We're not quitting the UK: Microsoft quashes Brexit fake news Microsoft has committed itself to the UK after comments by a manager were ripped out of context. In a Channel 9 webinar last week explaining Brexit to Microsoft customers not familiar with the details, Owen Larter, government affairs manager at Microsoft UK, expressed optimism for post-Brexit UK's digital economy. Asked …
"That bright future will not be possible if we cannot transfer data into UK data centres," said Larter.
However, Larter said the government had made the right noises
DRIPA is the right noises? I'd hate to think what "wrong" might mean for him.
More likely it's is a veiled hint: "Smarten up or we're out of here.".
They will need to separate their UK and EU businesses.
You can't have your EU HQ and data centres outside the EU/EEA.
Those with EU HQs outside the UK are likely to set up UK offices, which will offset the downsizing of those with HQs currently here. Though I suspect we are going to lose far more than we gain.
Though I suspect we are going to lose far more than we gain.
How so? Microsoft have a "deal" with HMRC such that for the five years 2012-2017, they avoid paying £100m a year in UK taxes. Half a billion quid of tax evaded, through the greed of Microsoft, and stupidity and complicity of UK tax administrators.
I want all socially irresponsible tax dodging companies like Microsoft to shove off, and if Brexit achieves that then I'll be delighted. Maybe Slurp could relocate to Ireland, who are involved in both the Microsoft UK tax avoidance, and of course their own sweetheart deal with Apple? We can then watch from the sidelines how the EU and Ireland settle their little contretemps over tax. And the British government could do their bit by using the British Virgin Islands as the next test site for Trident. Time it right and we'd even evaporate Beardo.
@Chris
Tim Worstall has absolutely no clue on economic matters, in general, Forbes does not like my ad blocker, so I cannot judge on this specific case.
In general, these big corps use the rules to engage in tax avoidance. Here is a Financial Times article on the matter, way more reliable (again, I cannot judge Tim's article by the contents this time, but if the garbage he has written in the past on this site is anything to go by and if he has not taken economics classes in the mean time, it would be a waste of my time ... and, I don't want their ads):
https://www.ft.com/content/bc2eb5dc-955f-11e6-a1dc-bdf38d484582
No, it's not an outrage.
I, personally, as an individual, have a request in for an advance acceptance of my actions being correct and seeking confirmation of how the tax authorities will treat the situation.
There are lots of reasons aside from transfer pricing (almost anything to do with bilateral taxation treaties actually) that one might make such a request.
I certainly don't see myself as "avoiding tax", merely acquiring some certainty as to how much I will pay. As a resident of multiple countries, there is a bit of a fight about to which country I pay tax.
"How so?"
Because you would have to be pretty naive not to expect English-speaking EU countries like Ireland, Malta and Cyprus to go after U.K.-based financial and IT companies?
If you got rid of all the socially irresponsible tax-dodging companies like Microsoft and Apple, you'd be back to bartering chickens and running Linux. Now who wants that?
Personally I would regard any tax accountant as a godsend, who knew exactly when to offer HMRC settlement of up to half of what is owed, just in time for the HMRC inspectors personal bonus evaluations. Blame the incompetence of the puffed-up HMRC bureaucrats, not the companies that take advantage of a corrupt 1920's era tax collection system.
Call me a nut, but I don't see why the entire Country of Great UK does not chuck out all of the dirty, foreign IT kit in favour of good old homemade Raspberry Pi in a 1cpu for 1cpu swap! It can be done. It might get ugly before it gets pretty, but there you go. Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt.
"You know these local web sites are a bit slower, but at least they're are own!"
"Yes, I've had worse. In the war."
"Does this meat look, I don't know, funny to you?"
"I've had worse. In the war."
Well, grubbymint IT has been such a success with everyone working under the yoke of slurp's systems, hasn't it? Forget the tax issues - what about all the licence gouging and maintenance / upgrade costs?
I suggest we need a shiny new IT czar to shake 'em all up a bit.
I humbly suggest that the grubbymint offers the job to a nice, quiet spoken bloke who won't suffer fools, It'd be right up Linus's street.
Give him total control. It be worth it whatever we had to pay him. The comedy value of squirming usual suspects and civil servants choking in their troughs as an extra morale booster.
Hey - Mrs Mayhem - get in quick before Trump nabs him - looks like Mr Galliano's circuss tent is about to fall down.
"Of course they will be staying, they are probably the easiest route into business data for the agencies as no other software needs to be installed."
Only as a UK office for UK-only business. EU customers will have to be served from premises in countries with proper data-protection regulations.
Aren't servers tariff free any way? There is a zero tariff trade agreement on IT HW & SW at WTO level and EU & China are signatories. So MS concerns unlikely for HW and traditional s/w sales & for IT at least the article suggests tariffs are applied when afaik they aren't.
Doubt UK as paragon of free trade will drop out of such a major WTO agreement by choice.
However, they will find that doing business across the EU will be much harder from the UK after it happens. I expect their presence here to start decreasing over time, as doing business across the EU and UK becomes more difficult (and expensive) post Brexit. Let's face it, what's the bgger market - the EU or UK?
Maybe the "data liberalisation" they want will be offered by politicians desperate to avoid the sight of departing companies and skilled workers. Hey Presto! All your personal info is belong to us.. And probably plenty of others too if things do start going downhill.
Like when they invented an "EU Space Agency" to try to pile on some more blame on the EU? Then modified the article without notification?
It's still in the link:
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/01/18/eu_space_agencys_galileo_satellites_stricken_by_mystery_clock_failures/
Kettle, meet Mr Pot.
We made a mistake in the name and when we knew we had made a mistake we corrected the error. We did not and do not consider this a material change to the article - which would merit notice in the article.
For you to spin that into a fake news accusation is ludicrous.
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