Posted on 09/28/2014 6:54:49 PM PDT by Swordmaker
“Apple will be accused of prospering from illegal tax deals with the Irish government for more than two decades when Brussels this week unveils details of a probe that could leave the iPhone maker with a record fine of as much as several billions of euros,” Tim Bradshaw, Alex Barker and Vanessa Houlder report for The Financial Times. “Preliminary findings from the European Commission’s investigation into Apple’s tax affairs in Ireland, where it has had a rate of less than 2 per cent, claim the Silicon Valley company benefited from illicit state aid after striking backroom deals with Ireland’s authorities, according to people involved in the case,” Bradshaw, Barker and Houlder report. “Apple, which has operated in Ireland since 1980, maintains that its agreements with Ireland did not break any laws. ‘There’s never been any special deal, there’s never been anything that would be construed as state aid,’ Luca Maestri, Apple’s chief financial officer, told the Financial Times.”
“Based on its concerns, the commission has decided to open an in-depth investigation of arrangements between Apple and the Irish authorities dating back to 1991. It is part of a wider crackdown on what Joaquín Almunia, the EU’s competition commissioner, has called “aggressive” multinational tax avoidance,” Bradshaw, Barker and Houlder report. “‘We know that we didn’t do anything that was against the law and we are very confident that through the investigation it will be shown that there was no selective treatment in our favour at any point in time,’ Mr Maestri said… The company has invested $100m in its Irish operations in recent years, he noted, and is among Cork’s biggest employers.”
And Apple's CEO voluntarily appeared before that committee under oath and SHOT that idiotic report down with the evidence that Apple paid the taxes on its income where it was earned.
Video of Tim's Cook's full testimony before Congress.
That report claimed, according to one US Senator, that Apple paid no US Income taxes because of the shenanigans with the Irish government. In actual fact, contrary to that report, Apple paid MORE US income taxes than any other corporation in 2012, accounting for one dollar of every forty dollars of business income taxes collected in 2012! So much for the accuracy of that incompetent report. Apple presented its audited US TAX RETURNS in evidence which proved the report false. Apple's effective tax rate in 2012 was approximately 27% of earnings.
The Apple Irish subsidiary holds several things for Apple. It holds Apple’s Intellectual Property and receives the income from licensing and royalties in Ireland. It holds Apple’s after-tax earnings from its world wide operations—except for the U.S. after-tax earnings which are held in the United States—and invests those monies in long and short term securities. The Irish subsidiary reports the earnings and pays income taxes on interest earned, and capital gains, if any, to Ireland. Income taxes on the licensing and royalties, as well as income taxes from Apple products IN Ireland are paid to Ireland. The taxes in Ireland are lower than anywhere else that they can park these holdings while still getting good income.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has stated before Congress that Apple wants to bring these parked monies home to the U.S. but the high cost of repatriation is prohibitive.
If Apple were playing the Double Dutch with an Irish twist game like you think, they could have wound up paying zero income taxes like GE . . . but, they paid 27% of their 2012 earnings in income taxes. QED, they aren’t.
Thanks Dennis.
snicker
I've been wondering when someone would notice my typo. . . I spotted it just after I posted the ping and got a chuckle out of the appropriateness of it. . .
This is thensame crap the pResident tried to pull when burger king was talking aboutmmoving its hq to canada.
and that 2faced warren buffit was set to finance the deal !
Tax avoidance is the patriotic duty of all good citizens !!!
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