A 14.5 billion dollar bill for Apple

[Pop_Rivit]

After a multi-year investigation, the EU is requiring Apple repay equivalent of 14.5 billion dollars after it was caught funneling all of the profits to a "head office" that existed only on paper.

Apple should repay Ireland

Originally Posted By: BBC Article
"Member states cannot give tax benefits to selected companies - this is illegal under EU state aid rules," said Commissioner Margarethe Vestager.
"The Commission's investigation concluded that Ireland granted illegal tax benefits to Apple, which enabled it to pay substantially less tax than other businesses over many years," she added.
The standard rate of Irish corporate tax is 12.5%. The Commissions's investigation concluded that Apple had effectively paid 1% tax on its European profits in 2003 and about 0.005% in 2014.


Originally Posted By: Fortune Article
That’s effectively a state subsidy, and there is a limited range of circumstances in which those are permitted in Europe—after all, the EU is very big on not letting its member states distort the all-important single market. This was not one of those circumstances.


It hasn't been a good couple of days for Apple.

 

[demarpaint]

I'm surprised they got away with it as long as they did.

 

[robertcope]

Ireland disagrees with the commission's ruling and is appealing it.

 

[4D-56]

End these tax havens!

 

[djb]

This is good for taxpayers (actual taxpayers) everywhere.

Multinational corporations get to shop for the lowest tax rate. If they are really big, they get to negotiate down from there.

Ireland has a special economic status that was intended to encourage investment in real-life factories. Over time that was twisted into a massive tax dodge, where companies pretended to have a headquarters in Ireland. They routed much of their income through Ireland and claimed that all profit occurred there, and paid almost no taxes on their global income. Apple was routing 90% of their profits outside of the U.S. through Ireland, paying only 0.005% in taxes on that revenue.

 

[Shannow]

It's pathetic, same here, as Apple Australia sells their apps for double what they do elsewhere citing differences in our markets, then gets (not) taxed in Ireland where the money heads.

But our PM was found to have many investments in tax havens (of course which he was unaware of, having not been briefed by his agents on the specifics), so could not give a toss.

 

[Olas]

Dodging tax payments is more morally reprehensible than cheating emissions requirements.

 

[pbm]

Originally Posted By: robertcope
Ireland disagrees with the commission's ruling and is appealing it.


Maybe Ireland will follow Britain out of the EU...Would you want to be overruled by unelected bureaucrats in Belgium?

 

[pbm]

Originally Posted By: Olas
Dodging tax payments is more morally reprehensible than cheating emissions requirements.


...Many would disagree and say that being forced to pay over 30% of your income, to support programs that you often disagree with, is 'morally reprehensible'.

 

[SonofJoe]

Go Brussels! This is long overdue. Hope this is the start of a trend to clobber all these companies that employ clever legal wheezes to avoid paying tax. If I don't pay what I owe, I get hauled over the coals. So should they...

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: pbm
...Many would disagree and say that being forced to pay over 30% of your income, to support programs that you often disagree with, is 'morally reprehensible'.


That's all right, they can rack off their entire facility to Ireland, enjoy the access to resources, manufacturing base, and most importantly the customer base that lead to the low tax situation in the first place...

That way they don't have to pay for the programmes that would otherwise get reintroduced into their income stream through one way or another.

You can't (well shouldn't be able to) play it both ways.

 

[rshaw125]

Originally Posted By: Olas
Dodging tax payments is more morally reprehensible than cheating emissions requirements.


In reality Corporations do not 'pay' taxes. Yes they write a check to a country's treasury but the $ come from their customers. Econ 101.

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: rshaw125
Originally Posted By: Olas
Dodging tax payments is more morally reprehensible than cheating emissions requirements.


In reality Corporations do not 'pay' taxes. Yes they write a check to a country's treasury but the $ come from their customers. Econ 101.


And if that's the case, then the customer's personal taxes , and therefore taxes by a company paid "by their customers" are paid from the wages that they earn from working for the (well a) company.

Circularity in logic 101.

 

[Jetronic]

Originally Posted By: rshaw125
Originally Posted By: Olas
Dodging tax payments is more morally reprehensible than cheating emissions requirements.


In reality Corporations do not 'pay' taxes. Yes they write a check to a country's treasury but the $ come from their customers. Econ 101.


Not everybody is an Apple customer, but everybody has to chip in if a company is dodging taxes. If the company isn't paying, their shareholders should.

 

[OneEyeJack]

The EU is not looking too good lately. It turns out that the overhead generated by this wonderful world is not worth the investment. Members spend a lot of time and effort trying to beat the system so evidently it's not and never will be the wonderful new world that was promised to the many by the few. It's just a shift of power to a precious few that don't answer to anyone. That kind of system has never worked and quite possibly never will. Maybe, just maybe, nationalism that promotes it's own interests and suffers its own failures within its own borders is the most successful answer. This might be what the UK has rediscovered.

 

[Doog]

Originally Posted By: pbm
Originally Posted By: robertcope
Ireland disagrees with the commission's ruling and is appealing it.


Maybe Ireland will follow Britain out of the EU...Would you want to be overruled by unelected bureaucrats in Belgium?


+1 just another reason to vote for Trump

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: pbm
Originally Posted By: robertcope
Ireland disagrees with the commission's ruling and is appealing it.


Maybe Ireland will follow Britain out of the EU...Would you want to be overruled by unelected bureaucrats in Belgium?
+1

 

[Jetronic]

Ireland won't follow England. Much more likely Northern Ireland will reunite with Ireland and the EU

 

[pbm]

Originally Posted By: Jetronic
Ireland won't follow England. Much more likely Northern Ireland will reunite with Ireland and the EU


Northern Ireland has been virtually unaffected by the forced immigration (by the EU) that has harmed most of the rest of western Europe....maybe they won't be so keen on staying in the EU when they are.....after all they've had sectarian violence (over smaller differences) almost forever....

 

[CT8]

Originally Posted By: pbm
Originally Posted By: robertcope
Ireland disagrees with the commission's ruling and is appealing it.


Maybe Ireland will follow Britain out of the EU...Would you want to be overruled by unelected bureaucrats in Belgium?
It happens in the U.S. often as well.