“In August the EU said Ireland had broken European law by giving Apple a sweetheart deal. It ordered the country to bill the iPhone maker a record 13 billion euros ($13.9 billion) in back taxes, plus interest, from 2003 to 2014,” Gaspard Sebag, Dara Doyle, and Alex Webb report for Bloomberg. “One example the Commission cites: In 2011, a unit called Apple Sales International recorded profits of about 16 billion euros from sales across Europe. But only 50 million euros were considered taxable in Ireland, leaving 15.95 billion euros of profit untaxed, the Commission says.”
“Though the EU says its goal is “’to ensure equal treatment of companies’ across Europe, Apple maintains that the Commission selectively targeted the company,” Sebag, Doyle, and Webb report. “With the ruling, the EU is ‘retroactively changing the rules and choosing to disregard decades of Irish law,’ and its investigators don’t understand the differences between European and U.S. tax systems, Apple said in a Dec. 8 statement.”
“Apple, which has some 6,000 workers in Ireland, says its Irish units paid the parent company a licensing fee to use the intellectual property in its products,” Sebag, Doyle, and Webb report. “The Irish companies didn’t own the IP, so they don’t owe tax on it in Ireland, Apple says, but the units will face a U.S. tax bill when they repatriate the profits. ‘This case has never been about how much tax Apple pays, it’s about where our tax is paid,’ the company said. ‘We pay tax on everything we earn.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Until this total political crap is properly settled:
Anyone who decides to set up a business in a European Union member country today is insane. — MacDailyNews, August 30, 2016
SEE ALSO:
Ireland’s Finance Minister Noonan: Apple tax appeal may take four years, maybe more – September 23, 2016
Apple’s EU tax nemesis Margrethe Vestager takes aim at other U.S. companies’ offshore profits – September 19, 2016
The ‘Brexit-Apple’ connection: What in the world was Margrethe Vestager thinking? – September 12, 2016
EU ministers line up to take tax bites out of Apple – September 12, 2016
Former EU competition commissioner: Vestager claim that Apple owes back taxes an incorrect use of EU law – September 2, 2016
Irish government to fight EU on Apple tax – September 2, 2016
Treasury accuses EU of trying to steal U.S. tax revenues with Apple decision – September 1, 2016
Irish residents opposed to EU’s tax demand of Apple – September 1, 2016
Apple Inc. pushes back against EU tax grab – September 1, 2016
Apple may repatriate billions of dollars next year after new U.S. President takes office – September 1, 2016
U.S. tax code allows for dramatic retaliation against EU overreach in Apple case – September 1, 2016
Apple CEO Tim Cook on EU tax demand: ‘No one did anything wrong here and Ireland is being picked on… It is total political crap’ – September 1, 2016
U.S. Treasury: The European Commission’s retroactive tax demands on Apple are unfair – August 30, 2016
EU demands Apple pay massive $14.5 billion in taxes plus interest – August 30, 2016
U.S. government warns EU: Do not hit Apple with a massive back tax bill – or else – August 25, 2016<