Yahoo, Dell, Google, etc. - Eating a Dutch Sandwich and laughing all the way to Swiss banks, while the taxpayers are getting whipped

Yahoo, Dell Swell Netherlands’ $13 Trillion Tax Haven - Bloomberg: "Through Yahoo! Netherlands BV, headquartered at Dooves’s suburban home, Yahoo has also routed European and Asian revenues from Web ads to a subsidiary incorporated in Ireland that claims its residency in the tax-friendly Cayman Islands, according to filings.
In 2009, for example, the Dutch unit collected 101.5 million euros in royalties from around the world -- and promptly paid out 98.7 percent of that to the Cayman subsidiary, records show. If those payments went directly from, say, Yahoo’s France sales arm to the Cayman unit, they could trigger a 33.3 percent withholding tax in France.
‘Beneficial Owner’
In 2011, a Yahoo French sales subsidiary reported 66 million euros of revenue, yet paid just 462,665 euros in income taxes, records show.
A typical Dutch tax avoidance arrangement may violate the tax treaties of various countries, said Peters, the Rotterdam tax adviser. Only a small percentage of royalties stays in the Netherlands in these transactions, records show, yet treaties typically require that, in order to avoid withholding tax, the Netherlands unit must be the “beneficial owner.”"

'via Blog this'