Double Irish With A Dutch Sandwich

Doesn't this sound like it's some incredibly dirty sex act? Shockingly, it's...not.

Instead, the double Irish with a Dutch sandwich, also known as the double Irish arrangement, is a way that big corporations have been avoiding taxes in the U.S. since the biggest of big hair days (the '80s).

So how does this magic work? Corporations make subsidiary companies in these low-or-no-tax areas, and move all of their profits over there. As you might guess from the name, this particularly favorable method involves funneling profits through an Irish company, then a Dutch one, and then another Irish one, explaining the “sandwich” part. This Paperwork Olympics takes a lot of time and, well, paperwork—but it’s well worth it, saving companies from paying millions in taxes to the U.S.

Spoiler alert: the times of the double irish with a dutch sandwich are over...kind of. After international outrage at mega-corps like Google, Apple, Facebook, and other companies eating the sandwich, Ireland closed those loopholes in 2015...well, for everyone except those drinking the Silicon Valley Kool-Aid. Some companies, like the three mentioned above, have until 2020 to close up their sandwich shops in Ireland and the Netherlands. It was good (for them) while it lasted.