According to the Sunday Times, the UK branch of Google minimized taxes by underpaying hundreds of million pounds to the national budget. This information was presented by the ex-employee of the company Barney Jones.
He said that despite the fact that money from the deals with British users were going to the accounts in Great Britain, these deals were being registered in Dublin. As a result, the money was transferred through Ireland to the Bermudas.
The ex-worker also announced that this tax evasion scheme allowed Google to hide the real location of its economic activity. Nobody knew where the business was conducted: in the United Kingdom or in Ireland with its low taxes.
Barney Jones, who had been working in Google from 2002 to 2006, has already shared his suspicions with the Public accounts committee. He is ready to give about 100 thousands emails to prove his accusation.
Previously Google had been already accused of tax evasion. Jones decided to produce his proofs right after the false announcements of the Google curator in the North Europe Matt Brittin, who insisted on the fact that Google branch in UK was not engaged in sales. It is the reason why the company pays less taxes.
The Sunday Times noted that Google commodity circulation of the British branch in 2011 was £2.7 bln, but the company payed profits tax totaling £11 mln. The data for the same period revealed by the Agence France-Press says that Google gained £3.2 bln and payed to the government only £6 mln. The corporate rate tax in Great Britain is 23%.
Google is not the only one that is accused of tax minimization. The same charges are also brought against other transnational corporations such as Facebook, Apple, and Starbucks. Many organizations establish their main offices in Ireland due to its low corporate tax of 12.3%.
