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'It's Tricky': Apple Misses the Deadline To Pay $13.9 Bn To Ireland in Illegal Tax Benefit (cnbc.com)
Apple has not fully paid the 13 billion euros ($13.9 billion) it owes to Ireland in illegal tax benefits even though the deadline has passed, the European Union's competition said on Tuesday. From a report: "Well the recovery is not done yet but we have been working with the Irish authorizes and we can see that they are moving forward to do the recovery of the unpaid taxes," EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said during a press conference in response to a question by CNBC. "It's a tricky thing to do because it's a large sum so of course you have to figure out how to do that. It's not as an escrow account in some of the other cases where it might be 25 or 30 million euros ... and therefore I do respect that it's a complicated matter and it may take a little more time. Last year, the Commission ruled that Ireland must recover 13 billion euros in "illegal tax benefits" from Apple. It found that the U.S. technology giant paid an effective tax rate of 0.005 percent in Ireland in 2014.
Hard to free up cash when all your money is hidden in holding companies, dodgy schemes and tax havens.
I know that people are working overtime at Apple to come up with this solution but here are some ideas for you:
- Giant novelty check
- Mountain of pennies
- Unsold Apple watches
- Briefcase full of "iBucks"
- "Hey what's that?!" *run away*
My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
And that's why such tax evasion is a bad thing: it's unfair competition. I hate taxes as much as the next guy and I would like to "avoid" them where I can. But in practise tax evasion and the secret tax rulings that are so popular in my country (which puts the Dutch in the Double Dutch Sandwich) are accessible only to large entities. As a small business owner paying 25-50% tax, how are you supposed to compete against companies that end up paying 0.005%?
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
They missed a deadline to have the money in an escrow account. With the ongoing legal challenges, the money would stay in the escrow account until such time as it is decided whether they have to pay the taxes, or they can take the money back. This wasn't a deadline to pay the tax itself.
https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0...
The very LAST thing Ireland really wants is to enforce this law. For good reason. Right now they get a bit of the cake, but they get a bit of the cake from everyone because every company, from Apple to Amazon to MS to Google, is hiding in their tax shelter.
If they now actually fold (and yes, that would be Ireland folding to EU pressure), what reason is there for them to stay in Ireland? The weather?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I like taxes because I like living in civilisation. I am happy to contribute my bit.
I will not lie and pretend I like paying taxes. I like getting what they give me, and if I can get that for less money, I will. It's the same principle upon which big business works, and if it's good for them, then it's surely good for me.
Contributing my bit is not really the problem. Being asked to contribute someone else's bit because they are evading taxes, or because they are purchasing legislation which permits them to avoid them instead while I still am expected to pay them, that is the problem.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
> As a small business owner paying 25-50% tax, how are you supposed to compete against companies that end up paying 0.005%?
You're not, and that is by design.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
The very LAST thing Ireland really wants is to enforce this law. For good reason. Right now they get a bit of the cake, but they get a bit of the cake from everyone because every company, from Apple to Amazon to MS to Google, is hiding in their tax shelter.
If they now actually fold (and yes, that would be Ireland folding to EU pressure), what reason is there for them to stay in Ireland? The weather?
They still have the lowest corporate tax in the EU at 12.5% the companies would just have to pay that instead of 0.02%.
Plus Ireland already ARE enforcing the tax again. The scheme was found illegal by Ireland's own supreme court, Ireland just said: We didn't know it was illegal so were are not going to be charging back taxes on the error. Where as EU have found letters between Apple and Ireland discussion wether or not they would accept the legally wrong scheme, and since Ireland did, have said that is illegal state aid, and thus they must collect back taxes and not just new taxes.
The only reason Ireland is not happy to charge the back taxes is either: a) pride or b) corruption.. or maybe c) both.