Apple’s $100 billion overseas tax headache – The Verge

Apple reportedly under investigation for hiding over $1.34 billion from Italian tax authorities

2013-11-13T13:53:01-05:00

apple earnings

Apple is under investigation for tax fraud in Italy, where it's alleged to have concealed more than €1 billion (about $1.34 billion) from tax authorities, reports Reuters. Though few other details have been revealed, a judicial source with knowledge of the investigation tells Reuters that "the Apple investigation is under way." Apple has been the subject of much scrutiny for its tax policies lately. In particular, those accusations have focused around Apple's use of Ireland as a tax haven - something that Ireland itself has considered ending.

The tax fraud allegations were first reported by the Italian publication l'Espresso, which includes …

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Ireland considers closing tax loopholes used by Apple and other tech companies

2013-10-15T15:37:10-04:00

Dublin at night (Shutterstock)

Huge companies like Apple, Amazon, and Google have come under fire in recent months for their practice of keeping large portions of their profits overseas in countries that are more tax-friendly - Apple alone has a $100 billion overseas cash hoard that isn't subject to US taxes. As noted during Tim Cook's testimony to the US Senate this spring, the UK, and Ireland in particular, have been particularly tax-friendly to Apple. The Ireland-based Apple Operations International (AOI) is a holding company that pays no income taxes in the US and a very low tax rate in Ireland - but that's something that could change before long.

Ireland's Departmen …

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Apple reportedly paid no corporate taxes in the UK last year

2013-07-01T14:34:21-04:00

Apple Store Opera Paris

Apple paid no corporate taxes in the UK last year, and a tax rate of just 2 percent on overseas profits, in a series of loopholes that lessen the companies international tax burden, according to a Financial Times report. Apple was able to pull this off by way of tax deductions from share awards to employees that offset the taxes owed, and the sheltering of money into offshoots in countries with lower-tax rates, such as the British Virgin Islands, the FT report said. Apple's actions are completely legal, the report said, but they might bring the company under even more scrutiny over its tax practices.

In May, Apple CEO Tim Cook testified bef …

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Tim Cook defends Apple’s overseas cash: ‘I’m not an unfair person, that’s not who we are as a company’

2013-05-21T12:42:08-04:00

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Apple CEO Tim Cook and several other executives were not shaken by inquiries from the US Senate over their company's $100 billion in overseas profits that aren't taxed in the US, defending the strategy in a high-profile hearing in Washington, DC, today. "I'm not an unfair person, that's not who we are as a company or who I am as an individual," Cook said after questioning from Senator John McCain (R-AZ).

"We pay all the taxes we owe, every single dollar."

Cook and Apple's head of tax operations Phil Bullock fielded the majority of the inquiries into Apple tax strategy from Senator McCain and Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), the leaders of the Sena …

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Senators blast Apple in hearing for keeping most profits overseas

2013-05-21T11:38:05-04:00

US Capitol 8 (Verge Stock)

Leaders of a US Senate subcommittee looking into Apple's offshore cash holdings of over $100 billion began a hearing today featuring Apple CEO Tim Cook by blasting his company's strategy, which they likened to tax avoidance. "By engaging in these elusive corporate strategies aimed at deferring and reducing tax payments, Apple's tax department has given new meaning to the company's old slogan: 'think different,'" said Senator John McCain (R-AZ.), reading from his prepared testimony this morning. Cook and Oppenheimer are testifying now, watch a live stream here.

Both McCain and Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), chairman of the Senate Permanent Subco …

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Senate probe accuses Apple of avoiding billions of dollars in taxes with offshore havens

2013-05-20T17:46:34-04:00

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A few hours after Apple released testimony defending itself against allegations that it avoided taxes by shifting assets offshore, a Senate probe has concluded that it employed elaborate and extensive measures to exploit loopholes in the tax code. In a hearing tomorrow, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will examine numerous accusations, including claims that Apple created offshore subsidiaries in Ireland but did not declare a tax residence in either, paying no corporate taxes in either Ireland or the US for years.

"Apple claims to be the largest US corporate taxpayer, but by sheer size and scale, it is also among America' …

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Apple denies avoiding taxes, calls for reform in Senate testimony

2013-05-20T15:05:48-04:00

tim cook

Apple has has officially released the statement CEO Tim Cook will give before Congress on May 21st, defending the company's tax practices and asking for an overhaul of the system. The Senate hearing is meant to illuminate the issue of companies shifting funds offshore to avoid taxes, though Cook has denied his company has done anything wrong. "Apple is likely the largest corporate income tax payer in the US, having paid nearly $6 billion in taxes to the US Treasury in FY2012," the statement says. "These payments account for $1 in every $40 in corporate income tax the US Treasury collected last year." It puts its tax rate at roughly 30 percen …

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Tim Cook defends Apple ahead of Senate hearing, reveals more about US manufacturing plans

2013-05-16T16:37:30-04:00

timcook-iphone5

Apple CEO Tim Cook is heading to Washington, DC on Tuesday, May 21st to testify before a Senate committee scrutinizing Apple's massive offshore cash hoard of about $100 billion, which the company doesn't pay US taxes on. But Cook is already going on the offensive ahead of the hearing, giving a rare interview to Politico today saying he will stand by the legality of his company's practices. "I can tell you unequivocally Apple does not funnel its domestic profits overseas," Cook said, according to Politico. "We don't do that. We pay taxes on all the products we sell in the US, and we pay every dollar that we owe. And so I'd like to be really cl …

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Tim Cook scheduled to testify to Senate about Apple’s offshore tax practices

2013-05-15T20:48:53-04:00

tim cook

Apple CEO Tim Cook has reportedly been called to testify at Tuesday's Senate hearing on offshore profit shifting. The hearing is being conducted by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which has the authority to investigate things like federal waste, corporate crime, and offshore banking. VPs from Microsoft and HP testified at a similar hearing in September, but both Politico and Bloomberg are reporting that Apple's CEO himself will be in attendance this time around.

Bloomberg notes that Apple recently got around paying up to $9.2 billion in taxes by using debt instead of overseas profits to finance its stock buyback. Apple is sitt …

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