Apple to Begin Paying $16 Billion to Ireland Around March Amid Legal Battle With European Commission

[MacRumors]

Ireland will begin collecting EUR13 billion from Apple around March, with payments expected to continue through September, according to Irish broadcaster RTÉ via Cult of Mac.

Derek Moran, the Secretary General of Ireland's Department of Finance:

"However, identification of the escrow agent/custodian by the end of March 2018 will then allow for a payment into the escrow fund account, with payments continuing through the course of April, May and June and up to the end of September 2018".

The money will be held in an escrow account while both Apple and Ireland continue to battle the European Commission, which in August 2016 ruled the iPhone maker received illegal state aid from the country, and ordered the Irish government to collect up to 13 billion euros--nearly $16 billion currently--in back taxes.

Ireland is required to collect the money until the legal process is completed, according to the report. Apple has previously said the money will be reported as restricted cash on its balance sheet once it begins making payments.

The premise is that the Irish government gave Apple unfair advantage between 1991 and 2007 by allowing the company to move income from the European market through two "non-resident" head office subsidiaries based in Ireland, but Apple says the European Commission made "fundamental errors" in its findings.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has called the decision "total political crap" and said Apple pays all of the taxes it owes based on the laws of each country in which it operates. Likewise, the Irish government said it did not give favourable tax treatment to Apple and added that it "does not do deals with taxpayers."

Apple expects its appeal with the European Union's highest courts to take several years, but it is confident the European Commission's decision will be overturned, in which case the EUR13 billion would be returned to the company.

Apple's plans to repatriate much of its foreign cash reserves under new U.S. tax laws, which lower the corporate tax rate to 15.5 percent, will have no affect on the outcome of this European tax case.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Apple to Begin Paying $16 Billion to Ireland Around March Amid Legal Battle With European Commission

 

[WiiDSmoker]

Stop crying and pay your ****ing taxes like I PROPERLY do every year.

 

[TrentS]

Time for Apple to pack up their stuff and move out of Ireland, and back to the US of A! The Irish will be like, "Wait- What!? You're moving out?? Why??" ha ha ha

 

[WestonHarvey1]

Stop crying and pay your ****ing taxes like I PROPERLY do every year.

It's fine to take a position either pro or con on this but anyone who reacts the way you do does not have even the fuzziest understanding of the issue.

 

[Mac-lover3]

While I think it's wrong what Apple did here (avoiding taxes), Ireland is to blame as well as they wanted an incentive for Apple to move to Ireland.

 

[velocityg4]

Perhaps EU lawmakers should close loopholes. Rather than whine when accountants and tax lawyers figure out how to use them. Instead of retroactively changing rules.

 

[FrenchRoasted]

Stop crying and pay your ****ing taxes like I PROPERLY do every year.

I take every deduction (tax avoidance scheme) I can when I file my taxes. I don’t cry, but curse quite a bit.

 

[The Mercurian]

Time for Apple to pack up their stuff and move out of Ireland, and back to the US of A! The Irish will be like, "Wait- What!? You're moving out?? Why??" ha ha ha

Irish corporate tax rate (12.5%) is still less than the 15% the US government want...so.....

While I think it's wrong what Apple did here (avoiding taxes), Ireland is to blame as well as they wanted an incentive for Apple to move to Ireland.

It wasn't wrong originally when they first got Ireland here. It became wrong later when tax rules changed and Apple were in opinion of the EU (I agree).

Perhaps EU lawmakers should close loopholes. Rather than whine when accountants and tax lawyers figure out how to use them. Instead of retroactively changing rules.

Hmm... to quote Abe Simpson......a little from column A....a little from column B. Suppose they bring in new laws to close loopholes, then companies get smarter accountants to find new ones. Then they close those. Then they find new ones. etc. At some point you have to view this as wrong on the part of the companies. They use the servies in a country - pay for it by taxation the same as anyone else would. Fundamentally it is inequitable. Small companies cna't do this stuff. Only huge international ones can.

 

[69Mustang]

"Pay that man his money"
- Teddy KGB

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Good for Ireland. Now they can buy North Ireland back!

 

[marty11]

Pay your taxes, Tim. Like a good progressive does.

 

[Plutonius]

If it's judged by the EU and it involves money, Apple will lose.

Apple should just pay up and tack the extra cost onto any Apple products sold in the EU.
[doublepost=1516286878][/doublepost]

Pay your taxes, Tim. Like a good progressive does.

Progressive want other people's taxes higher. Never their own .

 

[H2SO4]

It's fine to take a position either pro or con on this but anyone who reacts the way you do does not have even the fuzziest understanding of the issue.

"Apple abides by the law, and by the spirit of the law"

Something T. Cook said........

 

[whooleytoo]

Good for Ireland. Now they can buy North Ireland back!

Have you seen how much that costs every year? No thanks!

It's a bizarre situation though. I really don't think all loopholes can be fixed, since multi-national entities like Apple can just skirt through the gaps between national company laws and tax codes, unless there are universal agreements among all countries.

