<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" Google is facing fresh scrutiny over its UK tax arrangements following reports of inconsistencies pertaining to the way it does business. The web giant previously stated that its Dublin headquarters handles all advertising sales to British clients, a move that minimises its tax liability in the UK.  However, a Reuters investigation appears to have uncovered evidence of London-based sales staff with duties that include &amp;quot;negotiating deals&amp;quot;, closing &amp;quot;strategic and revenue deals&amp;quot; and meeting &amp;quot;quarterly sales quotas&amp;quot;. The news organisation complied the evidence by conducting interviews with Google customers and former staff, as well as analysing job advertisements and employee&amp;#039;s LinkedIn profiles. Google&amp;#039;s head of northern European operations Matt Brittin told MPs in a previous hearing that the firm&amp;#039;s London staff &amp;quot;encourage&amp;quot; potential advertising partners to enter deals, but insisted all final transactions are completed in Dublin.  Brittin will now be called before the Public Accounts Committee once again, along with Google&amp;#039;s auditor Ernst &amp;amp;amp; Young, but the search engine is adamant that it has not violated UK tax law, dismissing the Reuters article as &amp;quot;wilfully misleading&amp;quot;. &amp;quot;As we told them in our statement, Matt Brittin clearly explained the roles of UK staff in hours of evidence to the Public Accounts Committee,&amp;quot; said a Google spokesperson. &amp;quot;If [customers] want to buy advertising from us they are encouraged to do so by our people in the UK - they will buy it from our expert team in Dublin. &amp;quot;As we have said many times, we comply with all the tax rules in the UK and in every other country in which we operate.&amp;quot; However, Margaret Hodge, the Labour chair of the Public Accounts Committee described the alleged inconsistencies as a &amp;quot;very serious&amp;quot; matter, and said the Google executives will be grilled for a second time in light of the new developments. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tech/internet/news/a477919/google-faces-fresh-tax-scrutiny-over-alleged-inconsistencies/>