双语新闻:爱尔兰出台新规封堵跨国避税

2014-10-16 14:29:37来源：网络

　　Critics also point to the type of Irish tax strategies that have enabled Apple to potentiallyavoid billions of dollars in taxes over the years. Those deals, which are part of the separateinvestigation by the European Commission, do not appear to involve the tax loophole the Irishgovernment says it will close.

　　批评者还把矛头对准了爱尔兰的一种税收策略，它让苹果公司在很多年时间里可能避税达数十亿美元。欧委会单独开展的调查就涉及这些税收安排，它们似乎与爱尔兰政府声称要封堵的税收漏洞没有关系。

　　“I am skeptical as to how big a deal this really is,” said Crawford Spence, an accountingprofessor at Warwick Business School in Coventry, England. “In general, corporations don’t seemuch legitimacy in corporation tax, and Western countries don’t appear that interested inmaking them pay it, either.”

　　“我怀疑这件事究竟有多大影响，”英格兰考文垂华威商学院(Warwick Business School)的会计学教授克劳福德·斯宾塞(Crawford Spence)说。“总体而言，企业并不认为公司税有多少正当性，而西方国家似乎也对征收这些税款不感兴趣。”

　　The government is phasing out what is known as the “double Irish” provision. It allowscorporations with operations in Ireland to make royalty payments for intellectual property toa separate Irish-registered subsidiary. That subsidiary, though incorporated in Ireland,typically has its home in a country that has no corporate income tax.

　　政府正在逐步取消所谓的“爱尔兰面包片”模式所涉及条款。它允许在爱尔兰经营的企业，向该企业在爱尔兰注册的另外一家子公司支付知识产权使用费。这家子公司虽然在爱尔兰注册，但是其总部往往位于不征收企业所得税的国家。

　　Take Google. Its Dublin headquarters are its main hub outside the United States, employingmore than 2,500 people. A Dublin-based subsidiary for Google generates revenue, mostlyfrom online advertising, and then pays it in royalties to a separate Google unit that isregistered in Ireland but is resident in Bermuda for tax purposes.

　　以谷歌为例，它在都柏林的总部是该公司在美国以外的主要处所，员工超过2500人。谷歌设在都柏林的一家子公司负责创造收入，主要是依靠网络广告;然后再把这些收入以知识产权使用费的名义，支付给在爱尔兰注册的另一家谷歌子公司。但是为了避税，后者登记的住所是百慕大群岛。

　　Reuters reported that Adobe Systems and Yahoo were also among the multinationals with Irish-registered companies that were not tax residents of Ireland.

　　路透社报道，跨国公司奥多比系统(Adobe Systems)和雅虎(Yahoo)也拥有在爱尔兰注册，但登记的住所不在爱尔兰，因而不向爱尔兰纳税的子公司。

　　“Aggressive tax planning by the multinational companies has been criticized by governmentsacross the globe and has damaged the reputation of many countries,” Michael Noonan,Ireland’s finance minister, told the Irish Parliament on Tuesday as part of a budget speech. “Iam abolishing the ability of companies to use the ‘double Irish’ by changing our residency rulesto require all companies registered in Ireland to also be tax-resident.”

　　“跨国公司激进的税收计划受到了各国政府的批评，而且玷污了许多国家的名誉，”爱尔兰财政部长迈克尔·努南(Michael Noonan)周二在议会发表预算演讲时说。“我现在要修改关于住所规定，要求所有在爱尔兰登记的公司也必须是这里的税务居民，从而让那些公司无法再利用‘爱尔兰面包片’的模式。”

　　Google declined on Tuesday to comment on the specifics of the double-Irish technique.

　　周二，谷歌拒绝就“爱尔兰面包片”的具体情况发表评论。

　　“As we’ve always said, it’s for governments to decide the law and for companies to complywith it,” Google said in a statement. “We’re deeply committed to Ireland and will work toimplement these changes as they become law.”

　　“我们始终认为，政府制定法律，企业遵守它们，”谷歌在一份声明中说。“我们非常重视在爱尔兰的业务，将在这些变动成为法律之后予以实施。”

　　Apple and Microsoft declined to comment about their Irish tax strategies. Abbott Laboratoriesdid not respond to calls.

　　苹果和微软拒绝谈论在爱尔兰的税务策略，雅培没有回复记者多次提出的置评请求。

　　Dublin’s defending the double-Irish provision has become steadily more difficult in the growingpolitical debate about the tax payments made by multinationals.

　　随着关于跨国公司纳税金额的政治讨论愈演愈烈，都柏林为“爱尔兰面包片”涉及的条款进行辩护的难度也越来越大。

　　“I think this is part of an overall drive to try to get international companies to pay more tax,”Mr. Tynan said. “Ireland wants to be very competitive, but it has to do that withininternational rules, and there was a feeling that this was at the boundaries of those rules.”

　　“我认为这是让跨国公司缴纳更多税款的整体趋势的一部分，”泰南说。“爱尔兰希望拥有很强的竞争力，但它这么做必须在国际规则的范围内。而且人们感到，这件事已经触碰到了这些规则的边界。”

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