Tech: Amazon Ends Luxembourg Tax Dodge
Tech: Amazon ends Luxembourg tax dodge
Amazon has stopped funneling European revenue through low-tax Luxembourg, a move that could “significantly boost” the company’s overseas tax bill, said Lisa Fleisher and Sam Schechner in The Wall Street Journal. On May 1, the online retailer began declaring sales revenue in individual European countries. This “sea change” in tax strategy comes “amid intense scrutiny of corporate tax practices” by European Union regulators. EU officials have recently launched taxevasion probes of Amazon, Starbucks, Apple, and others.
Entertainment: Memorial Day box office disappoints
Hollywood just had its worst Memorial Day weekend since 2001, said Frank Pallotta in CNN.com. The overall box office take was $192 million, down from 2013’s record $314 million and last year’s $232 million. Disney’s utopian fantasy Tomorrowland came out on top, but “opened to a somewhat dystopian $41.7 million.” June and July “look to get things back on track,” with big releases like Jurassic World, Pixar’s Inside Out, and Marvel’s superhero-driven Ant-Man.
Food: Avian flu leads to egg shortages
A virulent bird flu outbreak in the Midwest is causing egg shortages and soaring prices, said Roberto Ferdman in The Washington Post. At least 40 million farm-raised chickens and turkeys have been culled in recent months—some 25 million of them in Iowa alone, where 20 percent of U.S. chicken eggs are produced. More than 80 percent of infected birds nationwide have been egg-laying hens, and the subsequent drop in egg production has caused a spike in the wholesale price of “liquid” eggs sold to food companies—from $0.63 per dozen in late April to more than $1.50 today.
Taxes: Personal tax records stolen from the IRS
More than 100,000 taxpayers had their personal tax information stolen from an IRS website this spring as part of an elaborate fraud scheme, said Stephen Ohlemacher in the Associated Press. Criminals used Social Security numbers, as well as information like birth dates and street addresses, to log into the IRS’s online “Get Transcript” system, which provides taxpayers access to their previous tax returns and filings. The thieves then used the data to file fraudulent tax returns, claiming about $50 million in refunds before the IRS detected the scheme.
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