Tax Avoidance

Marketing agency Digital Sate discuss Googles tax avoidance 🙂

The well documented argument against Google regarding its tax affairs continues this weekend with a previous employee coming forward and providing fresh evidence.

We have been following the case of Googles tax avoidance carefully as it has been evolving. It was surprising to read that a previous employee of the organisation has made claims against the firm.

Barney Jones, who worked at the search engine between 2002 and 2006, reported his allegations to The Sunday Times. He claims that the firm has been running an “immoral” tax avoidance scheme for the past decade.

“The real victims are ordinary taxpayers in Britain who are being cheated by Google,” he told the paper.

“They don’t have the means to hire accountants to pretend they make their money in Ireland, Bermuda, or the British Virgin Islands. What Google is doing is immoral.”

The allegations come following the recent grilling of Matt Brittin, the firm’s vice president however Mr Brittin continues to insist that the company is operating fully within the tax laws.

Following Google’s mauling by the Commons’ public accounts committee (PAC), David Cameron has written to nearly a dozen leaders of offshore tax havens to stress the need to enforce regulations and improve transparency to avoid tax evasion by individuals and companies.

The initiative comes ahead of next month’s G8 summit in Northern Ireland where the Prime Minister will be pushing for an agreement aimed at clamping down on tax evasion and avoidance.