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US based headquarters cannot transfer money from foreign sister companies back to US without paying tax, so they buy foreign companies.

Wunderlist seems like one of many todo list apps: https://www.wunderlist.com/



I feel like, if your goal is to get bought by Apple, Google or Microsoft (or a pharma company, for that matter), it would be wise to incorporate in a country where they can use their offshore cash to buy you. Maybe Americans can start getting in on it.


"Tax haven support as a service"


Germany is not a tax haven.

Taxing the repatriation of funds that have already been taxed (Eg: Apple sells a Mac in germany, it pays taxes on the profits in germany) is punitive and very rare for a country to do.

Most countries actually want money coming into the country from outside- and call it "foreign investment". This money tends to stimulate the economy and benefit everybody.

The USA is neandrathal in its taxation schemes. Leaving money outside the USA is not "evading" taxes, because no taxes were due (the local taxes were already paid). It's simply not enabling the federal governments' attempts to double dip.


Yes and no.

Yes, Germany is not a tax haven. However, US multinationals have been avoiding paying taxes in the EU. For example, those profits made in Germany are offset by purely fictitious charges from an entity in Luxembourg or Ireland, so no actual tax is due in Germany. The host countries of those entities negotiate special deals where they also pay essentially no taxes.

So there is no actual "double dipping", most of those profits haven't been taxed, they've been tax-avoided.

See:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/30/us-apple-ireland-t...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/30/apple-ireland-tax-b...

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/17/business/amazon-luxembourg...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/15/us-britain-starbuc...


They call that "I-Banking" or "Investment Banking" where I come from.


Offtopic: Speaking about Microsoft, I just noticed a "Windows 10" advertisement in my Windows 7 taskbar next to the clock. Windows update silently installs and launches new applications (two executable) and one of them comes with enabled Telemetry. 23MB big ad-program is located in C:\Windows\System32\GWX\. Check your Windows 7/8 taskbar.

Source: http://venturebeat.com/2015/05/31/microsoft-starts-prompting...

https://support.microsoft.com/de-at/kb/3035583/en-us

@downvoters: even if it's offtopic, see at least the source


Also offtopic, but everybody really should be brushing twice a day, for a full 2 minutes each time. And flossing.


First floss, then brush. Spend 30 seconds in each quadrant and be sure to get the molars in the back. Don't brush immediately after drinking acidic things like soda.


Flossing is actually less important than most people think. It's far more important to thoroughly brush your teeth, to the extent that most of the time that people spend flossing would be better off used for brushing.

Flossing doesn't protect against caries, but can provide some benefits for gum health.


as a child, I was told that my teeth were fairly well protected against cavities on the open surfaces by cursory brushing, by virtue of my sealants- but that flossing was equally if not more important since those inter-tooth pockets were the only places where food could hang out, firmly pressed against the enamel.


There actually hadn't been much research done on it until relatively recently (and probably still not enough), so your dentist was just following the common knowledge of the time.

Here's a link: http://www.cochrane.org/CD008829/ORAL_flossing-to-reduce-gum...


I wouldn't really call it an "ad" in the revenue generating sense.

They are notifying you that you can get Windows 10 for free. This program lets you do that in a couple clicks and is very convenient.


"Offtopic" was a wee bit of an understatement there




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