Ireland closing a tax loophole that saved billions for Apple, Google, and Facebook

Over the last decade many of the biggest tech companies in the world have opened headquarters in Ireland. Companies like Google, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and many more were no doubt drawn by the smart programming talent and availability of awesome pubs. But another big factor was a tax loophole known as the "double Irish" that allowed company with a headquarters in Ireland to make royalty payments to a separate subsidiary registered in Ireland but officially housed anywhere on the globe with a favorable tax rate. So Google, for example, has a Dublin office with around 2,500 employees, but most of the revenue booked in Ireland is then paid as royalties to a separate subsidiary, headquartered for tax purposes in Bermuda.

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