“A senior U.S. Treasury official will meet European Union antitrust officials investigating tax deals involving Apple and Amazon on Friday, the latest lobbying effort against a crackdown on U.S. firms,” Foo Yun Chee reports for Reuters.
“The meeting comes a week after Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook met European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who is expected to rule on his company’s sweetheart deal with Ireland early this year,” Chee reports.
“All the companies have denied wrongdoing,” Chee reports. “Apple could face a hefty back tax bill as the EU investigation covers a period of up to 10 years.”.
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yet another drag on AAPL.
Weak guidance and tax “investigations” are the perfect recipe for AAPL P/E compression.
SEE ALSO:
Apple and Google stand by Europe tax deals; Rupert Murdoch weighs in – January 27, 2016
Apple could trigger global tax war, potential breakdown of the international tax system – January 27, 2016
Apple CEO Cook lobbies EU antitrust chief over Irish back taxes – January 21, 2016
Think Ireland’s corporate tax is unfair? Wave goodbye to Apple and thousands of jobs if it’s changed – November 14, 2015
Apple announces 1,000 new jobs in Ireland as EU tax ruling nears – November 11, 2015
Apple tax probe won’t hurt Ireland, Finance Minister Noonan says – October 5, 2015
EU’s Vestager says will not complete tax inquiries of Apple, others in second quarter – May 5, 2015
Apple warns of potential ‘material’ financial damage from European tax probe – April 29, 2015
Apple may have to pay Ireland 10 years of back taxes – April 30, 2015
Ireland’s Prime Minister: Apple has nothing to fear from end of ‘Double Irish’ tax avoidance strategy – November 4, 2014
Apple says it may lose Irish tax break – October 31, 2014
Ireland to end tax lures that drew U.S. firms – October 14, 2014
EU tax probe spotlights Ireland’s allure for multinationals – October 13, 2014
EU watchdog to give reasons for inquiry into Ireland’s tax treatment of Apple – September 29, 2014
European Commission accuses Apple of prospering from illegal Irish tax deals – September 28, 2014
EU threatens expanded probe into Ireland’s tax practices regarding Apple, Googles, other companies – June 20, 2014
EU’s investigation of Apple’s taxes isn’t going to cause the company any problems – June 13, 2014
EU launches tax avoidance investigations on Apple, Starbucks, Fiat – June 11, 2014
Not in Taxes anymore: On site at Apple’s famous Irish ‘headquarters’ – November 2, 2013
Regan: U.S. tax code spurs loveless foreign corporate ‘marriages’ – May 13, 2014
Ireland to close Apple’s tax loophole, but leave bigger one open – October 15, 2013
G20 think tank OECD proposes blueprint for global crackdown on tax avoidance – July 19, 2013
Thomas Sowell on Apple, corporate taxes, and ‘the road to serfdom’ – May 28, 2013
Taxing Apple just taxes you – May 24, 2013
Don’t tax Apple, tax its shareholders – May 24, 2013
If Apple paid more tax, we might pay less or something – May 22, 2013
Apple CEO Tim Cook pounds another nail into the Keynesian coffin – May 22, 2013
Apple CEO Cook makes no apology for company’s tax strategy – May 22, 2013
Desperation
This is why Apple, Goggle and the rest should pay higher taxes.The United States of America Treasury will engage the other governments of the world on their behalf. Any other citizen have such a tax break and be able to get that kind of service from the government. No, well, unless you are a 1%er, you may get this kind of treatment.
How about you volunteer to pay higher taxes troll.
Many countries are signing up to exchange tax info on multinationals in an attempt to make their dealings more transparent.
With Apple holding billions off-shore to avoid US tax, I don’t expact they will be volunteering to do them any favours in avoiding EU taxes for sales in Europe
You have to wonder if the upside down pressure on Apple stock via Wall Street – totally ignoring profitability – is orchestrated by those seeking company compliance on the issue of privacy
Hilary Clinton knows Apple’s value as an American innovation model and natinal pride – guaranteed she’ll cut a tax holiday/ tax deal to help Apple bring its overseas money here without a 40% hit.
US Treasury is gonna tell those Brits… “If anyone is gonna ream Apple, is going to be us… now BACK OFF!”
The war for Apple’s money begins.
Thomas Piketty is right. Fortunes can be wired anywhere in the world with a few keystrokes, and wealthy individuals, companies, institutions, and investment funds can hire legions of lawyers to scour the world for ways to avoid taxes to optimize wealth creation. For these reasons, the world needs a uniform global system of taxation. There is no reason to allow some countries, like Ireland (or Switzerland) to garner “business” by beggaring-their-neighbors via unusually low tax rates or rules designed to enable tax avoidance elsewhere (eg, Swiss banking rules). This applies to taxation at the individual level, as well as the corporate level.
The two biggest impediments to wealth creation are taxes and fees. If you can avoid those, you’ve got it made. As they say, “It’s not what you make, it’s what you keep!” We need a uniform system of global taxation.
You pay the taxes, Apple pays exactly the tax required.
We need the professional thieves and bullies to stop trying to steal Apple’s lunch money.
This is a lot more complicated than just a grab for Apple’s money.
The force pushing the investigation is the European Commission, which does not collect any direct taxes on individuals or corporations. It therefore has no financial stake in the outcome. It is just concerned with enforcing the founding principle of the European Union (and its predecessors back to 1952), that the continent should be a single free market in which businesses have a level playing field without major national differences due to governmental home-towning.
Among the parties fighting the EC is the Republic of Ireland, which is the entity that would receive all those back taxes. It is therefore acting against its own short-term financial interest by arguing that its tax deal with Apple should stand. They are more concerned with preserving their long-term interest in national sovereignty.
Apple is just caught in the middle of a double-whammy. On the one hand, they have made a series of decisions about the siting and structure of their business that are largely dependent on tax considerations. On the other, the stability of their tax arrangements is now in serious doubt.