Tax law is what's written in acts and statutes, but also what's developed in case law. Google's lawyers will claim that Google is compliant with tax law, but u

Tax law is what's written in acts and statutes, but also what's developed in case law. Google's lawyers will claim that Google is compliant with tax law, but until these complex tax avoidance schemes go through the courts we won't know. Most tax authorities use courts as a measure of last resort, and will prefer to add clarifications to the law and negotiate settlements with avoiding companies rather than spending millions on legal fees for court cases. Some companies see a regulation and say "that's the bare knuckle minimum expected behaviour that we cannot go below". Other companies see a regulation and say "how far beyond that can we go before we get fined?"