Mike Wuerthele
Apple has posted a series of answers to questions about the European Commission's tax ruling, and appears to be unconcerned about any potential financial fallout.
As a result of the $14.5 billion ruling doled out by the E.U. regulatory agency, Apple notes in its posting that it not expecting any impact on its financial results, or will need to alter previous results. Apple also claims that it will not see any impact on its tax rate in the future.
Apple also notes that U.S. taxes related to the income in question have already been accrued.
The E.U. tax penalty is not expected to alter Apple's cash balance for the foreseeable future. It will deposit "some amount of cash" in an escrow account to hold for the ruling, but expects that it will be listed as "restricted cash" in quarterly earnings reports.
Both Ireland and Apple have announced intentions to file an appeal against the commission's ruling. While saying that it wants a speedy resolution to the matter, Apple expects that the appeal process will take several years.
On Tuesday, the European Commission handed down a record tax penalty, ordering Apple to pay 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) to Ireland in back taxes, offset if other E.U. countries seek part of the pay-out. In its investigation, the regulatory group claimed that tax rates on European profits were illegally low at 0.005 percent in 2014, and 1 percent in 2003.
"The European Commission has launched an effort to rewrite Apple's history in Europe, ignore Ireland's tax laws and upend the international tax system in the process," Apple said in a statement about the ruling made early Tuesday. "The Commission's case is not about how much Apple pays in taxes, it's about which government collects the money. It will have a profound and harmful effect on investment and job creation in Europe."
Malcolm Owen
Amber Neely
Christine McKee
Chip Loder
Marko Zivkovic
60 Comments
Outright thievery and just a scaled up version of a patent troll trying to extort Apple because "they have all teh moneyz".
This is where Tim shines. "Nope. Not paying a dime. We'll tie them up in appeals for years. We'll set aside some money, but you won't even notice it on the balance sheet."
Plenty of time for back room negotiations. Apple has the U.S. backing them this time and tremendous political pressure will be brought to bear. “ It will have a profound and harmful effect on investment and job creation in Europe.” No kidding. That’s only one of the leverages Apple can use.
How long before Ireland is going to be out of the EU due to Brexit? If they get out of the EU before this is settled, Ireland will just drop it.
The EU is an extortion racket. They've done their job screwing over the smaller countries in Europe (ask Spain and Portugal how the Euro worked out for them) and now they continue to extort money from US companies.
What an absolute disgrace.
Hahaha 3 anti-EU posts in a row and all 3 with a lone Dislike. Guess one of our resident Pro-globalism whores is stalking about.