The daily El País presents the latest available data on this topic. In 2018, almost half of the profits made by US multinationals in the European Union were recognised through their Irish subsidiaries, according to data recently published by the Office of Economic Analysis. 47% of the profits recognised in Europe by large US companies (and 17% of profits worldwide, outside the US), were credited to the accounts of these Irish subsidiaries, with almost US$98 billion (EUR 8.3 billion).

Ireland is one of the most profitable European countries in ‘advantage taxation’. So it attracts the interest of the multinationals and they settle on the island. Companies declare their profits through their Irish subsidiaries. Profits have been made in other European countries, but in a country where the tax burden is much lower, as in the case of Ireland, benefits are recognised. The practice is particularly simple in the case of digital business, as it is not necessary to have a physical presence in a country to develop the business in it. For example, the Irish multinational Apple has a tax rate of almost 0% across Ireland as a whole.

The US multinationals have benefited from nine dollars for every dollar they spent on hiring workers in the LRLAND. This shows that the benefits obtained in Europe go from one country to another on the path of low tax rates.

Ireland is not the only country with a doubtful tax system. In recent years, several European countries, such as Luxembourg, Belgium or the Netherlands, have been under investigation by the European Commission for the same reason. Neither these countries nor Ireland are regarded as tax havens, even though more and more voices are calling for this to be considered.