Google tax-free income in 'double Irish, Dutch Sandwich'

Google moved €10.7 billion through the Netherlands to Bermuda in 2014, as part of a structure which allows it to earn most of its foreign income tax-free.

Accounts for Google Netherlands Holdings show the unit transferred almost all its revenue, mainly royalties from an Irish affiliate through which most non-US revenue is channelled, to a Bermuda-based, Irish-registered affiliate called Google Ireland Holdings.

The strategy is known to accountants as the “double Irish, Dutch Sandwich”.