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Ireland is hardly a scape-goat. The commission has dealt in a similar manner with Amazon in Luxembourg, Starbucks in the Netherlands, and Anheuser-Busch InBev i
by flexie 10y ago
Ireland is hardly a scape-goat. The commission has dealt in a similar manner with Amazon in Luxembourg, Starbucks in the Netherlands, and Anheuser-Busch InBev in Belgium.
Whether or not there is an agreement between Apple and Ireland or just an understanding that Ireland would not tax them on almost any income is irrelevant. The point of the matter is that the effect of the scheme has been that Apple has paid next to nothing in tax on all European profits in more than a decade, spanning from the sale of your first iPod to your newest iPhone. That income has been channeled through the Irish companies and Ireland has not taxed it with it's usual corporate tax (which, by the way is now merely 12.5 percent). It is appalling.
- chupy 10y agoSure, there was some news that EC has dealt with Amazon, Starbucks, InBev but did they actually pay anything back? Did they appeal? Last I heard for InBev the Belgian Finance minister said: "the consequences for the companies concerned would be considerable and the reimbursement itself would be particularly complex" aka will take forever and we will probably not really do it.
- pwinnski 10y agoIt has taken a number of years for the investigation of Apple to reach this point, and the investigations of Starbucks, Amazon, and InBev are ongoing. I don't believe your "aka" summary is accurate.
- masklinn 10y agoI believe the Starbucks case is "over" and they're to pay 30m in owed taxes.
- chupy 10y agoThe investigation for those three companies mentioned is complete and they have to pay the taxes. Now if they finally will do after years of appeals that's a different question. That was my "aka" summary.
- plandis 10y agoBoy, it sure seems weird that the EU has only gone after American companies for this...
- philippoi 10y agoInBev is not American, and it could be you're only hearing about the cases relevant to American news companies' customers.