Starbucks Tip Jar Covered 95% Of Their Corporation Tax Last Year

GLOBAL coffee giants Starbucks have confirmed that the corporation tax paid in Ireland last year was more or less covered by 2 cents and 5 cents contained in the tip jars of their Dublin stores.

Despite pre-tax profits of €2.3m last year, the company paid just €4,196 in corporation tax. This figure was up by €4,196 on the previous two years, where they paid nothing at all.

Starbucks would have been liable for a tax bill of €289,929 in 2014, however the tax bill was reduced through mainly €202,685 in non-taxable income and €83,048 in group relief, leaving a balance due of four grand or so.

Chiefs at Starbucks, then sent an email to managers in branches across Dublin instructing them to “dip into the tip jar” and come up with the necessary funds.

“Yeah, there’s a few dozen stores across Dublin, so we really only had to come up with a hundred euro or so apiece,” said Michael Lemmin, manager of the Ballmun NCT centre branch of Starbucks.

“We just skimmed it out of the pennies in the tip jar at the end of the day and made it up by the end of the week. The staff divvy up the tips among themselves, but nobody ever wants to bother counting the coppers. So we threw them into a big jar and then took them down to Tesco, there’s a machine there at the front which counts out your change for you”.

Senior tax experts at Starbucks have issued an apology for taking the money out of the tip jar, promising to do their absolute best at paying no tax next year.