This tax chart suggests that Apple and Facebook should seriously consider moving from Silicon Valley to Belarus
BelarusFeed
20 May 2017, 16:56
If it becomes resident of Belarus Hi-Tech Park and operates in the sphere of its business activities, Apple could save up to $13.5 billion on taxes, experts at Grant Thornton, an accounting company, estimated.
At present American IT giants pay some of the highest taxes in the world, according to Statista, and have to develop legal and not completely legal optimization schemes.
If companies like Apple, Microsoft and Oracle “move” to Belarus, the tax load on them will drop significantly.
HTP residents make a quarterly payment of 1% of revenue from the relevant business activities to the HTP while being exempt from the value-added tax and having some other tax benefits.
Based on the annual financial statements of the largest IT companies in the U.S. for the fiscal year 2016, Grant Thornton experts calculated the approximate amount of their estimated contributions to the HTP for the same period and how much those companies could save on taxes:
![This tax chart suggests that Apple and Facebook should seriously consider moving from Silicon Valley to Belarus]( "This tax chart suggests that Apple and Facebook should seriously consider moving from Silicon Valley to Belarus")
For example, if Apple were an HTP resident, it would pay $2.2 billion as HTP contributions instead of $15.7 billion as taxes for the fiscal year 2016. So the company would save about 86% on taxes alone.
All in all, the savings for the biggest companies are significant – they range from 70 to 90%.
As for the revenues to Belarusian budget, they would make additional $4.3 billion.
20 May 2017, 16:56
At present American IT giants pay some of the highest taxes in the world, according to Statista, and have to develop legal and not completely legal optimization schemes.
If companies like Apple, Microsoft and Oracle “move” to Belarus, the tax load on them will drop significantly.
HTP residents make a quarterly payment of 1% of revenue from the relevant business activities to the HTP while being exempt from the value-added tax and having some other tax benefits.
Based on the annual financial statements of the largest IT companies in the U.S. for the fiscal year 2016, Grant Thornton experts calculated the approximate amount of their estimated contributions to the HTP for the same period and how much those companies could save on taxes:
For example, if Apple were an HTP resident, it would pay $2.2 billion as HTP contributions instead of $15.7 billion as taxes for the fiscal year 2016. So the company would save about 86% on taxes alone.
All in all, the savings for the biggest companies are significant – they range from 70 to 90%.
As for the revenues to Belarusian budget, they would make additional $4.3 billion.
