Starbucks pays just €35,000 tax since establishment in Ireland

SafeSurfer · 17-10-2012 07:11PM

super_furry wrote: »

http://www.qualitybusinessalliance.ie/blog/starbucks-struggling-in-irish-market/ this is from last year but I still don't think they've actually made a profit here, which may explain why they're paying so little tax.

As you can see from the figures they paid a "royalty" of €1.4 million to its parent company in 2009. As has been the case in the UK the royalties charged by the parent company fluctuate to soak up all profit, thus creating a paper loss for taxation purposes in host countries.

super_furry · 17-10-2012 07:16PM

Heroditas wrote: »

Did Bobby Kerr ever pass on the VAT cut to customers?

No but when you can get any coffee and any sandwich - which are actually decent - for a fiver, I'm pretty happy.

Heroditas · 17-10-2012 07:17PM

super_furry wrote: »

No but when you can get any coffee and any sandwich - which are actually decent - for a fiver, I'm pretty happy.

If he passed on the VAT reduction, they'd be even cheaper.

admiralofthefleet · 17-10-2012 07:22PM

i dealt with starbucks years ago just before they set up here. at the time they didnt even have an irish head office. they used an address in london, like for example
starbucks ireland limited
oxford street london
united kingdom

they should be paying 9% (and 13.5% before the reduction) and should be told to cough up provided they are in the wrong

Thinkingaboutit · 17-10-2012 07:27PM

Maybe no one is drinking their horrible coffee. Probably wrong though.

namloc1980 · 17-10-2012 07:27PM

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

they should be paying 9% (and 13.5% before the reduction) and should be told to cough up provided they are in the wrong

Huh? Those are VAT rates and "coughing up" is not how VAT works for any business, big or small.

SEPT 23 1989 · 17-10-2012 07:32PM

Each of those shops have to pay rates which could be up to 50,000 a year

namloc1980 · 17-10-2012 07:34PM

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Each of those shops have to pay rates which could be up to 50,000 a year

And VAT, PRSI, PAYE, water rates etc. The amount they pay in taxes is alot more than €35k which is just the corporation tax.

Balmed Out · 17-10-2012 07:36PM

What annoys me is that you can be sure the Irish companies competing with them are paying a lot more in taxes.

admiralofthefleet · 17-10-2012 07:37PM

namloc1980 wrote: »

Huh? Those are VAT rates and "coughing up" is not how VAT works for any business, big or small.

9% is the tax businesses (such as cafe's) charge on products they sell

Lumbo · 17-10-2012 07:39PM

After revelations that Starbucks paid no income tax in the UK last year it has emerged that Starbucks Ireland have paid just €35,000

Go team Ireland

namloc1980 · 17-10-2012 07:39PM

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

9% is the tax businesses (such as cafe's) charge on products they sell

That's VAT. They don't just hand that over that 9% (or 13.5% or 23%), no business does. That's not how VAT works.

admiralofthefleet · 17-10-2012 07:41PM

namloc1980 wrote: »

That's VAT. They don't just hand that over that 9% (or 13.5% or 23%), no business does. That's not how VAT works.

the 9% charged is meant to be paid to the revenue in tax returns. do you think they hang on to it for themselves

17-10-2012 07:41PM

as people have said you have to actually make a profit to pay tax. companies can accumulate losses for the purposes of corporation tax so you only pay tax when the company makes a profit taking into account previous losses.

on the royalty payments a certain level of royalty payments back to the home franchise is reasonable and we don't know if that's the case in Ireland.

in any case, in this environment better a starbucks cafe paying workers wages, prsi and vat, rent and supporting other businesses in the economy for shop-fit-out, cleaning servces etc etc. than an empty unit for rent....

namloc1980 · 17-10-2012 07:47PM

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

the 9% charged is meant to be paid to the revenue in tax returns. do you think they hang on to it for themselves

No it's not meant to be paid over. You need to understand how VAT works. It definitely isn't what you think it is

17-10-2012 07:47PM

Thankfully there's only one Starbucks in Galway and all they got was a café on campus in NUIG. Heck at one point, the McDonald's in Shop Street was pretty much the only one not making much money. That was a few years ago so it could have changed.

viztopia · 17-10-2012 07:47PM

SafeSurfer wrote: »

After revelations that Starbucks paid no income tax in the UK last year it has emerged that Starbucks Ireland have paid just €35,000 in tax since establishing a presence in Ireland. This equates to around €5,000 per year, less than a hundred euro a week.

