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Apple Japan Unit Ordered To Pay $118M Tax For Underreporting Income (reuters.com)
Apple's unit in Japan was ordered to pay 12 billion yen, or $118 million tax by local authorities after they determined it had underreported income. Apple has since reportedly paid the sum. From a Reuters report: The Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau determined that the unit, which sends part of its profits earned from fees paid by Japan subscribers to another Apple unit in Ireland to pay for software licensing, had not been paying a withholding tax on those earnings in Japan, according to broadcaster NHK. Apple and other multinational companies have come under much tax scrutiny from governments around the world. The European Union has ordered Apple to pay Ireland 13 billion euros ($14.6 billion) in back taxes after ruling it had received illegal state aid. Apple and Dublin plan to appeal the ruling, arguing the tax treatment was in line with EU law.
ECON 101.
Apple failed to submit $118M of taxes for just their Japan iTunes unit. The actual revenue in question would be multiples of this amount since $118M represents just the taxes owed. This likely means Apple has been failing to pay this over several years.
This is an unreported revenue, being taxed according to the local laws.
The EU case is an alliance of nations upset at the tax rate one of its members agreed to apply to a business. While that one does raise questions about whether other companies in Ireland could've negotiated for lower taxes, it is still an attempt to retroactively change a contract by a party that was not a signatory of that contract.
I still don't buy Apple, I still don't recommend Apple, and I cannot assume the under-reported income in Japan was accidental, but this is a very different case from the EU one.
I sure hope that all the Governments that are raking through Apple's books trying to find a hidden payday, take some time out to look at all the other multinational corporations that have been doing exactly the same thing for as long, and often longer, than Apple.
Megacorps are the most powerful economic entities in the world, more powerful than most actual countries.
Finally we are charging back against those luciferian creations. Down with megacorps, down with Wall Street, down with big business!
Seriously, you think that kind of systems work is boring, and it kind of is, but jeez can they ever file a useful bug report. It'll be a precise description of what is incorrect and the precise conditions under which the problem occurs, not some enigma wrapped in a turd.
These guys are very big on precisely the right amount of precision. They'll let a nickel slide, but squeeze a buck til it screams for mercy. One thing I learned about their mindset is this: if there is any doubt, make the assumption that's most beneficial to the client and then see if you're called on it. So this is not a case of Tim Cook twirling his evil mustache, it's a case of the finance guys doing their finance guy thing and the tax guys calling them on it. It's a bit like intentional fouling in basketball.
Corporations aren't evil, they're amoral but at the same time careful to avoid breaking rules where they'll get caught. The underlying problem is that the rules make a lot of sketchy practices legal, this kind of situation where they're "caught" is just the penumbra of the problem. The real problem is that the rules suck, and the rules are set by politicians.
The predictable anti-corporate reaction that occurs when something like this comes out is the left wing version of the right wing's vilification of IRS auditors -- who by the way are often some of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. IRS auditors are the public face of a system that everyone knows is over-complicated, and full of loopholes and gotchas that favor the wealthy and powerful. People don't like them because their job is enforcing rules you don't like. But who made the rules? The politicians. And when a politician is for reducing the number of auditors, it's not because he wants to help you. As one auditor I knew said, the rules have been written so there's really no place an ordinary person can hide income, and that makes the kind of audits people like you face perfunctory affairs. Cutting IRS staff is really all about making sure that the big boys aren't challenged on those tricky and aggressive calls they make. You need those armies of auditors to go after the people who don't want to abide even by rules that were written to favor them.
So whenever politicians left or right tries to get you riled up about some inevitable feature of the system they have created, know that you're being treated like a useful idiot.
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But who made the rules? The politicians.
That's bullshit. Corporations and their pressure groups make most rules. That's why Corporations reps read the TPP before congressmen. You should read "Testing theories of American Politics". It was calculated for the US but applies to most market democracies.
As to So this is not a case of Tim Cook twirling his evil mustache , how do YOU know? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. You won't know if there is no serious investigation about how the decisions were taken, but you have *zero* evidence that Apple's upper management was not aware of how the company chose to disclose $118M in profit.
That's more bullshit. The corporations can't make the rules, unless the rules let them.
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Can you really not know this?
This will really blow your mind. People in charge of the government departments who also get to make the rules, are the same people who work at the top of the corporations. Literally the same person moving back and forth between the two, (or even at the same time).
Which in our system is because we let them. Because we let them use us like tools.
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It sounds like you are angrily agreeing with each other.
Use8et is 8oughly
It is of great win. Much loss to fruit company.
Many tears, much sad.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
I'm starting to think that the recent moves about removing the jack and next the home button is because they're worried that they wouldn't be able to afford them after paying up their debts xD
Let's be hones, if they hadn't been sending profit to Ireland, governments worldwide would still be shaking them down for more money. Men with guns tend to want more money and guns. While they've been good at getting you to believe that they're the good guys, they're still thugs with guns.
I've only ever done the opposite, and I've only ever been poor. Perhaps I should give this "underreporting" thing a try.
Rich people have far more say in how things are run, the majority have no say in what we let or don't let those with the money do.
They have more say because voters are apathetic. This makes politicians cheap to buy.
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Yes, and I don't see how that is going to change.
Almost everyone hates both choices they have been given for the future President. But will vote for one of them anyway.
Senators are generally loathed by everyone, but the same ones keep getting elected.