Apple makes $1.8 billion in UK, but pays just $8m in tax

Latest financial filings show Apple made only a small tax payment to the UK, and it expects that to be reduced further following subsequent coronavirus costs.

As Apple and other global technology firms face the prospect of new regulations — which Tim Cook has said he supports — the latest filings show the company is paying little or no tax in the UK. Its filings to September 2019 show a deferred tax requirement of $8m from annual sales of $1.8 billion, but it may not even pay that much.

According to inews, Apple's annual filing at the UK's Companies House states that it expects this $8m payment "to be reversed during the next financial period."

Apple has responded to criticism of its low contribution to the UK's economy by arguing that it supports the region in other direct ways. "We are very proud of our many contributions across the UK and last year spent over 2 billion [$2.51 billion] with hundreds of suppliers," said a spokesperson.

"Our investment and innovation supports more than 325,000 jobs in the UK and, in addition to our tax contributions, we also think it's important to do more for people and society," continued Apple.

That last point was directed specifically to how the company expects to regain its tax payment because of coronavirus costs since the latest filing. "We focused our attention on supporting the response to Covid-19, making significant financial contributions and donating face masks and shields here in the UK," said Apple.

The inews report was first spotted by 9to5mac.

28 Comments

lkrupp 10521 comments · 19 Years

About 4 years ago

"Government is not the solution to the problem, government IS the problem." Ronald Reagan

The more we can starve the government of income the less destructive it will be for the people. Apple should not pay one penny more in taxes than it absolutely has to. Use every loophole, every legal means to reduce one's tax bill. That should be everyone's personal motto too.

rotateleftbyte 1630 comments · 12 Years

saying just 'Tax' is a little misleading.

What Tax is that? i.e What is the name of the tax that they are paying?

It isn't VAT (20%) on all out purchases

It isn't Income Tax or N.I. Contributions. These are what all their employees pay (and Apple pays the employer N.I. part)

It isn't property taxes (Business Rates) on the stores and offices.

So it must be Corporation Tax which is levied on profits.

£8M is just taking the p**s. Apple like Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Starbucks etc are channelling their [cough][cough] profits to Ireland under some licensing agreement.

The sooner all of them pay a proper amount of tax on the profits they make in each country without offshoring profits via some licensing agreement the better.

Naturally, a certain person in DC will rant and rage over this but as many countries around the world are doing the same they won't be able to stop it from happening.

InspiredCode 405 comments · 8 Years

If they are not doing anything illegal then I don’t see a problem with this. Apple didn’t write the tax code. I’d be more concerned if they were throwing money away for no reason.

randominternetperson 3095 comments · 8 Years

rotateleftbyte said:

saying just 'Tax' is a little misleading.
What Tax is that? i.e What is the name of the tax that they are paying?

It isn't VAT (20%) on all out purchases
It isn't Income Tax or N.I. Contributions. These are what all their employees pay (and Apple pays the employer N.I. part)
It isn't property taxes (Business Rates) on the stores and offices.

So it must be Corporation Tax which is levied on profits.

Exactly. The UK collects big bucks not accounted for here via the VAT on the sale of every iPhone and Mac in the UK.

robin huber 4025 comments · 22 Years

lkrupp said:

"Government is not the solution to the problem, government IS the problem." Ronald Reagan

The more we can starve the government of income the less destructive it will be for the people. Apple should not pay one penny more in taxes than it absolutely has to. Use every loophole, every legal means to reduce one's tax bill. That should be everyone's personal motto
Hard sell these days. Government may be the problem, but not for what Ronnie had in mind. Totally Inept and criminally ineffective response to a national crisis.