Fr Peter McVerry The news that an Irish Microsoft subsidiary paid no corporation tax on €260 billion has been greeted as “a scandal” by Fr Peter McVerry.
The company, Microsoft Round Island One, posted profits last year equal to nearly three-quarters of Ireland’s gross domestic product (GDP).
The corporation tax takings on the €260 billion would have amounted to around €32.5 billion – more than double Ireland’s pre-pandemic yearly spending on social welfare.
Bermuda
The company is tax resident in Bermuda, which means that no tax is chargeable on income, as Bermuda doesn’t levy corporation tax.
“Well, we saw that with Apple. It’s scandalous that very wealthy corporations and individuals can find loopholes to avoid tax,” Fr McVerry told The Irish Catholic.
“It is a scandal, and it makes ordinary people very angry at having to pay tax, which might be difficult for them, to pay the tax that they’re asked to pay, while these wealthy corporations and some individuals don’t,” Fr McVerry said.
The issue is clear, he said: “wealthy corporations and wealthy individuals can afford to pay the best lawyers and accountants to minimise their tax liability to ridiculously low levels”.
We should be supporting the efforts to have an “international taxation system” on multinational companies, according to Fr McVerry.
Clarification: An Irish subsidiary of Microsoft did not make a profit of $315 billion in 2020, as we mistakenly suggested in this article. The increase was due to an inter-company re-organisation.