“An Apple Inc. iTunes unit in Japan was ordered to pay some 12 billion yen ($118 million) in tax by local authorities after underreporting income, media reported Friday,” Makiko Yamazaki reports for Reuters. “The unit has since paid the amount, the reports said.”
“The Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau determined that the unit, which sends part of its profits earned from fees paid by Japan subscribers to another Apple unit in Ireland to pay for software licensing, had not been paying a withholding tax on those earnings in Japan, according to broadcaster NHK,” Yamazaki reports.
Yamazaki reports, “Apple and other multinational companies have come under much tax scrutiny from governments around the world.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple does not seem to have disputed this finding, so it looks like a mistake was made (easy to do with convoluted tax laws) and is now rectified.
China is next.
“MacDailyNews Take: Apple does not seem to have disputed this finding, so it looks like a mistake was made (easy to do with convoluted tax laws) and is now rectified.” …….. or a tax cheat was caught and made to pay.
Only the most cynical would think that so congrats on your suspicious but unsubstantiated world view.
Only the most ardent Apple apologist would attack others for correct observations. Any other company name, Peter Pumpkin Eater would be gloating how Apple is pure and all the other companies are cheats.
But Apple was found guilty of underreporting income. That’s not an innocent mistake. The cheater Apple was caught playing shell games with internal licensing tax avoidance schemes again. The EU has woken up the entire world to the fact that Apple isn’t an underdog tech innovator anymore. The gorilla is a cash hoarder that thinks its above national laws.
Everyone knows that multinational corporations will use every trick in the book to avoid taxation. This time they got caught, as it should be. Bravo to the tax inspectors for collecting what is legally due.
People like you see conspiracy under every rock, especially as it supports your biases. Income was unreported in Japan by Apple Japan which of course you neglected to mention since you imply Apple Cupertino. Frankly $100+ million in extra tax is nothing for a company Apple’s size. Whatever the accounting mistake you can be sure it WAS just a mistake and not likely to be repeated. (How many years has Apple paid taxes and this hasn’t happened? It’s not like they ate habitual tax dodgers. The EU thing is a wholly different situation and still under appeal and prepare for disappointment there.)
Sorry Bunkie you assume fire where you see smoke but the only place that’s happening these days is with SamSplode phones.
I have observed that you are an idiot.
“Bunkie” “SamSplode”
I bet you’re so obsessed that you get notifications that someone is replying to you. Either that or you check this site every 10 minutes.
Whichever, you’re a freaking nut job.
That’s one little kid’s opinion Bunkie.
I see also you must have slipped by MDN’s Troll Alert should I say Mac, Frank, ??? and any number of other moronic faux identities.
Question is, has this ‘mistake’ of under reporting subscriber fee revenue been occurring in other countries.
Feds better have a tax holiday or the vultures of the world are going to just eat Apple’s cash to the bone. A billion here a billion there, a few hundred million here and so on.
In fact, the EU cash grab would basically deplete all the cash Apple has.
According to Market Watch: “…The more than $215 billion Apple has in reserve is a constant fascination of bloggers and market watchers, who imagine the company going on an acquisition spree or buying back (even more) company stock.
So why is Apple AAPL, -0.02% planning to go further into debt, as Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri promised in Apple’s conference call Tuesday?
The problem with Apple’s “cash pile” is that most of it is not actually “cash” nor “on hand,” and it doesn’t take into account Apple’s debt. Apple has about $16.7 billion in cash and equivalents on its balance sheet. The majority of the assets included in its reserve is stashed in long-term marketable securities, meaning Apple plans to let those funds — roughly $177.7 billion — accrue interest for more than a year.”
The more you look at it, the crappier the situation seems.
Also from Market Week:
“…More importantly, almost all of Apple’s cash and securities are stashed overseas, proceeds from sales outside the United States that Apple will not bring back because it would then have to pay U.S. taxes. Maestri said Tuesday that $200 billion of Apple’s reserves — a whopping 93% — are overseas, and Cook has expressly said Apple does not plan to sacrifice roughly 40% of that stash in order to bring the proceeds home to Cupertino, Calif.
While cash and securities pile up overseas, Apple is piling up debt in the United States. The company currently sits on about $53.2 billion in long-term debt obligations as well as $32.2 billion in “non-current liabilities,” after executing a series of bond sales including the largest in history for a nonfinancial U.S. business.
And those debts don’t include the cash Apple has promised its shareholders, which are mostly financed by its bond sales. After spending more than $8.8 billion on stock repurchases and dividends in the fourth quarter of 2015, Apple is a little more than three-quarters of the way through a $200 billion capital-return program that it believes will set a corporate record for stock buybacks. There is another $47 billion promised to shareholders.”
Rather than a tax holiday, how about my US Congress finally gets its act together and permanently lowers taxes on foreign made profits. Then no gimmicky tax holiday rubbish would be required. Cutting the tax by half is a good start. IMHO it’s a question of whether they want that money invested in the USA or NOT. Apparently NOT.
If upheld, the retroactive EU tax impact would only represent a modest fraction of Apple’s cash and short term securities, even after discounting its long term debt. It will not “…basically deplete all the cash that Apple has.”
Apple has lots of liquid assets – granted, only a portion is actually “cash.” But you are attempting to fabricate a bigger issue than actually exists, TMac. Apple is in no danger at all.