Even after all the tax dodges Starbucks still doesn’t owe any tax!
THIS is just great I think. FT’s Alphaville has gone through the accounts for Starbucks after this stuff we’ve had about how the dodge taxes. It’s here.
And the final conclusion? Even if we cancel all of the tax dodges they still don’t owe tax in the UK. Because they’re not making a profit in the UK.
No, really.
What the FT has done is look at those royalty payments which were being sent off to low tax Holland. And it’s added those back in. Then it’s added back in the premium on the money paid to Switzerland for coffee. The third supposedly dodgy bit was the interest that Starbucks USA charged Starbucks UK on an intercompany loan. Great, add that back in then.
Which leaves us with:
So that’s a £33m loss less £26m of royalties less £2m of interest, which gets one to a figure of £5m… which is still a loss.
The reason Starbucks doesn’t pay corporation tax is because Starbucks doesn’t make a profit in the UK. And corporation tax is a tax on profits, nothing else.
Bet those few UK Uncut people who would even understand this are feeling a little silly, eh?
Posted: 11th, December 2012 | In: Money Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
