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标题/出处
Microsoft's Irish subsidiary posted ?220 bn profit in single year
微软爱尔兰子公司年利润2200亿英镑,企业所得税分文未缴
The Guardian《卫报》3 June,2021
文章导读
去年,微软位于爱尔兰的子公司利润达2200亿英磅,却没有支付任何企业所得税,原因是该公司是百慕大的纳税人。这家名为“微软圆岛一号”的公司征收微软软件在全球范围内的授权使用费,没有任何雇员,但其收入近乎爱尔兰国民生产总值的四分之三。由此可见,微软通过爱尔兰这一分支节省的税金数额之大,令人咋舌。微软公司此举受到多方的猛烈抨击,从侧面突显了国际合作的重要性,由此也引发了多国财长在七国集团峰会到来之前齐聚伦敦,讨论如何应对跨国避税的问题。不少国家支持美国提议的全球企业所得税最低标准线,以防止利润流入低税率国家。但也有一些依靠低税率吸引外资的国家(如爱尔兰和塞浦路斯)对该提议持反对意见。在利益分配面前,如何平衡是一个亘古不变的棘手问题,而能在各种体系中找到漏洞、实现不合法目标的,只有像微软这样的巨头。一切规则不过是他们的游戏。
正文
An Irish subsidiary of Microsoft recorded a profit of $315 bn(?222 bn) last year.
The proft generated by Microsoft Round Island One is equal to nearly three-quarters of Ireland's gross domestic product-even though the company has no employees.
The subsidiary, which is resident for tax purposes in Bermuda and collects licence fees for the use of copyrighted Microsoft software around the world, recorded an annual profit of $314.7 bn in the year to the end of June 2020, according to accounts filed at the Irish Companies Registration Office.
The company's profits jumped from just under $10 bn in the previous year and compare with Ireland's 2020 GDP of 357bn($433bn) .
The majority of the profit—$301.1 bn-related to the surplus and assets transferred from two liquidated subsidiaries, Microsoft Luxembourg USA Mobile SARL and MACS Holdings Limited, which the Guardian understands is not taxable under common global tax principles as an“unrealised gain”.
Microsoft said almost all of the remainder of the amount-an operating profit of $13.6 bn一was a dividend from an Irish tax-resident company which had been taxed in full in Ireland.
News of the wealth gained by Microsoft Round Island One comes as finance ministers attempt to hammer out an agreement to tackle multinational tax avoidance in London on Friday, ahead of the G7 meeting in Cornwall this month.
The US has proposed tackling the issue of profit shifting to low-tax countries by introducing a global minimum 15% corporate tax rate on multinational company profits in all jurisdictions.
It is expected to be endorsed in principle by the finance ministers of the world's seven largest economies at the G7 meeting.However, Cyprus, which like Ireland has a 12.5% corporate tax rate,threatened to veto the EU's adoption of Joe Biden's proposal on Thursday.
Microsoft Round Island One, the registered address of which is at an office of the law firm Matheson in Dublin, states in its accounts that it has“no employees other than the directors”.
In the tax statement, the company says:“As the company is tax resident in Bermuda, no taxis chargeable on income.”Bermuda does not levy corporation tax.
The company paid a $24.5bn dividend to Microsoft Corporation during the financial year,followed by a further special dividend of $30.5bn.
The US Senate previously investigated Microsoft and Ireland over the use of Microsoft Round Island One and other Irish subsidiaries in order to reduce taxes that might otherwise be due in the US or elsewhere.
Carl Levin, who chaired the permanent subcommittee on investigations, said in 2012 that Microsoft and other tech companies were“probably the number one user of these offshore entities to transfer intellectual property”.The committee said Microsoft began in the 1990s to establish a“complex web of interrelated foreign entities to facilitate international sales and reduce tax.”
A spokesperson for the company said:“Microsoft has been operating and investing in Ireland for over 35 years and is a longtime taxpayer, employer and contributor to the economy.”
“Our organisational and tax structure reflects our complex global business.We are fully compliant with all local laws and regulations in the countries where we operate.”
Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, the Google owner Alphabet, Netflix and Apple have been accused of paying $96 bn less in tax over the past decade than the figures they cited in annual financial reports would seem to entail.
The companies paid $219 bn in income tax, just 3.6% of their total revenue of more than $6 tn. Income tax is paid on profits, but researchers said the“Silicon Six”were deliberately shifting income to low-tax jurisdictions in order to pay less tax.
