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Apple Could Owe More Than $8 Billion in European Tax Probe

Popeye206 said:
You do realize many companies do this... it's not just Apple. They are only singled out because of their success.
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Yes. But this article is about Apple, as is this forum, so I will direct my comments to Apple. Unlike what Tim says, NO COMPANY wants to pay taxes, so they do whatever they can to avoid it. Legal avoidance is still avoidance, but Apple also may be doing illegal avoidance. The rest of the Fortune 500 are probably taking notes.
 
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Ballis said:
Making use of low Irish taxes is hardly illegal and the whole case smells fishy. Im confident Apple will win this.
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The double Irish is thankfully being closed down anyway. They've been under massive pressure to close it from both the US (yes really) and the EU for quite a while. Watch out for the new Irish scheme - the Knowledge Box...

Its amazing how the directors of Apple, Amazon etc etc feel they shouldn't ever pay for roads, hospitals etc etc on which they built their companies
 
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furi0usbee said:
COULD?

LOL @ 1.8% TAX. So Tim said that he would NEVER bring the money back into the USA because a 35% tax hit was way too much. OK, I'll bite on that and agree that 35% may be a tad bit too much for a corporation. But, this shows that even 12.5% is way too much for dear old Tim, because he would rather pay 1.8%!!!! Remember when he said any idea of Apple avoiding taxes was "political crap?" Yeah, me too.

If Tim would ever tell the truth, he would let it be known that he's probably miffed they have to pay even 1.8% tax. 0% tax would be much better for growth, and the shareholders.

As if anyone with half a brain doesn't already know, Apple is in Ireland for ONE SINGLE THING-- TO AVOID PAYING TAXES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nothing you tell me will ever change my mind on that, so don't even try.

EDIT: And since Apple continues to avoid all these taxes and *still* offers 16 GB storage options on iPhone, I hope they have to pay double the $8 billion. #whatsgoodforthegoose
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No need to speculate. It is way too much for Tim. Mr. Cook, in his own words at the Senate hearing, said that corporate tax rates would have to be in the single digits for him to consider them viable.
 
zin said:
No need to speculate. It is way too much for Tim. Mr. Cook, in his own words at the Senate hearing, said that corporate tax rates would have to be in the single digits for him to consider them viable.
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I remember him talking to Charlie Rose, but he never gave an actual number that he'd be happy with. I'm not familiar with what he said to the senate. But from everything we know, and from Apple's practices, 1.8% taxation is about right for Tim and Apple.
 
Gasu E. said:
If countries join the EU, which is a free-trade zone, the EU has an interest in establishing consistent tax policies. Due to membership in the EU, a country such as Ireland is protected from having tariffs imposed on it by other EU countries; the EU gets those regulatory rights, in return. It's only fair and reasonable. If Ireland doesn't like it, they can leave the EU.
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but why would apple suffer (or pay) for it if the irish law supports them? and thats why they didnt pay at the higher 12.x% tax rate thus far. if apple could stall for a few more years, i think they can get away with it cause EU is gonna break up soon :p
 
If Apple ends paying, this means that money is going back to the right place. This money went through Apple's pockets temporarily, it was not theirs. So Apple stock value was over estimated, I put 2 cents betting that a lot of people complaining about this are shareholders of the last minute.
 
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Last month, Apple agreed to pay 318 million euros in Italy to settle an investigation that accused the company of booking profits generated in Italy through an Irish subsidiary, in an effort to lower its taxable income base and save 879 million euros between 2008 and 2013. Italian regulators concluded that tax probe in March.

That's way past tax avoidance and is in the realm of tax fraud.
 
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TallManNY said:
Well in the U.S. conservatives generally seem to not feel like the government should get any money. Or at least they feel like the government should get a lot less money to use.
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Is that any of the conservatives money whilst everyone else gets screwed or just anyone period? ;)
 
furi0usbee said:
I remember him talking to Charlie Rose, but he never gave an actual number that he'd be happy with. I'm not familiar with what he said to the senate. But from everything we know, and from Apple's practices, 1.8% taxation is about right for Tim and Apple.
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The 1.8% tax rate is ********.

The state/Federal tax in the USA is 40%.
45% of Apple's profits is US
55% is foreign



If you do the math Apple's non-USA tax rate is 13%.

I'm going to use $100 billion as Apple profits as an example.

$100 billion x 45% (USA profits) x 40% (USA taxes) = $18 billion in taxes
$100 billion x 55% (non USA profits) x 1.8% = $1 billion in taxes
Total tax rate = 19%
WRONG. Apple's tax rate worldwide is 25%

$100 billion x 45% (USA profits) x 40% (USA taxes) = $18 billion in taxes
$100 billion x 55% (non USA profits) x 13% = $7 billion in taxes
Total tax rate = 25%

So Apple is paying close to 13% tax rate on foreign profits.
 
thasan said:
but why would apple suffer (or pay) for it if the irish law supports them?
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Because it isn’t a case against Apple so much as it is a case against Ireland. If the Commission finds that this tax scheme is in fact illegal state aid then it could order Ireland to recover the money from Apple to rectify the mistake. This is the crucial point: it is not Apple who is blamed, but Ireland.

The EU has rules on state aid to prevent Member States from interfering with the Internal Market. The unfortunate thing is that these cases are expensive and highly complex and the Commission is severely understaffed to deal with all of them quickly and fairly.
 
ProjectManager101 said:
When you are American you believe things are the same in other countries. When you step into another country is just like Twilight zone, everything looks "the same" but underneath everything is totally not. At least Apple has the money to pay, but everything may fall into even having the wrong firm managing your finances in Europe. I do not blame Apple or anybody, things are just plain complicated when you expand, period.
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Funny that, we say exactly the same thing when we see people like Trump on our TVs - we think how can this be happening in what appears to be a sane society. :eek:
 
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