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EU hits Apple with $14.6 billion tax bill


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securitybreach

It still amazes me that a corporation can get away with not paying taxes for over a decade. The worst part is that the US government is trying to get Apple out of paying the taxes they owe. Gotta love how corrupt our society has become. Let me or you not pay taxes and we would go to jail.....

 

Ireland must recover up to 13 billion euros ($14.6 billion) in unpaid taxes from Apple, European officials said on Tuesday.

 

The tax ruling is the biggest the European Union has ever made regarding a single company, and it could spark a huge transatlantic row over how Europe treats U.S. companies.

Apple shares initially fell almost 3%, but then recovered most of their losses. The company will appeal the decision. It said the ruling upended the international tax system and would damage jobs and investment in Europe.

 

The European Commission, which administers EU law, said the Irish government had granted illegal state aid to Apple (AAPL, Tech30) by helping the tech giant to artificially lower its tax bill for more than 20 years.

 

"[EU] member states cannot give tax benefits to selected companies -- this is illegal under EU state aid rules," said Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, Europe's top antitrust official.

 

The United States fired back immediately, saying retroactive tax assessments by the EU were unfair.

 

"The Commission's actions could threaten to undermine foreign investment, the business climate in Europe, and the important spirit of economic partnership between the U.S. and the EU," a Treasury spokesperson said.

 

Apple paid tax at 1%, or less, on profits attributed to its subsidiaries in Ireland, well below the 35% top rate of corporate tax in the United States and Ireland's 12.5% rate............

 

 

http://money.cnn.com...hp-toplead-intl

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You're right. While we all, corporations included, complain sometimes about paying taxes, we all take advantage of things those taxes provide. For corporations, that includes civic infrastructure like roads, airports, etc., schools that provide them with educated employees, police and fire protection for their offices, etc.

Edited by ebrke
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Apple actually paid 50 euros tax per million to the revenue . Now this morning I heard on the radio that the Gov here may not pursue the outstanding taxes .

It's actually nearer to 164billion untaxed . apparently 'there is 640 billion in offshore tax havens.

 

All this and there are almost 4000 homeless families in the state. The majority because of foreclosure by the banks and vulture fund operators.

 

Don't hold your breath this is barely the tip of the corruption that is foisted on the general population worldwide.

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securitybreach

Apple actually paid 50 euros tax per million to the revenue . Now this morning I heard on the radio that the Gov here may not pursue the outstanding taxes .

It's actually nearer to 164billion untaxed . apparently 'there is 640 billion in offshore tax havens.

 

All this and there are almost 4000 homeless families in the state. The majority because of foreclosure by the banks and vulture fund operators.

 

Don't hold your breath this is barely the tip of the corruption that is foisted on the general population worldwide.

 

That sounds like normal business to major corporations.

 

BTW what do you mean by this?

 

All this and there are almost 4000 homeless families in the state. The majority because of foreclosure by the banks and vulture fund operators.

 

Are you referring to Ireland when you say "state"?

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When I was a child we had a saying in the UK, "an apple a day keeps the dentist at bay" guess we will have to alter that to keep up with modern trends to " an apple a day keeps the tax man at bay". Interestingly dentists are now saying that apples can help to spoil your teeth and that you should brush your teeth after eating an apple. :breakfast:

 

meanwhile a few interesting facts about rotten apples.

 

https://www.theguard...eland-state-aid

 

From a Groniad article,

 

The commission said the deal allowed Apple to pay a maximum tax rate of just 1%. In 2014, the tech firm paid tax at just 0.005%. The usual rate of corporation tax in Ireland is 12.5%.

 

 

The commission said Ireland’s tax arrangements with Apple between 1991 and 2015 had allowed the US company to attribute sales to a “head office” that only existed on paper and could not have generated such profits. The result was that Apple avoided tax on almost all the profit generated from its multi-billion euro sales of iPhones and other products across the EU’s single market. It booked the profits in Ireland rather than the country in which the product was sold.

 

The figure of €13bn plus interest is 40 times the previous record for such a case and the equivalent of the annual budget for Ireland’s health service. Irish campaigners called for the windfall to be invested in public housing.

 

Interestingly,

 

 

The Irish government, however, wants the ruling reversed because it wants to preserve its status as a low-tax base for overseas companies.

 

 

Mind you the Irish gov may have some sense as,

 

Fine Gael, the main opposition party Fianna Fáil, and a host of independent deputies serving as ministers in the coalition government support the low-tax regime for multinationals because it has created hundreds of thousands of jobs.

 

Apple chose the Irish city of Cork as its European base 30 years ago and had expanded from 60 workers to almost 6,000 in Ireland.

 

An for you mericans here is some interesting info for your upcoming presidential race.

 

Apple, which changed its tax arrangements with Ireland in 2015, should easily be able to pay the huge tax bill because it has a cash mountain of more than $230bn (£176bn) of cash and securities, mostly held outside the US. The tech group keeps the money outside the US because it would be forced to pay US tax charges if it repatriated the money.

 

 

It is not yet clear which side will be backed by either of the 2016 presidential candidates. Republican Donald Trump has said he would force US companies, Apple in particular, to move manufacturing jobs within the nation’s own borders, rather than allowing them to seek cheaper labour overseas. He has also said he would lower the US corporate tax rate.