This article was amended on16 June 2021 to clarify that $301 bn of the profit recorded in the company's annual financial statement was a transfer of assets resulting from an internal reorganisation and that such“unrealised gains”would not normally be taxed.The article has been corrected and revised accordingly, including the addition of Microsoft's position on the operating profit.
全文翻译
微软位于爱尔兰的子公司去年的利润达3150亿美元(约合2220亿英镑)。
微软圆岛一号创造的利润几乎相当于爱尔兰国内生产总值的四分之三——尽管该公司没有员工。
爱尔兰公司登记处提交的账目显示,在截至2020年6月底的一年中,该子公司所得年利润为3147亿美元。它虽出于税收目的而常驻百慕大,但在全球范围内为使用受版权保护的微软软件收取许可费。
微软圆岛一号的利润从上一年的略低于100亿美元跃升至比肩2020年爱尔兰国民生产总值的3570亿欧元(合4330亿美元)。
其大部分利润——3011亿美元——与从两家清算子公司(微软卢森堡美国移动有限责任公司和MACS控股有限公司) 中转移的盈余和资产有关, 《卫报》认为, 根据全球通用税收原则,这些盈余和资产作为“未实现收益"无须纳税。
微软表示,该公司利润的其余部分——136亿美元的营业利润——几乎全部来自一家爱尔兰税务居民公司的股息,该公司已在爱尔兰缴纳全额税款。
周五,在微软圆岛一号获得财富的消息传出之际,各国财务部部长正试图在伦敦敲定一项旨在解决跨国避税问题的协议,赶在本月于康沃尔举行的七国集团峰会之前。
美国已提议在全球所有司法管辖区对跨国公司利润实行最低15%的企业税率,以解决利润向低税收国家转移的问题。
在七国集团峰会上,该计划有望得到世界七大经济体的财务部部长们原则上的支持。然而就在周四,塞浦路斯共和国与爱尔兰一样实行12.5%的企业税率,威胁要否决欧盟通过乔·拜登的提案。
微软圆岛一号的注册地址是都柏林马西森律师事务所的一间办公室,该公司在其报道中声明,“公司除董事外,没有其他雇员。”
该公司在税务报表中表示:“由于该公司是百慕大的纳税居民,因此对其收入不征税。"百慕大不征收企业税。
该公司本财年向微软公司支付了245亿美元的股息,随后又支付了305亿美元的特别股息。
此前,美国参议院针对微软和爱尔兰利用微软圆岛一号和其他爱尔兰子公司减少可能在美国或其他地方应缴纳的税收一事进行了调查。
美国常设调查委员会主席卡尔·莱文在2012年表示,微软和其他科技公司“可能是这些离岸实体公司转移知识产权的头号用户"。该委员会表示,微软从20世纪90年代就建立了一个“由相互关联的外国实体组成的复杂网络,以促进国际销售并降低税收"。
该公司的一位发言人表示:“微软已经在爱尔兰经营和投资超过35年,是其长期的纳税人、雇主和经济贡献者。"
“我们的组织结构和税收结构反映出了我们复杂的全球业务。我们在开展业务的国家中,一直严格遵守当地所有的法律法规。”
微软、亚马逊、脸书、谷歌的母公司Alphabet、网飞公司和苹果公司均被指控:在过去10年中缴纳的税款比他们在年度财务报告中引用的数字似乎要少960亿美元。
这些公司缴纳了2190亿美元的企业所得税,仅占其逾6万亿美元总收入的3.6%。企业所得税是根据利润缴纳的,但研究人员表示,“硅谷六巨头”有意将收入转移至低税收的司法管辖区,以少缴税额。
本文于2021年6月16日进行了修订,以澄清公司年度财务报表中记录的3010亿美元利润是由内部重组导致的资产转移,以及此类“未实现收益”通常不会被征税。本文也对此进行了相应的修改,包括增加了微软对营业利润的立场。
特殊词汇
subsidiary n.子公司
endorse v.支持, 赞同
copyright v.获得……的版权
veto v.否决
surplus n.剩余
levy v.征收
liquidated adj.已偿付的
Senate n.参议院
dividend n.股息
subcommittee n.小组委员会
hammer out制定
compliant adj.顺从的
multinational tax avoidance跨国避税
entail v.牵涉;需要
multinational company跨国公司
deliberately adv.故意地
jurisdiction n.管辖区域
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