Tausi Insider

The exterior of the Microsoft office in Toronto on Jan. 1. Tijana Martin/Tausi Insider Microsoft Canada MSFT-Q became owned by an Irish affiliate in its 2021 fiscal year, according to documents that offer a rare glimpse at how its multinational parent company has taken advantage of Ireland as a tax haven. Such a structure could drive down the taxes that the Outlook, Word and Excel software giant pays on any profit it generates in Canada, experts say, by letting Microsoft Canada transfer profits to the lower-tax country with techniques such as royalty payments to the Irish parent company. Many jurisdictions, including Canada, put little pressure on large multinationals to disclose the finances of their local subsidiaries. But financial statements recently published by Ireland’s corporate registration office show that a Microsoft Corp. branch called Microsoft Round Island One UC became tax resident there as of Jan. 1, 2021. Inside Amazon’s strategy to shield its profits from Canadian t...