Google to face UK parliament a second time on allegations of tax avoidance
Introduction: A second committee grilling on avoidance of taxes is set for Google’s Senior Executives.
Summoning senior executives of Google to face Members of Parliament once again, the Committee on Public Accounts in the UK is set to grill anew the large multinational company on allegations that it had purposely avoided paying taxes to the UK government. Back in November last year, Google Vice-President for Northern Europe Matt Brittin had appeared before the same committee to testify that his company’s sales teams were all situated in Ireland, leaving the company’s UK staff to only perform marketing of Google as an advertising extension. This variation in structure ultimately enabled the company to avoid taxes by paying only £6 million of taxes to the UK government on £2.6 billion it had gotten as profits in 2011. News agency Reuters however, performed investigation that found how Google’s UK-based staff have actually promoted and closed sales of the multinational firm’s advertising space to its clients. The news agency facilitated its investigations through interviews done on several Google customers, aside from working with former Google employees and checking out various job postings and data on the firm’s LinkedIn site. By virtue of the company’s having negotiated and concluded deals in London, the argument that its sales teams were all based in Ireland was indefensible and only constituted avoidance of taxes, since it was clear from invoice addresses that all the people involved are located in the UK. These allegations of avoidance of taxes are serious enough to warrant a second grilling by the MPs and greater depth of investigations into account balances, names and addresses with tax authorities in British overseas territories.
Conclusion: With exhaustive investigation into allegations of avoidance of taxes, a more complicated web of involvement may yet be uncovered.
Categories: Federal Tax, Income Tax, Tax Evasion, Tax Law Tags:
Former Chicago Bears player pleads guilty to Federal tax charges
A former Chicago Bears player named Chris Zorich pleaded guilty to federal tax charges, as he admitted to the judge that he did not file his taxes as he was supposed to, on time.
Zorich, 43, faces four misdemeanor counts of not filing his federal income tax returns from the period of 2006 to 2009. During that time, he supposedly had made over $1 million, which included income from a charity that he had started himself.
The judge of the trial for Zorich asked him if he knew that it was wrong to not file the tax returns. Zorich responded that he knew that it was indeed a wrong act to commit, but he didn’t provide any reason as to why he went along with it anyway. Zorich’s attorney had stated that Zorich was very much looking forward to putting the case far behind him, and moving on.
Zorich is a Chicago native and played on the 1988 Notre Dame team that won the national championship. He also had played for the Chicago Bears from 1991 to 1996, ending his career with the Washington Redskins back in 1997.
The former Chicago Bears NFL player is looking at a payment of $71,000 in back taxes as a part of his plea agreement with the judge. His sentencing will be done on July 12. Each count for Zorich carries a maximum sentence of a year in prison, and also a $100,000 fine.
Categories: Federal Tax, Income Tax, State Tax, Tax Evasion, Tax Law Tags: celebrity tax evasion, federal tax, income tax, tax evasion, tax fraud, tax law
How to get your money back when you’ve been conned
My friend recently booked a package holiday online only to find that the company was a complete sham and that the holiday he’d book was in fact a complete con. He wasn’t staying anywhere near the location he’d been promised, his flights were at completely untenable times and he’d been hit with countless hidden charges. Suffice to say he wasn’t in much of a holiday mood by the end of it all and he just wanted to cancel and get his money back.
Unfortunately the company were not particularly helpful on this front either (surprise, surprise) and despite battling and arguing with them completely reasonably he didn’t manage to get a whiff of a refund mentioned. Fortunately my friend isn’t a fool and he knew all the right channels to go through to eventually get his money back.
Such companies and con artists are despicable but they are only able to operate at all because so few people realise the various options available to them when it comes to getting their money back. Here we will look at some of the things you can do to make sure that none of these horrendous outfits makes off with your cash.
Complain
The first port of call, even when you think a company is pulling a fast one, is to ask for a refund with the company directly so that your request is recorded. You’d be surprised how easily you can often get your money back if you make the right noises – many companies simply rely on their victims being too timid to complain or just not being bothered so if you make it obvious you won’t just ‘go away’ they’ll often concede that they’re in the wrong.
That said, certain things can show you mean business and help the process for one. Make sure that you always ask for names for instance to make sure the people you speak with no that they will be held accountable for their actions or their inaction. Likewise, ensure that you are speaking to the highest level of management possible, and to try at least one formal complaint in writing/via e-mail so that you can keep a copy for your records. Mention during complaints that you aren’t afraid to take your dispute higher and that you will involve their superiors, the press and the law if necessary.
Try Other Organizations
If the company you’re dealing with still will not play ball then this leaves you with one option which is to complain to any other companies whose reputation may be at stake. For instance if you booked the service through a third party such as Amazon or Groupon then you may find that they will help you get your money back, or that they will even refund you directly (and probably remove the offending con artists from their site).
Financial Institutes
Another place to turn is your bank and if you inform them you have been a victim of fraud they may be able to help. If you booked on credit card in particular, then you will be covered against such situations and they should chase down the money for you meaning you don’t need to worry about anything. If you have any direct debits with the company you have a quarrel with, then you may still be able to cancel them.
The Law
Finally if you still don’t get your money back then you may wish to involve the law. While not everyone can be bothered or even afford to go through this process, if you have lost a considerable amount of money then it may well be worth your while (and you may find that the first letter is enough to scare the company into playing ball). Don’t let these outfits get away with it.
Author Byline:
John Lowrie is an expert financial journalist who works for a very well known financial website by the name of Payday Angels. To know more about this keen blogger, you can follow him on Twitter.
Categories: Federal Tax, Income Tax, State Tax, Tax Evasion, Tax Law Tags: fraud, scam