Starbucks yet to pay money pledged after tax row
Starbucks admit that they have not yet paid the millions pounds they promised they would pay to the government after a row over their tax.
'Call a spade a spade' - Google under attack
A stroppy session of one of Westminster's most powerful committees and one of the world's biggest businesses is just drawing to close.
Google's UK boss facing tough tax questions from MPs
Google UK boss Matt Brittin is facing questions from MPs over where it makes its ad money - and whether they should be paying more tax here.
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Apple pay 'an extraordinary amount' in US taxes
Apple said they paid "an extraordinary amount" in US taxes after a Senate committee report claimed the company was avoiding paying billions of dollars.
The technology giant said in a statement: "Apple does not move its intellectual property into offshore tax havens and use it to sell products back into the US in order to avoid US tax.
"It does not use revolving loans from foreign subsidiaries to fund its domestic operations; it does not hold money on a Caribbean island; and it does not have a bank account in the Cayman Islands."
Apple CEO Tim Cook is set to testify and explain the company's tax strategy at a subcommittee hearing today.
Apple 'sought the Holy Grail of tax avoidance'
Apple has been accused of seeking "the Holy Grail of tax avoidance" by a US Senate committee.
The technology giant has avoided paying billions of dollars in US taxes by using "offshore entities", according to the report.
The US Senate committee chairman Senator Carl Levin said: "Apple wasn't satisfied with shifting its profits to a low-tax offshore tax haven.
"Apple sought the Holy Grail of tax avoidance. It has created offshore entities holding tens of billions of dollars, while claiming to be tax resident nowhere."
Committee member and former Republican candidate for the US Presidency John McCain added: "While Apple claims to be the biggest US corporate taxpayer, it is also among America's largest tax avoiders."
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Apple defends US tax record
Apple said in a comment posted online that it does not use "tax gimmicks." It said the existence of its subsidiary 'Apple Operations International' in Ireland does not reduce Apple's US tax liability and the company will pay more than $7 billion in US taxes in 2013.
In submitted testimony ahead of the hearing, Apple said any tax reform should favour lower corporate income tax rates regardless of revenue, eliminate tax expenditures and implement a "reasonable tax on foreign earnings that allows free movement of capital back to the US."
"Apple recognizes these and other improvements in the US corporate tax system may increase the company's taxes," it said.
US Senate questions Apple's 'tax loopholes'
Apple has been accused of employing a group of affiliate companies located in Ireland to avoid paying billions of dollars in US income taxes, a Senate investigation has alleged.
According to the report, Apple is holding around $102 billion of its $145 billion in cash overseas, and an Irish subsidiary that earned $22 billion in 2011 paid only $10 million in taxes.
But the committee said there was no indication Apple had done anything illegal. Many other multinational corporations use similar tax techniques to avoid paying US income taxes on profits they make overseas.
But the report found that Apple uses a unique twist, and lawmakers are raising questions about loopholes in the US tax code.
Cameron issues warning to leaders of tax havens
David Cameron has written to the leaders of Britain's offshore tax havens stressing the need to "get our own houses in order" as he pushes for international action to tackle avoidance schemes.
In a message to 10 crown dependencies and British overseas territories Mr Cameron said he backed their right to be low tax jurisdictions but insisted that rules needed to be set and enforced fairly.
The move comes ahead of next month's G8 summit in Northern Ireland, where Mr Cameron will push for an agreement aimed at clamping down on tax evasion and avoidance.
He said he wanted the G8 to "knock down the walls of company secrecy" to reveal who really owns and controls firms.
Mr Cameron's initiative came as he prepared to raise the issue of corporate tax dodging with Google boss Eric Schmidt at a meeting in Downing Street.
The internet giant's executive chairman is a member of Mr Cameron's Business Advisory Group, which has its regular quarterly meeting today, just days after Google was given a mauling by a House of Commons committee over its tax affairs.
Google branded 'devious' over its UK taxes
Google was branded "devious," "calculating" and "unethical," as furious MPs stepped up pressure on the internet giant over its efforts to shelter its multi-billion profits from UK taxes.
MPs from the Public Accounts Committee quizzed the company's UK boss Matt Brittin as to why he has sales staff in the UK while registering profits from sales deals in Ireland - where tax is 10 percent lower.
ITV News Business Editor Laura Kuenssberg reports:
Read: Laura Kuenssberg's blog: 'Call a spade a spade' - Google under attack
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Starbucks: We are on track to pay 'significant tax'
– Starbucks spokespersonWe are on track to implement the unprecedented commitment to pay a significant amount of tax during 2013 and 2014.
Tax expert: Committee has become a 'kangaroo court'
by Laura Kuenssberg - Business EditorA tax expert tells me the Public Accounts Committee has become a "dangerous kangaroo court". He says Margaret Hodge risks "undermining rule of law".
He adds the committee is "out of control" and Margaret Hodge is displaying double standards.
Miliband: Google tax avoidance is 'totally unacceptable'
Labour leader Ed Miliband has tweeted that Google's failure to pay tax shows a culture of "corporate irresponsibility" which is "totally unacceptable".
Google going to extraordinary lengths to avoid paying tax shows a culture of corporate irresponsibility which is totally unacceptable.
From @Ed_Miliband on Twitter:Google and Starbucks 'give us no reason to trust them'
– Richard Murphy, director of Tax Research UKWhat we are seeing is a company that is saying one thing and doing another. This is the story of large companies these days.
We're asked to trust these companies but they give us no reason to do so.
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