Apple has not done anything illegal. It said the senators who called Tim Cook, CEO of IT company, Apple, to a hearing before a U.S. Senate committee. And Tim Cook himself stressed that the company follows the complicated tax rules.
But the moral outrage was still great after an investigation by the Committee commissioned revealed that Apple just in 2012 avoided payment of $ 9 billion ($ 60 billion) in taxes in the United States using an advanced form of tax planning. By shifting profits to subsidiaries in Ireland, the company has reduced the tax rate on the profits to 2 percent and has thus escaped the American equivalent tax of about 30 percent.
Counting the four recent years, Apple should in principle have avoided paying any tax at all on the 74 billion dollars of profits. This is partly done by the company relocated patent rights from the U.S. to countries with almost non-existent corporation. The transactions have subsidiaries in these countries since received compensation because they are the ones sitting on the patent rights.
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During the hearing, the senators stressed that Apple really pushed tax planning to a head. Through advanced arrangement utilizes the company any gaps that exist both in the U.S. Tax Code and the corresponding laws in other countries.
Tim Cook defended herself that Apple actually paid out $ 6 billion in taxes to the U.S. government last year. He also stressed that Apple supports a change in the U.S. tax system, even if it leads to that the company has to pay higher taxes than today.
change the system now is not the easiest. While politicians in Washington have been a lot of criticism from all political borders, the tax system so they are unable to agree on a change.
hearing set in which case on a new focus on how both Apple and many other companies put a lot of effort in using advanced arrangements to reduce the tax as much as possible. Not least, many IT companies, with operations in many countries and with assets to large patent portfolios that are very active.
In addition Apple has also companies like Microsoft, Yahoo, Amazon and Cisco faced criticism for his hard-driven tax planning. One of the latest examples is Google who hudflängts of British politicians and asked out in Parliament. Google has also been involved in a protracted tax fight in France.
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hearing set again also light in Ireland and how it attracts business to themselves with favorable tax rules. When the banking crisis was at its worst in Ireland in 2010 and the country needed the support of the rest of the eurozone came it also demands that Ireland should raise its low corporate taxes that allow companies flock to it from other countries. In statement to Bloomberg assures Irish government now only that in any case has no special agreement with either Apple or any other company that offers an even lower rate than the low that it already has.
Overall, it is about huge sums as multinational companies in Europe and North America withheld in taxes by shifting profits to countries with low tax rates. Kimberly Clausing, an economics professor at Reed University in Portland, Oregon, according to Bloomberg that it involves at least $ 100 billion (660 billion) a year in lost tax revenue.
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