Revelations that Google paid only A$74,000 in Australian taxes last
year, despite generating around A$1.1 billion from local customers, have
put the spotlight on multinationals and taxation. With the federal
government's newly updated transfer-pricing rules, which affect the way
corporations can shift profits between countries, there's a sharper eye
on where organisations locate intangible assets, such as intellectual
property (IP). Research by Michael Walpole of the Australian School of
Business and Nadine Riedel of Oxford University finds tax authorities
can be overly suspicious of what motivates companies in their choice of
IP location. Their decisions may be influenced by far more than tax.