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Apple Settles a $348M Fine With Italian Authorities For Tax Evasion (reuters.com)

Posted by Soulskill on from the think-different-but-not-that-different dept.

jaromil writes: Apple Italy, a subsidiary of Apple Sales International based in Ireland, has for years managed the company's sales on the Italian Peninsula. As Italian tax authorities noticed the company did not file any income tax declarations between 2008 and 2013, they opened a court case for an estimated debt of €880M. Apple Italy has now settled for a fine of €318M ($348M), while three managers involved in the tax fraud still need to face court. "The settlement comes amid a European Commission investigation into the tax arrangements of numerous multinational companies accused of using cross-border structures to reduce their tax bills, sometimes with the help of secret and potentially illegal 'sweetheart' deals."

2 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. apple is mostly smoke and mirrors by sittingnut · · Score: 3, Interesting

    that apple cheats on taxes is not surprising, current apple is built on deception.
    it charges for products well in excess of their costs( all costs, including design and development) and gets away with it due to marketing hype, and idiocy of the consumers, and failure of the media to check and reveal facts

    1. Re:apple is mostly smoke and mirrors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      What deception? They have a popular product and charge what the market will bear.

      You can get a cheaper Android. You can get an older model for much cheaper. You know, like 2 years older.

      Like so many (this includes medicine) you want new stuff, constantly produced, and cheap. It doesn't work that way.

      From a product standpoint you are exactly right.

      From a tax standpoint, they're no different then every other mega-corp in America who hires attorneys to work around loopholes, knowing damn well the penalties are a fraction of the honest cost.

      That's not the fault of Apple. That's the fault of governments allowing that bullshit to happen, and then slapping them on the fucking wrist when they get caught. And YES, this IS a slap on the fucking wrist when the penalty is less than half the original estimated tax burden, regardless of we're talking about hundreds of millions.