Facebook to book revenues in different countries as Irish tax loophole to expire
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Facebook to book revenues in different countries as Irish tax loophole to expire

THE social media giant is set to stop booking revenue from large advertisers through its Irish base.

Facebook is set to shake up its tax structure in order to avoid criticism by governments around the world by paying tax in the countries they operate in as opposed to just through one low taxed base.

Facebook has said they will be decreasing Ireland's tax bill when they move to paying taxes on revenue in countries they're earned in, such as Germany and France.

According to The Irish Times, the changeover won't be fully rolled out until 2019, but the decision made by Facebook will mean that a significant chunk of income will be taken from the Irish tax bill.

Facebook's Irish tax bill in 2016 was €29.5 million which in the next while, will be set to decrease incrementally.

Dave Wehner of Facebook announced the news: "Today we are announcing that Facebook has decided to move to a local selling structure in countries where we have an office to support sales to local advertisers...

Wehner said the move was a nod to greater transparency in company's financial affairs: "We believe that moving to a local selling structure will provide more transparency to governments and policymakers around the world who have called for greater visibility over the revenue associated with locally-supported sales in their countries."

Sites such as Google and Facebook are under pressure from the EU and other countries to book revenue in countries where it has been collected, especially as the Irish tax loophole used by many companies to reduce their bills are searching for alternatives because it is due to expire in 2020.