๏“ ย ย Back
~
2
min read
ยท Posted on
February 21, 2024

Meta is still displaying some impressive dodgeball skills, paying just $24 mill in taxes in Oz

Meta sure knows how to dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge.

What's the key learning?

  • Meta won't be the first or last company to skirt around Aussie tax regulations.
  • Last year Australia and NZ agreed to a new tax scheme, but we're yet to see if it will be successful.

๐Ÿ‘‰ Background: Meta has really made itself into enemy numero uno over the last couple of years. Last year, it banned all news pages on the Facebook platform... then we had the whistleblower saga.

๐Ÿ‘‰ What happened: Now, Meta Australia has lodged its tax for the 2021 calendar year. Get this: the entity earned $1.12 billion, but managed to send nearly $950 million to an offshore subsidiary for 'purchasing advertising inventory' ๐Ÿ‘€.

๐Ÿ‘‰ What else: As a result, the company paid just $24.2 mil in tax in 2021. Looks like Meta is still managing to shift revenue offshore to avoid paying taxes in Oz.

๐Ÿ”” What's the key learning?

๐Ÿ’ก Meta Australia is not the first and certainly won't be the last company to skirt around Australia's taxation scheme. In 2020 Netflix managed to pay only $550,000 despite making $1 billion in local revenue.

๐Ÿ’กBig tech companies and many multinational companies set up corporate structures in countries with low tax rates. Then, they shift a large part of their local revenue to that company... where they pay less tax.

๐Ÿ’กLast year Australia and New Zealand agreed to a new tax scheme targeting 20-30% of the net profits of tech companies like Meta. Only time will tell if this will be successful.

Ready to win at money?

Sign up for Flux and join 100,000 members of the Flux family

A button to App StoreGoogle Play store button
Excellent ย 4.9 out of 5
Star rating