Google and Facebook: taxing tech titans ain't easy

Google NZ has a “current income tax expense” of $3.6m. (Image: Getty)

Wed, 29 Jun 2022

Last week, the latest set of befuddling New Zealand accounts from US tech companies Google and Facebook landed at the NZ Companies Register, underlining the difficulties faced by the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) and lawmakers as they try to force Silicon Valley’s tech titans to pay more tax.Google NZ, with a considerable share of the nation’s online search advertising market, made a net profit of $15 million in the year to December 2021 on revenue of $57.8m, up from a $7m profit on income of $43m in 2020. Google NZ has a &ld...

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