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Apple Faces Large Penalties In EU Tax Probe
First time accepted submitter chasm22 writes EU Regulators are apparently set to accuse Apple and the Irish government of entering into several sweetheart deals that left Apple with lower taxes than what it legally owed. If the ruling is upheld, Apple could owe billions in back taxes. Interestingly, it seems that the Irish government would actually get the extra money and suffer little for its part in the scheme.
From what I've heard Apple will enjoy being "probed".
they should pay tax somewhere... I do and most of the world does... it's that or death...
to how taxes were done right after WWII. 39% across the board for all companies. Close the loophole. If you have "a" presence in a given country, you pay taxes in that country.
We could have socialized medicine in the US if we could get this money. Countries should band together and collect what owed. Full stop. Let's also kill right now, the notion that corporations are persons. It's a fallacy designed to be pro-business.
If the Irish get the money it'll help pay off the immoral "bailout" which was forced upon us by the ECB. Taxes have increased across the board for citizens and new ones invented just to pay for the shortfall in the banks' reckless actions.
I wonder will the EU be so quick to probe France's tax sweeteners on "research" and similar schemes in other countries.
The title of the article is inaccurate/misleading. The basis of back taxes being owed is the likely ruling that the tax breaks represent government aid/assistance. As such, no penalties would apply, just payment of back taxes. The irony is that Ireland would be the ones collecting the back taxes
If this probe results in a precedent that companies can't use Ireland to handwave their taxes away, that may cause companies to stop setting up "headquarters" there, which I imagine could be worse for Ireland than any fine could ever be.
So if deal between Apple and Ireland was illegal, shouldn't Ireland be fined as well?
its part in what? Being duped out of taxes??
You don't think the country would have wanted that tax in it's current recession?
The extra money, as you put it, it tax money that Apple are obliged to pay.
No because it is Apple ... or something.
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[I never have understood the Apple hate. Is it 'Linux has failed envy' or 'I am stuck on Windows' remorse or something. I'm sure this will be -18 flamebait or something real soon
Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
The EU never made such a statement and never levies fines in such cases even if the action turns out to be illegal.
This is another case of breathless reporters doing their best to get clicks by accusing Apple of something, anything.
it seems that the Irish government would actually get the extra money and suffer little for its part in the scheme
So, if the government was the victim because some of its members decided to abuse power in order to get personal compensation (be it money or just public opinion), why would the government itself be penalized? It's true that the government is made by elected members of the people in a democracy, but these people did NOT represent the government's best interests with the deal, as the deal did not do justice to the government by breaking its law.
It might even have benefited the country overall, with new money getting in through other revenue from Apple keeping business there, but that is just a political illusion of benefit to the government - it is more of a treat to the elected political party, who managed to gain popularity to the eyes of the community by committing public taxes for it.
Deals like this can be done, as long as they are made under the guise of a solid investment and they do not break any trade policies without lawmakers consent, which does not appear to be the case.
Well, everybody gets what they want. Apple, no real action against them and the gov't free money! Ain't that great?
Fact: The EU is having a close look at the deals between Apple and the Irish government. Fact: There is no indication whatsoever that anyone is asking for any back payments, and there is no indication whatsoever that anyone is asking for large penalties.
In other words, the whole article is pure nonsense.
They get whatever benefit they were getting for offering the low low taxes. And then later on they get to jack the tax rate retroactively and get the cash too.
Well played.
Apple made provisions for tax of $8.283 billion (Provision for income taxes 8,283). Which was indeed 24.2% of their profits declared in that year.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ti...
Apple CEOs recently sold off a lot of their stock at the height of the iPhone 6 release: http://www.businessinsider.com... My guess is that they knew this was coming and cashed out at the highest possible value. It might be time to short AAPL.
Let's face it, Apple doesn't exist without America. Their designers live here, their product engineers live here, their top management lives here. It shouldn't matter that a shell company based out of Ireland is what "holds" Apple assets. If a company does business in the US (selling to US consumers) it should be required to submit the same financial paperwork as any other registered American company. It should then be taxed accordingly. If they don't like they're free to get out of our country and never be allowed to sell a single product unless they accept a 400% tariff which gives true blue American companies an edge within one of the world's most powerful, prosperous, consumer driven market. They're free to sell to Cuba anytime they want, good luck selling your overpriced junk to a bunch of poor people.
Excellent news. Apple, Microsoft, Google, Starbucks and all those other euro-tax avoiding organizations should be forced to pay taxes where they sell their products. I hope that the EU for once does something that benefits Europeans and return billions to the EU economy. Not play and relay but pay to play.
The tricks that those Transfer Pricing consultants from the big tax advisory firms pull have gone way too far. It's time they are reigned in. And their customers should be hit where it hurts most. Next the EU should create new tax regulations that at least 50% of the revenues from foreign designed/manufactured products/services should be spent in the country where the sale of said products/services took place. With regulations like that, extreme globalization, dangerous trade deficits, evil transfer pricing schemes and billions in off-shore havens doing nothing will become a thing of the past.
Imagine what those billions of avoided euro-taxes in off-shore tax havens could have done for the EU economy.
Apple pays a huge amount of tax in the US.
They ALSO pay a lot of tax in the EU.
The fuss form the US government is that UNLIKE ANY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD we like to double-tax foreign revenues for which tax was already collected.
The fuss from the EU is that the tax Apple pays they consider to be too low, because Apple has money and the EU does not.
That's the simp truth. Apple found the place that collected the lowest taxes and based international operations there. Doing something legal and having a huge pile of untouchable money angers bureaucrats (and irrational Apple Haters) to no end.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Yeah. Almost like the Apple CEOs had no idea that the iPhone 6 would debut mid-september. Dumbfuck!
iPhone 6S in 3, 2, 1.....
Requiem for the American Dream