“For years, Apple CEO Tim Cook has called on Washington to make it less costly for his company to bring back the billions of dollars it holds overseas,” Seth Fiegerman writes for CNN. “Just in time for Christmas, Cook finally got his wish.”
“As part of the tax bill signed last week by President Trump, corporations like Apple will enjoy a repatriation tax rate of 15.5% for returning money to the U.S. from their overseas cash piles,” Fiegerman writes. “The new rate is higher than the ‘single digits’ amount Cook once asked Congress for in 2013, but it is nonetheless significantly below the previous repatriation tax rate of 35%… On an earnings call days after President Trump’s inauguration, Cook said any tax reform package that encouraged repatriation would be ‘very good for the country and good for Apple.'”
“Now Apple and Cook face a put up or shut up moment,” Fiegerman writes. “Will the world’s most valuable company continue to rely on the tax havens for which it has been criticized, or make good on returning the money to its home country? And if it does bring it back, who will really benefit?”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple will repatriate a massive percentage of overseas cash and shareholders will benefit most via buybacks and dividends.