

Don't be evil - Google pays £6m UK tax on £395m turnover - EdwardQ
http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/it-business/3375231/google-pays-6m-uk-tax-on-395m-turnover/

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430gj9j
Last time I checked corporation tax was payable on profits, not turnover.

<http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ct/getting-started/intro.htm>

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gaius
Profit is whatever your accountant wants it to be. Revenue is much more
objective.

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allardschip
Profits for the books are somewhat malleable by an accountant. There are still
limitations to what you can do. For tax, rules are tighter. Even revenue is
often not objective. For example, I sell someone a subscription to a service
for a year. Do I record the revenue now (not a good idea), spread it out over
12 months (practical) or every time a user uses the service (not so practical,
more realistic?).

Corporate tax is on profit. VAT like taxes are closer to revenue (or more
accurately, closer to when you get paid by customers).

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petercooper
I'm a British taxpayer, but let's put this into perspective: _turnover of £395
million_ ... _The search giant reported overall losses of £24.1 million in the
UK_

If my business made a loss, it wouldn't pay much tax either (beyond the VAT I
have to collect, employer NICs, not to mention the income tax my employees
pay, etc.)

If there's anything fishy here, it's why Google is making a loss on such
healthy revenues in the UK when it's so profitable in the US.. but the tax
itself is not surprising given the lack of profit.

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mooism2
It would help if we knew what UK Google's real profit was (as opposed to the
accounting profit (loss) it (doesn't) pay tax on).

e.g. I expect UK Google pays a lot to license various Google trademarks from
an offshore Google subsidiary. How much?

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mtgx
In my country companies pay no income tax if there is no profit (they do pay
other taxes for each employee). I think this is pretty common in Europe, as
taxes are usually taken from profit no revenue.

