EU finance ministers close corporate tax loophole

EU finance ministers have agreed to close a loophole that allowed multinationals to avoid paying corporate taxes, in part by funnelling profits through Ireland.

It enabled US tech giants such as Microsoft and Google to use shell companies in Ireland and the Netherlands to shift profits on to non-EU tax havens, by exploiting differences in national laws known as “hybrid mismatches”.

It was made possible, in part, by the “double Irish” loophole that let foreign companies set up in Ireland without being tax resident here.