International corporate taxation – latest commentary from Justin A. Urquhart Stewart

Justin is one of the most recognisable and trusted market commentators on television, radio, and in the press.

Originally trained as a lawyer, he has observed the retail market industry for 20 years whilst at Barclays Stockbrokers and developed a unique understanding of the market’s roles and benefits for the private investor.
Each week we will bring you Justin’s latest thoughts and commentry.

For a taster of this week’s article please continue to read..

All’s fair in love, war… and international corporate taxation “…and on the podium for The 2013 Taxation Innovation Awards:

3rd place
Amazon, for ensuring that all UK sales are actually transacted with a Luxembourg holding company, despite the customer, the money and the goods never crossing the Channel. An unimaginative ploy, but done on a mind-bogglingly large scale – merits praise

2nd place:
Google, for relying on the hazy semantic difference between „marketing‟ and „sales‟ to avoid paying tax on (from what I can tell) most of its business in the UK for the past five years. An unconventional move, taking advantage of the technological nature of their products and revenue streams – a well deserved second place.

1st place:
Apple. The outright winner. Most companies look for the most accommodating tax regime – whereas Apple simply creates its own. To be fair, you would expect little else from the creators of the various iProducts – why abide by the same rules when you can simply play a different game!

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