US Tax Solution

Originally posted by Robtard
Yeah, even my 100mil every 6 months seems laughable, but going off what Jaden said, it seems the deal was a one time payment/settlement of 100mil and they're done.

eg if a person owes 15,000 here, they can make a settlement and pay something like 4,700.00 once and be done.

Oh, that's worse than I thought. I thought it was an installment plan. I should read more on it. If that's it...no more...nada....that's just crazy.

I wish I only had to pay 1/60th of my taxes over 2 years. That would be amazing!

Not that I am saying that Vodaphone is some paragon of tax paying virtue, but in the interests of fariness:

- Vodaphone paid over a billion, not 100 million

- HMRC denies that 6 billion was ever a figure tht existed.

The facts of the case are confidential so no-one knows for sure.

Also companies pay corporation tax on profits, not revenues. You can claim the accounting is dodgy if you like, but you have to start from the position that companies like Vodaphone make bugger all profit in the UK- but they do invest billions in infrastructure.

My intent isn't to highlight a specific company but rather a general problem that many companies avoid paying full tax bills and then a weak tax enforcement means they can reach retrospective deals worth a small portion and it gets sanctioned at ministerial level. Even on a surface level its clearly dodgy so here's to what goes on behind closed doors.

Originally posted by Ushgarak
Also companies pay corporation tax on profits, not revenues. You can claim the accounting is dodgy if you like, but you have to start from the position that companies like Vodaphone make bugger all profit in the UK- but they do invest billions in infrastructure.

👆

Originally posted by jaden101
My intent isn't to highlight a specific company but rather a general problem that many companies avoid paying full tax bills and then a weak tax enforcement means they can reach retrospective deals worth a small portion and it gets sanctioned at ministerial level. Even on a surface level its clearly dodgy so here's to what goes on behind closed doors.

Also, there are oversight agencies in the US and the UK that are supposed to check up on and prosecute the utter living shit out of people trying to doctor their books to avoid taxes or certain regulations. Here in the US, those agencies are the SEC and the IRS. There used to be the UK's Financial Services Authority but, iirc, they moved those duties over to the UK Central Bank. And, like you mentioned, the HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) is the other oversight group for these types of things.

Originally posted by jaden101
My intent isn't to highlight a specific company but rather a general problem that many companies avoid paying full tax bills and then a weak tax enforcement means they can reach retrospective deals worth a small portion and it gets sanctioned at ministerial level. Even on a surface level its clearly dodgy so here's to what goes on behind closed doors.

I think it was a good point and there is definitely some dodgy stuff going on with that tax situation and Vodafone. No doubt. It is a symptom of a shitty tax system.

It's a symptom of a lack of enforcement due to a number of factors as well. Increasingly complex tax laws as more and more laws are added and none are removed making them easier to exploit. The question is whether this is deliberate by legislatures who are in the pockets of businesses or simply a byproduct of badly written legislation. So a huge simplification of tax laws would help as would a government actually willing to fully enforce its basic tax % targets.

One thing I think all of us agree on is tax simplification is greatly needed.

Loopholes need to be closed, too. As far as the actual meat of what comprises that tax system, I still do not have confidence in a definitive answer.

Keep the tax system as is and any company that attempts any kind of manipulation of the system to avoid tax should have their board members and tax lawyers brutally and publicly executed.

Solved.

You're welcome.