Ride share giant Uber is accused of not paying its fair share of taxes by shifting millions of dollars in profits overseas through so-called ‘inter-company service fees.’
Uber’s most recent annual report has revealed that the company generated $365 million in revenue in Aotearoa in 2023.
However, it declared a profit of only $4.5 million. Uber also paid $1.2 million in corporate tax.
Edward Miller, a researcher at the Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research, explained that the majority of Uber’s revenue in New Zealand is transferred offshore under the label of ‘inter-company service fees.’
Miller said the money “should be being booked here as corporate profits before being sent offshore as dividends to the parent company.”
“If the $200 million in inter-company service fees – which we believe are profits that have been shifted to a different jurisdiction – had been booked here in New Zealand, then that would have netted, at a base assumption, around about $50 to $60 million in corporate tax,” Miller added.
“We need to see greater disclosure requirements on multinational digital companies to ensure that more of the benefit is able to be booked here to fund decent public services and public investment in infrastructure.”