According to the Daily Telegraph Apple moves money through offshoots in low-tax countries and secretive tax havens, such as the British Virgin Islands. Apple avoided more than £550 million in tax in Britain last year. New documents have revealed that Apple paid $713 million corporation tax abroad in the year to September 30, on profits of $36.8 billion.
Apple has always managed to avoid paying a lion’s share of tax. The year before it only paid 2.5 per cent, but now it appears the outfit is getting better at avoidance. Its overseas tax rate fell to 1.9pc which is significantly below the corporate tax rate of 35 per cent in the US and 24 per cent in Britain. Apple is channelling much of its business in Britain and Europe through a subsidiary on an industrial estate in County Cork. Ireland’s corporation tax is about half the UK level, Apple pays less as profits end up being siphoned off to related companies in Caribbean tax havens.
UK PM David Cameron has already called for an investigation into multinational companies using tax loopholes. After all it looks jolly embarrassing if a government spends all its time telling the world that it was important companies to grow and then they do nothing to contribute to the country they are based in.
Pays less than 2 per cent tax
There have been calls for Jobs’ Mob to be investigated in the UK after returning a tax bill which was less than two per cent.
Nick Farrell
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