the company whose browser or software you are using does it.

This is the way big business works. A change in the law is needed to change it and I assure you there is NO chance that it will ever happen.

This. Everyone's at it or at least so many are it's impossible to choose suppliers based on their tax position. I work for a small technology company and we've just filed an R&D claim for a small tax rebate because we did some Research and Development and you're entitled to a tax rebate for it. Changing laws mainly benefits accountants and tax lawyers. If I thought you could plug the budget gap by collecting more tax from multi nationals I'd shop more carefully but I really don't think you can.

It's quick and easy to set yourself up as a limited company, take a low salary from said company and pay yourself dividends - hey presto, tax avoidance for the single one man band.

Pretty much how most IT Contractors operate and that was thanks to government legislation. The DTI is increasingly making one man operations more like a real company by getting them to display unprecedented levels of information on websites and e-documents. There is new legislation out there for this that carries fines for non compliance but I don't know anyone who's been hit yet (I do know a few contractors though).

 

[GT49er]

I voted 'less likely to' - but in truth that's more in principle than reality. I'm less likely to when I have a choice - and there's the rub. They're nearly all at it, and a boy's got to eat, drink, wear something, etc.

 

[worthingseagull123]

How a company treats its staff is very important to me. I shop in Waitrose and buy everything I can from JohnLewis. Feel better knowing that profits go to staff rather than greedy shareholders.

RE Starbucks, it seems worse if a British company avoids tax than an American one. Still use Starbucks, refuse to use Vodafone.