Apple's potential tax bill in Ireland

Heartfeltdawn

Evilmags said:

Note how they are only going for an Irish based company, rather than one from Luxembourg, country of origin of Jean Claude Junkers and fiscal base of tax avoiders like Guardian media group (amongst many others, but the hypocrisy of that one is a bit special). 

Agreed. Luxembourg needs to be cracked open and properly exposed. 

Chalky

The Irish government's stance is a peculiar form of corruption - special provision to Apple compared to standard tax for other companies. To say it brings jobs is true but silly - 13 billion divided by the few jobs means those jobs are subsidised by the government at a truly spectacular price.

Winny_Pooh

They need to go after Amazon/Luxembourg

Drew_TNBD

Nah, Apple will pay up. After all... "think different" ....

*guffaw*

Drew_TNBD

Evilmags said:

Note how they are only going for an Irish based company, rather than one from Luxembourg, country of origin of Jean Claude Junkers and fiscal base of tax avoiders like Guardian media group (amongst many others, but the hypocrisy of that one is a bit special). 

Oh man... you gotta post some sauce for that last one. I can almost taste it.

Drew_TNBD

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/04/will-the-guardian-now-investigate-its-own-tax-arrangements/

sweeet....... gooogle rocks....

chrispy108

Chalky said:

The Irish government's stance is a peculiar form of corruption - special provision to Apple compared to standard tax for other companies. To say it brings jobs is true but silly - 13 billion divided by the few jobs means those jobs are subsidised by the government at a truly spectacular price.

But if the cost had been€13 billion Apple wouldn't be in Ireland, so they aren't missing out on €13bn, because they'd never have got it


All this "creative accounting" is just a race to the bottom though, and it saddens me that some of the sharpest minds in the world are avoiding tax instead of creating stuff.

TheBigDipper

The basis of this isn't the difference in tax rates between EU countries. It's the fact that Ireland agreed rates for Apple in their own country which were not available to other companies in Ireland. It's to try and stop financially weak countries (which Ireland was at the time it agreed this) from being bullied by megacorps. 

The EU doesn't stop individual countries from having their own corporation tax rates - even though that does generate a scenario where multinationals can play games to minimise their tax bills by playing games with royalty charges to subsiduaries.

axisus

    does this affect me?
         I                       I
      YES               NO
         I                       I
  oh noes!         Meh


Information processed. Meh

Snap

anyway, the iphone 7 doesn't look that special.

Drew_TNBD

axisus said:

    does this affect me?
         I                       I
      YES               NO
         I                       I
  oh noes!         Meh


Information processed. Meh

That's me with most of your threads!!  

Fretwired

ESchap said:

Rather brings Osborne's marvellous settlements with the Globals back in the spotlight and how pathetically shit he was at securing a good deal for UK PLC>.

Apple is registered in Luxembourg and Ireland and legitimately sells its products  in the UK via Ireland. There is nothing any UK politician can do (Brown could do nothing before Osborne) - Herr Junker negotiated the Apple deal with Luxembourg when he was PM.

A good reason to quit the EU.

Axe_meister

So whats the bet that the UK post Brexit will become a tax haven!

marantz1300

Axe_meister said:

So whats the bet that the UK post Brexit will become a tax haven!

The UK already has plenty of Tax havens.

Some closer to the mainland then others.

LoFi

Axe_meister said:

So whats the bet that the UK post Brexit will become a tax haven!

Do you view that as a particularly bad thing? It means they'll be paying us less tax than they would be paying e.g. Germany (or wherever), but they'll still be paying us tax that they otherwise wouldn't.

(Yes, the ideal situation would be some sort of tax harmonisation where every company paid tax where profits were actually made, but given this is pretty much impossible, why shouldn't we (as a country) make the best of the situation?)

Fretwired

Axe_meister said:

So whats the bet that the UK post Brexit will become a tax haven!

Corporation tax is outmoded and in the modern age of globalisation virtually impossible to police. With big companies like Apple and Amazon you should simply tax them per transaction in the UK and that would include shipping from overseas into the UK.

stickyfiddle

Fretwired said:

Axe_meister said:

So whats the bet that the UK post Brexit will become a tax haven!

Corporation tax is outmoded and in the modern age of globalisation virtually impossible to police. With big companies like Apple and Amazon you should simply tax them per transaction in the UK and that would include shipping from overseas into the UK.

Just came to post precisely this. Corporation tax simply doesn't work in a totally-connected world full of trade agreements, treaties and creative accountants.

axisus

Drew_fx said:

axisus said:

    does this affect me?
         I                       I
      YES               NO
         I                       I
  oh noes!         Meh


Information processed. Meh

That's me with most of your threads!!  

Glad to see you read them! 

Fretwired

Interesting article in the Torygraph ..

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/08/30/the-apple-fiasco-shows-why-corporation-tax-is-an-outdated-anachr/

scrumhalf

Fretwired said:

Interesting article in the Torygraph ..

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/08/30/the-apple-fiasco-shows-why-corporation-tax-is-an-outdated-anachr/

"For the system to work properly and fully, it would need to be agreed internationally; rules would still have to be found to treat intra-company payments properly and deal with issues such as intellectual capital."

That's rather like saying that we've found a way to guarantee world peace, all we have to do is ensure that nobody fights anyone else.