Google paid €47m in tax on €22bn sales revenue last year
Google paid just €47.8m in tax against earned revenues of €22.6bn (£20.1bn) made across Europe, the Middle East and Africa which were funneled through its advertising sales business in Dublin.
Google tax
According to the Guardian, referencing company filings in Ireland, revenues at Google Ireland Limited rose 23% in 2015 to €22.6bn (a third of its global income) with an estimated $7bn (£5.6bn) coming from transactions with advertisers in the UK.
A spotlight has been on the tax practices of global companies such as Google for a number of years. Recently this intensified after the European Commission claimed that fellow tech-giant Apple owed €13bn in back tax as a result of illegal tax breaks given by the Irish government.
The crux of the issue with Apple lies in its ‘head office’ (which the Commission said has no offices or employees) in Ireland through which “almost all sales profits” are recorded.
Little information is available on Google Holdings Ireland as it listed as unlimited and so not required to file accounts, under Irish company law, but it does claim to have 2,763 staff in the country and thus argues that its operations there are for more than just tax benefits.
Nonetheless, Google settled an £130m bill earlier this year with the UK over 10-years worth of unpaid taxes.