I don't really see why Ireland is effectively being 'rewarded' here. The original loophole might not have been intentional, but I don't believe for one second that the government and Revenue didn't know how our company law was being abused. Apple certainly paid far less than they should, Ireland probably has already received what we should, and our lax laws have enabled Apple to avoid their tax burden in other countries. No reason why we should receive it.

I still think it's funny to see the government fighting tooth and nail to NOT receive this money - as someone who's been fined thousands of euros, and had my bank account suspended on multiple occasions due to not being able to pay my tax on time (fining someone out of debt, there's an inspired idea!).

 

[MongoTheGeek]

Time for Apple to pack up their stuff and move out of Ireland, and back to the US of A! The Irish will be like, "Wait- What!? You're moving out?? Why??" ha ha ha

Ireland is actually backing Apple on this and saying "keep your money" It's the EU demanding that Apple pay Ireland.

 

[throttlemeister]

Hmm... to quote Abe Simpson......a little from column A....a little from column B. Suppose they bring in new laws to close loopholes, then companies get smarter accountants to find new ones. Then they close those. Then they find new ones. etc. At some point you have to view this as wrong on the part of the companies. They use the servies in a country - pay for it by taxation the same as anyone else would. Fundamentally it is inequitable. Small companies cna't do this stuff. Only huge international ones can.

So true. Except, if instead of making things more and more complicated, they'd (the politicians) made things simpler. It's a lot more difficult (ie impossible) to find a loophole if the tax is "A company pays xx% tax over the revenue they have generated each year" than a tax code that is 1000 pages long another gazillion pages with exception annexes. And yes, it could be that simple but I think politicians think we don't see their value if they made things that simple. It also would put a lot of accountancy firms out of business. But hey, why make things simple when you can make it complicated?

 

[az431]

Stop crying and pay your ****ing taxes like I PROPERLY do every year.

Did you read the article? Do you pay taxes you're not required to pay?

 

[KazKam]

Stop crying and pay your ****ing taxes like I PROPERLY do every year.

Stop whining and get a better ****ing accountant.

Apple DOES properly pay taxes. As little as possible, like anyone rational would, but within the constraints of the law. Do you pay as much taxes as you possibly can, or as little. Oh, OK, that's what I thought.

The socialists in the EU and the "progressives" in the states be like...

 

[yanksfan114]

Stop crying and pay your ****ing taxes like I PROPERLY do every year.

Do you take deductions? How about tax credits? Do you pay just your states income taxes or other states as well? I can go on and on but this isn’t even the surface of how complicated taxes get. You really don’t have any understanding of the issues international taxation has if you think it’s this cut and dry simple. Nothing Apple did was illegal, it’s a matter if it’s unethical and violated the spirit of the law. See the hearing with Dick Harvey’s testimony on it. This man has advised the IRS commissioner and wrote tax code for Raegan, Clinton, and Bush. And even he said it’s definitely not illegal just troubling when it comes to America’s tax code.

 

[guzhogi]

Progressive want other people's taxes higher. Never their own .

While I have some progressive leanings, I kind of agree with you on that one. I have friend who was very involved with our state-level union. She was fairly into lobbying our state to go to a progressive income tax system rather than its current flat % tax system. We also have a flat dues system in our state union, but she's against that because I'd get the same services for less. Double standard much?

 

[BuddyTronic]

Stop crying and pay your ****ing taxes like I PROPERLY do every year.

How do you know whether they did or did not "properly" pay their taxes?

Apple says they did - I don't think Apple lies about such things - no point to lie. The truth will come out!

These government folks should always be reminded that it is business that pays their wages.

 

[Rocketman]

This is further evidence the EU itself is a farce. It is NOT a fiscal union, otherwise Greece and Germany would be on the same fiscal level playing field. It is a trade union. The fact they have created a central bank (ECB) and printed hundreds of billions of euros to purchase failed central government bonds is a ponzi scheme.

The evidence of that is negative interest rates in solvent countries like Germany and Switzerland. Think about that for a moment. You have to pay the country 1/2% (per year) to store your money for 10 years in the local currency.

WTF??

 

[H2SO4]

Stop whining and get a better ****ing accountant.

Apple DOES properly pay taxes. As little as possible, like anyone rational would, but within the constraints of the law. Do you pay as much taxes as you possibly can, or as little. Oh, OK, that's what I thought.

The socialists in the EU and the "progressives" in the states be like...

They do? So why the fine?

 

[NomadicTy]

Ireland have never been wealthier in their history, and it's all due to these tax breaks. They were beating the crap out of other countries when it came to business-friendliness. But other broke EU countries have what always exist in the progressive mindset - envy.

Ireland should do a Irexit from the EU. Why should a country subjugate itself into the whims of unelected officials in Brussels?

 

[Jsameds]

Stop crying and pay your ****ing taxes like I PROPERLY do every year.

If the tax man called you up and said "Do you want to pay one tenth the tax you do now?" would you take the offer or would you continue to pay the full amount?

Don't lie now....