In the United Kingdom, Australia or New Zealand: the American computer giant Microsoft avoids, thanks to a complex structure, paying taxes for billions of dollars in countries where, however, it maintains lucrative public contracts, according to a study released this Thursday.
“Microsoft boasts of offering profit margins of over 30% to its shareholders. Yet in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, (the company) reports only 3-4% returns,” Jason Ward marvels. analyst at the firm, quoted in the press release.
Several billion dividends
“It doesn’t seem credible that these thriving markets are underperforming so badly,” he adds, seeing it as “a big red flag of tax evasion,” which “deprives the public sector of much-needed revenue,” despite the ” billions earned as a supplier to the governments” of these countries.
According to the study, Microsoft Global Finance, an Irish subsidiary that is tax resident in Bermuda, centralized more than $100 billion in investments and, despite an operating profit of $2.4 billion, paid no taxes in 2020. Another example cited by Cictar, Microsoft Singapore Holdings posted 2020 earnings, from dividends, of $22.4 billion, but announced a tax burden of just $15.
However, Microsoft has closed these last five years public contracts for amounts of at least 3,300 million dollars in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia or Canada, according to the data of this study.
The firm points out that Microsoft is the subject of investigations by the tax services of the United States and other countries, particularly Australia, and that “more than 80% of its total income abroad passes through Puerto Rico and Ireland.”
Contacted by the authors of the report, Microsoft assured that it respects “all local laws and regulations” in the countries where it operates.
Source: BFM TV
