Panel: Apple used subsidiaries to skirt taxes

WASHINGTON — Even as Apple became the nation’s most profitable technology company, it avoided billions in taxes in the United States and around the world through a web of subsidiaries so complex it spanned continents and surprised experts, a congressional investigation has found.
Some of these subsidiaries had no employees and were largely run by top officials from the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., according to congressional investigators. But by officially locating them in places like Ireland, Apple was able to, in effect, make them stateless — exempt from taxes, record-keeping laws and the need for the subsidiaries to even file tax returns anywhere in the world.

In 2011, for example, one subsidiary paid Ireland just one-20th of 1 percent in taxes on $22 billion on pretax earnings from various operations; another did not file a corporate tax return anywhere and has paid almost nothing on $30 billion in profits since 2009.

“Apple wasn’t satisfied with shifting its profits to a low-tax offshore tax haven,” said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., 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.”

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the ranking member on the panel, added: “Apple claims to be the largest U.S. corporate taxpayer, but by sheer size and scale, it is also among America’s largest tax avoiders.”

Overall, Apple’s tax-avoidance efforts shifted at least $74 billion from the reach of the Internal Revenue Service between 2009 and 2012, the investigators said. That cash remains offshore, but Apple could still have to pay taxes on it to American authorities if the company were to return the money to its coffers in the United States.


more: Panel: Apple used subsidiaries to skirt taxes | Business & Technology | The Seattle Times

Everybody who has a deduction and doesn't take it, raise your hand.

Don't be shy now...

But Apple is supposed to be the good guys, not like evil Microshaft!

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Gone
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Bruno '81 300SD
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People are mad they didn't think of it first.

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Guess now we'll have a thread full of fruits having Applegasms over how cool they think Apple is......

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https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

You can replace any company name in this article. Ford, Microsoft and many, many more. So I guess I don't get the point of the article.

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Get a Mac.

The point I got from it was that Apple managed to do it far better than anyone else so far and has shown that the tax laws as they are written definitely favor the rich and large corporations. The fact that Apple was able to shuffle off $100 billion and not pay any tax on it speaks volumes about who the government works for.

I for one would love to have the ability to reduce my tax liability by 15% as Apple did but unfortunately I am too poor to pay that little.

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From 2011 . . .

Taxes for the Little Software Companies

Was any of it illegal?

The idiots write the tax laws and then are pissed when smart people take advantage of the holes they either intentionally left open or stupidly overlooked.

Flat tax, no deductions, problem solved. If you leave grey areas, people figure out how to legally work in those grey areas.

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What most people would consider loopholes kept my college rides on the road

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No merc at the moment

Carl Levin and Co. looked an awful lot like a bunch of spoiled bullies who has spent, wasted, and destroyed all that they had been previously given and had suddenly noticed there was someone else, who had worked hard and made a lot of money, which they had saved. Now, the irresponsible, wasteful bullies want to beat up the good kid and take what he has, too.

I can think of so many parables, adages, and stories I was taught growing up that extol the virtues of operating the way Apple has and the folly of behaving the way our Congress does . . .

Sometimes the critics judge the art, but other times the art judges the critics . . .

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2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

And I applaud you for it!

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

I personally agree with Rand Paul's comment on this hearing. It was along the line of that Congress should be grilled for the tax codes that Apple has been following, and to look in a mirror if they want to see poor behavior.

Chances are, more than a few members of Congress are shareholders in Apple stock. They have financially benefited and want to give Apple all the breathing room it needs so that Apple CAN KEEP MAKING THEM MONEY.

Remember, the ultra wealthy write ALL THE RULES. And, BTW, those rules always benefit them and only them.