“Ireland says it didn’t cut any special tax deals with Apple and that the country is not a ‘tax haven’ for multinational companies looking to reduce their tax bills at home,” Connie Guglielmo reports for Forbes.
“‘Ireland’s tax system is set out in statute – so there is no possibility of individual special tax rates being negotiated for companies,’ Michael Collins, the Ambassador of Ireland, wrote in a letter yesterday to Senator Carl Levin and Senator John McCain, who chair a U.S. Senate subcommittee that has been questioning Apple and other U.S. companies about parking their cash offshore in order to lower their U.S. tax bill,” Guglielmo reports. “‘The tax rates attributed to Ireland are wrong and misleading.'”
Guglielmo reports, “‘I fully recognise that the purpose of the hearing was to examine the options for reform of the U.S. tax code, in which Ireland has no role,’ Collins wrote in the letter. ‘All tax resident companies in Ireland are liable to corporation tax on their chargeable income at the rate of 12.5 percent on trading income and at 25 percent on non-trading income. The tax rates attributable to Ireland in the [committee’s] Memorandum appear to be calculated by reference to the companies’ entire profits, as if those companies are tax-resident in Ireland. This is despite the fact that the Memorandum clearly states that the companies concerned are not tax-resident in Ireland.'”
Read more, including Collins’ complete letter, in the full article here.
Related articles:
Bloomberg News’ awful reporting on Apple’s U.S. corporate taxes – May 30, 2013
Thomas Sowell on Apple, corporate taxes, and ‘the road to serfdom’ – May 28, 2013
Former Senator Sununu: Congress wrote the tax laws, so why blame Apple for obeying them? – 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
Apple CEO Tim Cook charms Capitol Hill – May 22, 2013
Rush Limbaugh: ‘High-tech lynching: Senate attempts to crucify Apple’ – May 21, 2013
Nobody on U.S. Senate committee laid a glove on Apple CEO Tim Cook – May 21, 2013
Senator Rand Paul: Senate committee ‘should apologize to Apple for bullying one of America’s greatest success stories’ (with video) – May 21, 2013
Ireland: We have no special tax rate deal with Apple – May 21, 2013
Apple prepares for Washington onslaught: CEO Tim Cook isn’t taking any chances with senators looking to grandstand – May 21, 2013
Watch Apple CEO Tim Cook’s live testimony before U.S. Senate, starting at 9:30am EDT – May 21, 2013
U.S. Senate investigation found no evidence that Apple did anything illegal in avoiding taxes – May 20, 2013