How Uber, Google, Facebook and Other Tech Giants Avoid Paying Billions in Tax?

Let’s start with Uber.

Let’s say an Uber rider in Kuala Lumpur taps her iPhone and requests a ride. At the end of the ride the details (such as distance and time spent on the road) are recorded and the rider gets off. No money changes hands, it’s all billed through the rider’s credit card seamlessly; there’s no tipping and no haggling. It’s easy and convenient.

Now, the real question is what happens to the money that just got billed? To uncover the answer, lets follow the money from a tax point of view.

Let say, the total ride cost was RM100. The total fare is credited and sent across national borders into the account of a company in Netherlands called Uber B.V. (you can see it at the end of your uber invoice that gets sent to you as a rider).

This company collects the fare electronically, through Raiser Operations B.V. (another Dutch subsidiary), and sends RM80 (or 80% of the fare) to the driver’s account.