 

His Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, has also hinted that she might lower the corporate tax rate. She has closer ties to Apple than Trump. Cook held a fundraiser for Clinton on 24 August.

 

Makes you wonder don't it. :whistling:

 

Just in case you missed the size of Apple's cash mountain stashed outside the USA. It is ,

 

 

Two hundred and thirty billion dolllars ! :thudna5:

Edited by abarbarian
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Something similar happened within the US in the 1970s.

The northern states and cities were becoming (by comparison) over regulated and overtaxed.

The south needed more jobs.

 

Tennessee (for instance) waived sales tax for capital expansions, had lower taxes in general, had a "right to work" law, less stringent environmental regulations, and a lower minimum wage.

In return, money was spent in Tennessee, and jobs moved south.

 

At the time, it was just considered "good business".

The Tennesseans didn't mind. Factory jobs were better than sharecropping, and a lot better than unemployment.

 

Eventually, the federal government, and to a lesser extent the unions, did what they could to "level the playing field", but the jobs didn't go back to the north, they went to places like Asia.... and Ireland.

 

BTW: The "No Politics" rule had me "biting my tongue", ever since this topic was started.

But then I noticed ... It was started by an Administrator.

Edited by Pete!
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securitybreach

Well I do not consider this politics per se. I think the rule was made so people would not getting into shouting matches over their favorite politician.

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Something similar happened within the US in the 1970s.

The northern states and cities were becoming (by comparison) over regulated and overtaxed.

The south needed more jobs.

 

Tennessee (for instance) waived sales tax for capital expansions, had lower taxes in general, had a "right to work" law, less stringent environmental regulations, and a lower minimum wage.

In return, money was spent in Tennessee, and jobs moved south.

 

At the time, it was just considered "good business".

The Tennesseans didn't mind. Factory jobs were better than sharecropping, and a lot better than unemployment.

 

Eventually, the federal government, and to a lesser extent the unions, did what they could to "level the playing field", but the jobs didn't go back to the north, they went to places like Asia.... and Ireland.

 

BTW: The "No Politics" rule had me "biting my tongue", ever since this topic was started.

But then I noticed ... It was started by an Administrator.

 

Nay no politics here. Just a discussion on the antics of a major hardware manufacturer :breakfast:

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Well I do not consider this politics per se. I think the rule was made so people would not getting into shouting matches over their favorite politician.

I guess that depends on how you pick your "favorite(s)".

If it's about his/her policies, based on my observations... war and taxes are biggies.

Nay no politics here. Just a discussion on the antics of a major hardware manufacturer :breakfast:

To me, it seemed obvious, Ireland wanted the jobs badly enough to forgo some tax revenue.

The only "antic" was taking them up on it.

Edited by Pete!
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Interesting part is that US government did a wink-wink on this, assuming that as happened some years ago, the funds would come into the US eventually, the only question being the actual tax rate negotiated when the money returned after the "tax holiday". If the EU collects the taxes it feels it's owed, there will be far less for the US to collect tax on in the now more unlikely scenario of the money ever returning here. Everyone's trying to game the system.

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Interesting part is that US government did a wink-wink on this, assuming that as happened some years ago, the funds would come into the US eventually, the only question being the actual tax rate negotiated when the money returned after the "tax holiday". If the EU collects the taxes it feels it's owed, there will be far less for the US to collect tax on in the now more unlikely scenario of the money ever returning here. Everyone's trying to game the system.

 

230 - 13 = 217 billion still leaves a lot of potatoes :breakfast:

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It's all just another verification that *crass* capitalism just is not worth the paper the numbers may be printed on . The wealthy are swamped in cash while the less well off wind up paying for it ALL through the neck.

 

Yes I did refer to Ireland as a state in my earlier post . Families forced out of their modest homes and hence their jobs by the carpitalists.

I despair of ever seeing a just world ever.

 

If these guy's could take a leaf out of Chuck Feeney's book so much misery could be averted.

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Guest LilBambi

Actually, Ireland made this possible. They gave them the reductions and now are reneging on their agreement according to the articles I read.

 

If they wanted to do that, they should have done it long ago. This goes back to what, 2003? They couldn't have figured out that a government agent overstepped in what they allowed Apple?

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Ireland is probably the real target of this action. The EU claims that it doesn't want its member states to use tax laws to entice companies to set up shell corporations. If Apple had put in more than a token work force for the first few years it probably would have passed muster. Couple of other things:

if the ruling sticks, Google would be the next to start sweating bullets.

for US companies , moneys in the banks overseas are worth less 100cents to the dollar. If the money is bought into the US in any manner, boom! it gets taxed.

 

Is the setup fair to US taxpayers? I'd say yes. If i were an Irishman however ....

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I have the strangest feeling that the YOYO's are having a kick at Ireland because our nearest neighbour had the *hutzpa* to sock em in the jaw.

Yagottaluvthebrits.

 

As for tax owed. If all the outstanding tax owed by the multi's here was paid .Fort knox would be too small to hold the bullion

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Dose it matter that we are all hanging on to this tiny rock hurtling through the universe.

 

A lot of twits feel secure enough to ignore that and the simple truth that we the humans are all one family..

 

Grace and Peace to all who read this

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