愛爾蘭將被迫封堵企業稅收漏洞
Ireland is to shut its so-called “double Irish” corporate tax loophole from the beginning of next year, bowing to intense pressure to close one of the most controversial measures in international tax planning.
愛爾蘭將封堵被稱爲“雙層愛爾蘭”(double Irish)的企業稅收漏洞，屈服於要求該國取締最具爭議的國際稅務規劃手段之一的強大壓力。
Beneficiaries include Google, Facebook and big pharmaceutical companies. In the past 20 years they have established significant tax-planning operations in Dublin, in addition to large operational, research and development and manufacturing divisions.
這一稅收安排的受益者包括谷歌(Google)、Facebook和一些大型製藥企業。在過去20年裏，這些企業不僅在都柏林設立了大規模的運營、研發和製造分公司，也在當地建立了可觀的稅務規劃部門。Luring US investment to Ireland helped create its booming economy before the financial crisis. For years, Dublin resisted intense pressure from its EU partners over what they regarded as unfair tax competition.
將美國投資吸引至愛爾蘭，使該國在金融危機前享受了經濟繁榮。多年來，愛爾蘭一直抵制歐盟(EU)其它成員國的巨大壓力，這些成員國將這種稅收安排視爲不公平的稅收競爭手段。
Dublin’s move is a pre-emptive step ahead of an international campaign to clamp down on corporate tax avoidance. It removes a loophole that was starting to discredit the country’s overall corporate tax rate of 12.5 per cent.
愛爾蘭政府此舉搶在一場打擊企業避稅的國際行動之前。這個漏洞已經開始使人們質疑該國12.5%的整體企業稅率。Michael Noonan, finance minister, said the double Irish would not be available for companies setting up in Ireland from January. Groups using the existing structure have until 2020 to phase it out or make other arrangements.
愛爾蘭財政部長邁克爾•努南(Michael Noonan)表示，從明年1月起，在愛爾蘭設立的公司將不能採取雙層愛爾蘭做法。利用現有架構的企業必須以2020年爲限，分階段退出，或者作出其他安排。One such arrangement will be a new “knowledge development box” similar to the “patent box” adopted by the UK recently but already being probed by Brussels. While the details are still being worked out, it is understood that the box will carry a tax rate of 2.5 per cent – higher than in the UK. Companies will still be able to pool their intellectual property income behind a tax shelter.
其中一種安排將是一種新的“知識發展盒”(knowledge development box)，類似於英國不久前出臺的“專利盒”(patent box)，後者已受到歐盟調查。儘管細節尚未敲定，但人們的理解是，知識發展盒將實行2.5%的稅率，高於英國。企業仍將能夠將其知識產權收入置於一種避稅工具的保護之下。The double Irish allows companies to avoid tax on billions of dollars of royalty income by exploiting differences between Irish and US tax laws.
雙層愛爾蘭做法使企業得以利用愛爾蘭與美國之間的稅法差異，避免爲鉅額特許權使用費收入納稅。The European Commission had threatened a full-scale investigation of the structure unless the government acted to shut it down. The Commission is already probing alleged sweetheart tax deals between Ireland and Apple.
歐盟委員會(European Commission)此前威脅，如果愛爾蘭政府不取締雙層愛爾蘭結構，就將對其展開全面調查。歐盟委員會已開始調查愛爾蘭與蘋果(Apple)之間據稱暗中達成的稅收交易。
