Starbucks 'paid just £8.6m UK tax in 14 years'

Dj_Jestar

Dj_Jestar

Dj_Jestar

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19967397

US coffee giant Starbucks reportedly paid just £8.6m in corporation tax in the UK over 14 years.

The four-month investigation by news agency Reuters also found the firm had paid nothing in the last three years.
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Where will all those hipster 99%'ers buy their coffee now?

As the article says (READ IT BEFORE POSTING!) it is tax avoidance - they haven't done anything illegal, but by golly is it morally dubious.

The system needs changing to stop this kind of avoidance. It is ludicrous for a company to make that many sales and not pay more tax than that.
 
I can't really criticise because i'm afraid that if I could get away with legally paying less tax I would. I don't feel I owe the country anything in that regard. :)
 
What do people insist on bringing morals in to the tax system? Why should you pay any more than you are legally obliged to?

If the government takes issue with it it's up to them to make a change. They won't make any changes though because whilst they're telling everyone it's immoral, they're all at it themselves anyway.

The whole "morals" thing is done to make the general public believe it is actually immoral to do so that it forces it to be socially unacceptable to partake in legal tax avoidance in an attempt to reduce it without actually changing the laws around it.
 
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Dj_Jestar said:
As the article says (READ IT BEFORE POSTING!) it is tax avoidance - they haven't done anything illegal, but by golly is it morally dubious.
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getting sick of these stories and the whole idea that its morally wrong/dubious or that the uk tax system is so complicated that these things happen.

how hard is it to say for every £1 earned from your shops in the uk you pay x amount of tax, as this whole moving cash around to alternate regions to pay for things so they get a better tax deal is a total shambles.

the tax system needs to be changed and if mp's are paranoid that company's will leave, im sure a uk chain would take over there operations as its obvious there's a need there.
 
Not illegal so not that interested tbh.
I've done similar when I was contracting.
 
if you can do it legally. then why wouldn't you.

i remember reading a story about vodafone paying squat of what they should have legally paid and the government being happy just by receiving a small percentage. of course that could be absolute BS
 
I don't really have an issue in tax avoidance at all, however it's somewhat depressing that a firm dominating so much of the high street, and more importantly restricts trade of small coffee shops, doesn't contribute in corporation tax.

But setting out differing tax rules amongst competing firms in the same industry is a dangerous road to tread.
 
If the government cares then they should change the law to stop it. Until they do though I see no issue with tax avoidance. If a company is paying the amount required by law, why do some people blame the company and not the government as they are the one who are allowing all of this to be legal.
 
It's not just Starbucks, there are many big companies with an office in Switzerland manned by just one guy. Boots do something similar off the top of my head...
 
If you think the UK gets raped on this you should see how US companies behave domestically. We've got one very very large US client with legal entities in Mexico and the Irish Republic... they've set up a very convoluted system just making loans/shifting cash between each other - its only ever brought into the US for funding purposes/short periods of time.
 
The article keeps mentioning how much Starbucks made in sales but this is irrelevant as Corporation Tax is paid on profit.

If I have sales of £100m, but it cost me £105m to generate them I'm £5m down, you can't then take 20% of less than nothing.

That being said I'm in no doubt that Starbucks do make a profit in the UK and are being creative with their accounting to make it look like they're not but allocating costs to their international partners and subsidiaries.
 
Dj_Jestar said:
It is ludicrous for a company to make that many sales and not pay more tax than that.
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I'm pretty sure they still paid the VAT and appropriate payroll taxes. This is corporation tax that is discussed in the article.

Thus your thread header is completely false and misleading. They have paid way more in "UK Tax" in the last 14 years.
 
Think it said McDonalds paid 86mill for roughly equivalent earnings.

The whole tax system should be simplified. Pay X amount on earnings, no dodges loopholes or get outs. They would get more tax income in a fairer system, simples.
 
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