EU tax investigation concludes, Apple hammered with $14.5 billion bill

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Comments

  • Reply 101 of 106
    uraharaurahara Posts: 733member
    gctwnl said:
    redhanded said:
    Being pedantic, 0.005 isn't an actual tax rate, the EU judgement says it was the effective tax rate.

    So it seems that Apple have a mind numbingly complex set of corporate entities and the Irish tax authorities made a ruling that Apple could allocate the vast majority of their profits to a corporate entity that didn't pay tax while a much smaller amount of profits were allocated to another entity that paid tax at the Irish corporate rate which is 12.5%.

    The EU are basically saying that everything should have been taxed at 12.5%.

    Expect this to go to appeal with an argument if the ruling about allocation of profits was correct or not. The Irish government will back their own tax department. 
    Yep, it is illegal because the deals made it so that Apple hardly paid any taxes at all (0.0015% at one year) and it is fraudulent because those 'head offices' that were supposed to make the profits did not really exist. Whatever the outcome, Apple is not different from any other large corporation. They're just as morally bankrupt, because that is what their shareholders demand from them. I'm a fan of Apple's products and product philosophy, believe it or not. But this tax evasion I find disgusting.
    I agree with you: tax evasion is disgusting.
    It's an illegal misrepresentation of tax related matters. 

    I am am glad Apple has not been evading taxes. 

    And i I am backing up any smart person and/or corporation who optimizes their tax payments. 

    Think different. Be smart. 
    latifbp
  • Reply 102 of 106
    ZRyserZRyser Posts: 40member
    Here's what will happen. There will be an international arbitration dragging on for months. In the end, Apple will pay some token fine, but not even close to the amount claimed by the EU Commission. So, the only palpable result will be, that two teams of lawyers who already are filthy rich, will get filthy richer. The only question is: who'll pay the bills for the party: Apple, or the citizens of the EU.

    Now Margrethe Vestager is a character to keep one's eyes on. She lead the 3rd strongest coalition party in Helle Thorning-Schmidt's government, yet somehow she managed to pull an awful lot of strings, much more than the second coalition party. Not surprised one little bit to see her involved in this. She's been a go-getter from day one.
  • Reply 103 of 106
    Rautha said:
    sog35 said:
    You are wrong. There was no secret deal with Apple. Tim Cook said it himself.

    So that means you actually think that if there was a secret deal that Tim Cook would just say it? This explains so much.

    "We had a secret tax deal Ireland and you caught us"
    What knowledge you seem to lack is that as CEO of a publicly traded company he is obligated to be honest in his public statements. Otherwise he could face criminal penalties. But yeah, I guess you're probably right. He really doesn't care about criminal penalties. He's just going by to go around lying regardless, just for shits and giggles /s.
  • Reply 104 of 106
    asdasd said:

    There are no European rules on corporate tax, that's up to the national sovereign. The EU is using a law designed to stop illegal state aid (which means state aid which prefers certain companies rather than others within the same jurisdiction*) but has failed to prove any deal. In other words other companies can use this same mechanism. And some do. The EU is investigating them. This is a clearly an infringement on Irelands sovereignty and and exercise in big country bullying. 

    * except for big countries where you can in fact aid fiat, aerospace or the euro fighter etc. 
    Unfortunately the zero-sum mindset is widespread in Europe. EU politicians are behaving as if Europe is a victim on the global stage. Instead we should shape up and grow some balls. We are so afraid of loosing our share of the cake that we miss all the opportunities of our time. I'm sure that in 10 years I will be able to name several big opportunities that we missed as a continent. Lack of inspired leadership :/ 

    A Euro with a strong mindset! Well done my friend!
  • Reply 105 of 106
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    latifbp said:
    Rautha said:
    sog35 said:
    You are wrong. There was no secret deal with Apple. Tim Cook said it himself.

    So that means you actually think that if there was a secret deal that Tim Cook would just say it? This explains so much.

    "We had a secret tax deal Ireland and you caught us"
    What knowledge you seem to lack is that as CEO of a publicly traded company he is obligated to be honest in his public statements. Otherwise he could face criminal penalties. But yeah, I guess you're probably right. He really doesn't care about criminal penalties. He's just going by to go around lying regardless, just for shits and giggles /s.
    Tim Cook has the legal obligation to be truthful in financial statements. He is not required to make sure every public statement he makes is 100% accurate or properly worded. Don't go confusing that with "Tim Cook is lying" either. Just don't think that a company CEO can't do the PR spin and perhaps tell only part of a story. Of course they can with no worries about being prosecuted for it even if it wasn't completely accurate. Wordplay is an art. 
    edited September 2016
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