As we look forward to another budget of tax hikes and spending cuts the "we are all in this together" mantra is ringing very hollow.

Source?

ToddyDoody · 17-10-2012 07:55PM

Starbucks. Pick hype words, put two of the more significant ones together, add a feminine mythological marketing symbol. Boil s fancy kettle.

Aidric · 17-10-2012 08:06PM

A lot of uninformed if well intentioned bile on this thread. The company has done nothing illegal, rather they have used existing tax arrangements to lessen their liability. This is facilitated by tax policy.

They still contribute positively in terms of creating employment and the offshoots that come with that.

Direct your ire at the policy makers not the businesses which are operating within the law.

super_furry · 17-10-2012 08:12PM

Yeah but their coffee is warm slop.

PhlegmyMoses · 17-10-2012 08:16PM

UCDVet wrote: »

First - these numbers are hugely misleading.

Second - this was the goal. Countries pass favorable tax laws to get international companies to open offices. Then they complain the big rich companies don't pay enough in taxes? :rolleyes:

That's all well and good for things like call centres and the likes of eBay and Google - the kind of job creation that couldn't happen without them. If Starbucks went tomorrow, independent coffee shops would open and pay reasonable tax rates.

SafeSurfer · 17-10-2012 08:16PM

Aidric wrote: »

A lot of uninformed if well intentioned bile on this thread. The company has done nothing illegal, rather they have used existing tax arrangements to lessen their liability. This is facilitated by tax policy.

They still contribute positively in terms of creating employment and the offshoots that come with that.

Direct your ire at the policy makers not the businesses which are operating within the law.

You say they create employment. One could say they displace employment in indigenous coffee shops which would, like for like contribute more to the economy.

Zebra3 · 17-10-2012 08:18PM

Aidric wrote: »

A lot of uninformed if well intentioned bile on this thread. The company has done nothing illegal, rather they have used existing tax arrangements to lessen their liability. This is facilitated by tax policy.

They still contribute positively in terms of creating employment and the offshoots that come with that.

Direct your ire at the policy makers not the businesses which are operating within the law.

Nobody claimed they had done anything illegal. :rolleyes:

Their use of the tax laws gives them a huge advantage over small local businesses (which unlike Starbucks will not be shifting their profits abroad).

If i have to pay 50% tax on my wage, Starbucks should be paying a decent percentage on their profits and not be allowed manipulate their figures to show a pretend loss.

People should vote with their feet, boycott Starbucks, and spend their money at locally owned coffee shops.

Greenmachine · 17-10-2012 08:23PM

Time to call in CAB. Seize the premises, the rights to the name in Ireland, the trade mark, and distribution rights.

R0ot · 17-10-2012 08:40PM

I think I've paid more than that in my 5 or so years of employment...

SafeSurfer · 17-10-2012 08:43PM

viztopia wrote: »

Source?

http://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/rteradioweb.html#!rii=0%3A0%3A83%3A%3A&detail=%7B%22latest%22%3Atrue%7D&type=doPlayThis

17-10-2012 09:12PM

I'd rather keep our low corporation tax and let the likes of starbucks under the radar than increase it and p*ss of the likes of Intel, Boston scientific and other big multinationals who are keeping half the county in jobs.

enda1 · 17-10-2012 09:36PM

I thought that the franchises to all Starbucks in Ireland were owned by one company which is in fact Irish.

Nulty · 17-10-2012 10:27PM

Misty Chaos wrote: »

I don't recall seeing any Starbucks cafes when I was in Dublin recently and the only one in Cork that I know of is in Cork Airport.

I don't think Starbucks have much of presence in Ireland as of now.

Jsut set up a new one in Stillorgan within the last 2 weeks

billybudd · 17-10-2012 10:51PM

Corporations in the global sense are not expected to pay a fair share, they create employment and these slave like creatures pay the tax.

Starbucks pays just €35,000 tax since establishment in Ireland

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