In that example they found that the 'licensing fee' was a royalty meaning there is a 30% withholding depending on double tax treaties and rates between the two locations. Which for a zero tax foreign licensor would mean a 30% local tax on however much you send overseas.
I wonder how much the company saved on avoiding taxes in that way, until it didn't work any more. (Didn't see any numbers, having had a look at the linked page)
I wonder if there's any table of all different methods companies use, to avoid taxes, and how much they typically save, and what could be ways to stop it
Maybe could be helpful for lawmakers
> required to pay 30% withholding tax
That's quite a lot is it? Compared to company taxes. Seems like a strong incentive to stop cheating
Company taxes are also 30% over here typically, flat rate. It is quite a lot I think, for small businesses at least. They don't have economies of scale or fancy setups and owners will pay a tax on profits then income taxes for themselves (I think dividends can work around this with franking credits), it can hurt margins, not to mention compliance overheads for GST etc.
> doesn't let you entirely evade taxes
"Entirely"?
It's not about evading taxes to 100%, but maybe 90% (not sure about the numbers).
Also, the taxes get paid in a different country, doesn't benefit the people in, say, the US.