Italy Investigates Apple For Alleged Tax Fraud

Frankie70 writes in with some more bad news for Apple in Europe. "U.S. tech giant Apple is under investigation in Italy for allegedly hiding 1 billion euros ($1.34 billion) from the local tax authority, two judicial sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Milan prosecutors say Apple failed to declare to Italian tax authorities 206 million euros in 2010 and 853 million euros in 2011, one of the sources said, confirming a report by Italian magazine L'Espresso. The Italian subsidiary of Apple booked some of its profit through Irish-based subsidiary Apple Sales International (ASI), thus lowering its taxable income in Italy, the source said."

Comments

Re:italians

[IamTheRealMike]

Except that if you RTFA it doesn't sound like tax evasion at all. It sounds like the Italians are broke and are harassing Apple because they don't like the fact that Apple bases itself in Ireland.

(Reuters) - U.S. tech giant Apple is under investigation in Italy for allegedly hiding 1 billion euros ($1.34 billion) from the local tax authority, two judicial sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters ..... The Italian subsidiary of Apple booked some of its profit through Irish-based subsidiary Apple Sales International (ASI), thus lowering its taxable income in Italy, the source said

"There is a global process under way and the Italian tax authority is one of the most active," said an Italian tax source. "In general, the focus is shifting towards multi-nationals that are able to lower their tax base through their international operations."

Apple is many things, but sloppy and ridden with fraud is not one of them. The Italian government, on the other hand ....