Starbucks seeks fresh US tax breaks

Starbucks seeks fresh US tax breaks Starbucks has launched a fightback in the US to protect and expand tax breaks on foreign profits – just months after its tax structure provoked a political backlash and public relations crisis in the UK. In a letter to lawmakers on the House of Representatives’ ways and means committee – which is weighing a sweeping overhaul of the US tax system – the coffee shop chain said its global effective tax rate exceeded 32 per cent. Starbucks also said it was willing to consider forgoing some US tax breaks, such as the domestic manufacturing deduction and accelerated depreciation on business investments, as long as the revenues could be used to lower the corporate tax rate down from its current level of 35 per cent. But in addition, the coffee chain insisted Congress should continue allowing the deferral of US tax on foreign sales of coffee beans – which are protected by an “agricultural commodity exception” under US tax rules. It also asked that taxes on royalty revenues – which were at the centre of the UK tax furore last year – should also be deferred until the money is brought back to the US. http://link.ft.com/r/6NPSBB/JQL6FH/V1UB9K/R39S01/YGYWIJ/4O/h?a1=2013&a2=4&a3=24