TaxRambling.com

Why are there no posts recently??? Disneyworld, Legoland and the Kennedy Space Centre… But the worst thing about being in Florida according to my wife is the coffee.

And then she saw the answer – Starbucks. Due to tax, Starbucks should be good coffee. Why? Starbuck pays almost no tax in the US or Australia. And the reason is that they claim that they don’t sell just coffee. They sell the same coffee with the same process and the same taste. It is the intellectually property that is valuable, not the actual coffee and as the intellectual property is owned in Ireland, Cayman Island, insert various tax haven that is where the profits end up.

The US and Australian subsidiaries pay squillions for the use of the intellectual property and so make almost no profit.

So how does Florida Starbucks taste according to my barista wife??? RUBBISH! It is totally different to Aussie Starbucks coffee.

So this is how the Commissioner should raise millions of additional tax. If Starbucks coffee is not the same all over the world, the intellectual property is not worth what they are paying and they should hit Starbuck with one massive transfer pricing adjustment!

I would love to see the High Court tasting Starbucks from around the world, taking advice from Edmundo the expert barista and taxing coffee.

Back to the Alligator Farm…