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Tax cheats. 26 U.S. Code § 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax: "Any person who willfully attempts in any manner to evade or defeat any tax imposed by this

Tax cheats. 26 U.S. Code § 7201 - Attempt to evade or defeat tax: "Any person who willfully attempts in any manner to evade or defeat any tax imposed by this title or the payment thereof shall, in addition to other penalties provided by law" I have worked at companies performing the "double-irish". True, they aren't prosecuted. But legal? Because a british lawyer says it is? 26 U.S. Code § 7201 is extremely easy to read and meant to be very vague. It isn't complicated. They "could be viewed as" breaking the US law and that is enough for some IRS investigators. Why they don't? <- I feel, it is more profitable to tear apart thousands of small local businesses using algorithms and automated mailing. If there was any kind of left leaning shift in US politics I would assume a few congressional hearings. Sure Google,Facebook,etc got away with many years of tax evasion, but that doesn't mean the governments find it in anyway legal. Further: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Double_Irish_with_a_Dutch_Sandwich.svg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Double_I... The above info graphic clearly shows an attempt to defeat the US the 26 U.S. Code § 7201. This is not only illegal but morally reprehensible.

linkregister 10y ago
I think the taxes Google, Apple, et. al. are avoiding aren't imposed by that U.S. Code. The profits are not earned by U.S. Corporations; they're earned by alien corporations. In order for this regulation to cover these alien corporations, large parts of precedent, legislation, and regulation would have to be repealed/rewritten. Intuitively, it feels bad. But until the profits actually come back to the U.S., the USG doesn't have much of a case. I do think that EU countries, the EU parliament, and the European Council have a responsibility to their citizens to close these loopholes. It is not fair for Ireland to have a minor advantage (a few thousand jobs) at the cost of depriving other EU countries of billions of Euros of tax receipts.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- ransom1538 10y ago
  "The profits are not earned by U.S. Corporations; they're earned by alien corporations." These alien corporations are then owned by proxy by US corporations, THUS a violation of 26 U.S. Code § 7201. It isn't a "it feels bad" thing, this is just a felony.
  - ori_b 10y ago
    The argument that these large corporation's lawyers are putting forward is that the taxes aren't imposed on them by the tax code because the US government only taxes money when it is brought in to the US, and therefore, they aren't evading taxes. Whether that's true or not is a task for the courts to decide, but considering that there is a long history of the US government not taxing overseas profit until it comes to the USA, I'd say that this is an indicator that the government has, to date, agreed with the corporations on this.
    - ransom1538 10y ago
      Courts? Why? There is a simple fix: Since these are felony allegations (criminal not civil) IRS investigators should sit a few of these CFOs down in a cement room and ask: "Does any of this money come back to the US?" Then the CFO has a few options: 1) lie to a federal agent (not a good plan) 2) plead the 5th (not a good plan) 3) state to a federal officer that none of the money is used, transferred, or used to pay employees of said corporation by proxy. I would assume these wouldn't go well at all.
      - linkregister 10y ago
        When the funds come back to the U.S., Google is taxed on them. But they haven't returned yet. Have you missed all the news stories talking about how many of these companies keep the funds outside the U.S. for this purpose?
        disordinary 10y ago
        Who cares about the taxes returning to the us? They're making money in foreign territories and should pay tax there. For instance here in nz Google reportedly only pays 200k in tax which is obviously outrageously low.
- kyrra 10y ago
  The double irish is going away come the year 2020: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Irish_arrangement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Irish_arrangement

linkregister 10y ago

I think the taxes Google, Apple, et. al. are avoiding aren't imposed by that U.S. Code. The profits are not earned by U.S. Corporations; they're earned by alien corporations. In order for this regulation to cover these alien corporations, large parts of precedent, legislation, and regulation would have to be repealed/rewritten. Intuitively, it feels bad. But until the profits actually come back to the U.S., the USG doesn't have much of a case. I do think that EU countries, the EU parliament, and the European Council have a responsibility to their citizens to close these loopholes. It is not fair for Ireland to have a minor advantage (a few thousand jobs) at the cost of depriving other EU countries of billions of Euros of tax receipts.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
ransom1538 10y ago
"The profits are not earned by U.S. Corporations; they're earned by alien corporations." These alien corporations are then owned by proxy by US corporations, THUS a violation of 26 U.S. Code § 7201. It isn't a "it feels bad" thing, this is just a felony.
- ori_b 10y ago
  The argument that these large corporation's lawyers are putting forward is that the taxes aren't imposed on them by the tax code because the US government only taxes money when it is brought in to the US, and therefore, they aren't evading taxes. Whether that's true or not is a task for the courts to decide, but considering that there is a long history of the US government not taxing overseas profit until it comes to the USA, I'd say that this is an indicator that the government has, to date, agreed with the corporations on this.
  - ransom1538 10y ago
    Courts? Why? There is a simple fix: Since these are felony allegations (criminal not civil) IRS investigators should sit a few of these CFOs down in a cement room and ask: "Does any of this money come back to the US?" Then the CFO has a few options: 1) lie to a federal agent (not a good plan) 2) plead the 5th (not a good plan) 3) state to a federal officer that none of the money is used, transferred, or used to pay employees of said corporation by proxy. I would assume these wouldn't go well at all.
    - linkregister 10y ago
      When the funds come back to the U.S., Google is taxed on them. But they haven't returned yet. Have you missed all the news stories talking about how many of these companies keep the funds outside the U.S. for this purpose?
      - disordinary 10y ago
        Who cares about the taxes returning to the us? They're making money in foreign territories and should pay tax there. For instance here in nz Google reportedly only pays 200k in tax which is obviously outrageously low.
kyrra 10y ago
The double irish is going away come the year 2020: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Irish_arrangement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Irish_arrangement