The “Google tax” introduced by George Osborne to target global technology companies does not apply to the internet giant itself, The Times can reveal.
The chancellor said yesterday that the diverted profit tax had been a “major success” in ensuring that Google would pay tax.
Brought in last year, the DPT was designed to impose a 25 per cent levy on profits that are artificially diverted overseas by multinationals. It covered companies that, like Google, operated “marketing” offshoots in Britain while finalising contracts abroad, and should raise £1.3 billion for the Treasury by 2020.
The DPT was dubbed the “Google tax” because it was expected to prevent the US company registering up to $6 billion of annual British sales in Ireland, so avoiding tax in