It might just be that Apple is a lot worth that what the quarterly figures read. A Senate investigation says that Apple has dodged billions in US taxes over the past few years by taking advantage of special tax deals with Ireland and subsidiaries that haven’t declared any tax residence, corporate tax return or, in some cases, don’t even have a physical presence.
On Monday, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation has published a report that accuses Apple of avoiding US tax in the figure of billions thanks to loop holes and offshore havens. During the last four years, Apple is said to have dodged income tax on $44 billion from intellectual property rights from offshore sources. Seeing as Apple is most likely the largest corporate income tax payer in the US, everyone is now pointing fingers at the company’s executives.
On Monday, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation has published a report that accuses Apple of avoiding US tax in the figure of billions thanks to loop holes and offshore havens. During the last four years, Apple is said to have dodged income tax on $44 billion from intellectual property rights from offshore sources. Seeing as Apple is most likely the largest corporate income tax payer in the US, everyone is now pointing fingers at the company’s executives.
“The secret to Apple’s business success isn’t the aluminum and the steel and the glass of an iPhone” explains Senator Carl Levin, Senate panel chairman. “The genius is the ideas that bring those elements together in an elegant package. That intangible genius is intellectual property... nurtured and developed here in the United States. Any yet, it ends up that most of the profits are shifted to a tax haven” he says.
Even so, it might well be that not even income in countries, such as Ireland where Apple has a tax rate lower than 2% (the average corporate tax there is 12%) aren’t fully disclosed. “Those Irish tax payments are so low... they raise questions about whether ASI is declaring on its Irish tax returns the full amount of income it has received from the other Apple affiliates” reads the Senate’s report.
Apple works internationally through a web of subsidiaries, out of which Apple Operations International is the principal. From 2009 – 2012 it has generated income of $30 billion, but most of that isn’t actually accounted for in taxes, not to mention the company has no physical presence and has not paid income taxes.
“Apple wasn’t satisfied with shifting its profits to a low-tax offshore tax haven” said Carl Levin, Democratic Senator and chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. “Apple sought the Holy Grail of tax avoidance. It has created offshore entities holding tens of billions of dollars while claiming to be tax resident nowhere” he added.
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