In global tax news with big implications for the tech industry’s use of clever accounting to dodge paying taxes, the G7 nations have agreed to a minimum corporate tax rate of 15% to build consistency and, with consistency, reduce the incentives to apply complex practices to offshore revenues based on spurious loopholes over where the IP of a company resides.
Companies like Facebook, Google, Apple and many others beyond just the tech world with global product and service empires love to say their intellectual property just happens to ‘live’ in places with extremely low tax rates or special tax concessions. It’s amazing how much inventive work of companies headquartered in Silicon Valley is actually, really, truly thanks to a small office in the Netherlands or Ireland.
No doubt the next wave of loopholes and clever tricks is right around the corner. But actual agreement on actual action is helpful in trying to move this fight forward.
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Seamus runs Byteside. You may also have spotted his words at the Australian Financial Review, the ABC, Junkee, Gamespot, The Esports Observer, CNET, Gizmodo and a few other spots over the years. He's very happy that he gets to nerd out for a living.
