Do you want it or not? I don't know. I know the Irish government doesn't want it Where did the money come from? According to the EU ruling, Apple owes taxes to the Irish government.
But why doesn't the Irish government want it? Today we will analyze the reasons.
This matter has to start from last year. It is reported that the European Commission ruled that Apple illegally evaded taxes in Ireland at the end of August last year. After the EU's ruling, a spokesman for the US Treasury Department said that the US government believed that its company was becoming the target of the EU, and warned that this move might undermine US investment in Europe and damage "the important spirit of economic partnership between the United States and the EU".
Ireland doesn't like the EU ruling either, and thinks it violates the country's sovereignty. They said that Apple had paid its due tax.
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, responded in an open letter that "the EU's move to replace the laws of member States with self-righteous laws is not good for people and themselves. Ireland said it would appeal the verdict, and so did Apple. We believe that inappropriate judgments will eventually be withdrawn. "
Statistics show that Apple's employees in Ireland only account for 4% of the total number of employees in the world, but in recent years, Apple has created two-thirds of Apple's total revenue in Ireland, that is, 65% of its revenue is created in Ireland.
It is reported that in order to attract investment, the Irish government reduced the corporate income tax to 12.5%, and gave a lower tax rate or even tax exemption to specific income from specific countries and regions, which made the actual tax burden of multinational enterprises with branches and subsidiaries in Ireland much lower than that of the United States and other EU countries.
The Commissioner of the European Competition Commission said: "Ireland promised Apple a tax reduction policy to reduce the effective corporate tax of Apple from 1% in 2003 to 0.005% in 20 14." In other words, in 20 14, for every $6,543,800+0,000 in profits made outside the United States, Apple paid only $50 in taxes.
With the special tax arrangement in Ireland, Apple has set up two subsidiaries in Ireland: Apple International Sales Company and Apple European Operation Company. Under this framework, ASI is responsible for the sales of Apple products in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India and Asia Pacific.
Ireland's special tax arrangements allow Apple to transfer most of ASI's profits to a "headquarters", which is not located in Ireland or any other country. According to Irish law, it was regarded as a "stateless company" at that time and did not need to pay taxes to Ireland. In the end, Apple only needs to pay taxes to Ireland for a small part of ASI's profits.
As a result, only a small part of Apple's sales from the EU are taxed in Ireland, which makes the tax rate paid by Apple lower than 1%. At the same time, Apple's subsidiary in Ireland has to pay huge R&D fees to its American parent company every year. For example, 20 1 1, Apple International Sales Company realized a profit of160 billion euros, while the profit distributed by the Irish subsidiary was less than 50 million euros, and the rest was distributed to the "head office" with tax exemption qualification.
According to the European Commission, Apple's European operating companies have adopted similar settings. But this model is indeed in line with the Irish government's plan.
Because the Irish corporate tax rate is at the lowest level in European countries. Not only Apple, but also Google, Facebook, Yi Bei and Twitter have set up European headquarters in Ireland. EU officials said that this Irish model provided Apple with a huge financial advantage and constituted an illegal state subsidy.
In response to Apple's failure to pay taxes, a radical organization held a series of protests in Apple's French retail stores last Saturday, calling on Apple to pay back taxes to the Irish government in accordance with the requirements of the European Commission.
About 100 activists from the "Financial Transaction Tax Help Citizens Association" occupied the Paris Opera Square store. They crowded out the security guards and set up slogans, including protest slogans left on the equipment. Protesters wrote on the banner: "We will not stop until Apple pays the tax." Some activists also handcuffed themselves to the fence and waited for the police to arrive.
The security team evacuated the Apple employees in the building. The protest lasted for three hours, and ATTAC said that they planned to meet with Apple representatives later.
Over the years, tax loopholes in Ireland have caused Apple to transfer billions of dollars of international income to Ireland, thus paying a very low tax rate-only 0.005% in 2065438+04. Apple and the Irish government denied any wrongdoing, but the European Commission issued an investigation conclusion last year, arguing that the Irish government expanded the preferential policies of state subsidies, which violated EU law.
Apple is currently appealing the European Commission's ruling, but ATTAC asked Apple to withdraw its appeal to the European Court of Justice, and criticized the workers of Apple suppliers for illegally working overtime and the pollution caused by material extraction.
The Irish government has been slow to recover the tax arrears from Apple. To this end, the European Commission took the Irish government to court, aiming at putting pressure on the Irish government to speed up the process and may impose a fine on it.
Why do you charge this tax?
Ireland is a member of the European Union, and the EU implements a single market policy among its members. EU companies, no matter in which country, can export goods and services to other EU countries without any restrictions. The so-called single market means that many management norms and important government functions operate at the EU level and are implemented by the Permanent European Commission in Brussels. However, the taxation within the EU is handled by each member state, and the corporate income tax policies among member states are quite different.
Many multinational companies take advantage of the characteristics of unified EU market but different taxes to maximize their benefits, and set the EU headquarters in Ireland with relatively low corporate income tax rate to legally avoid taxes.
Their usual practice is to locate the company headquarters in Ireland. With the help of some experienced lawyers and accountants, even if most of the company's sales markets are concentrated in Germany, France, Italy and Spain, they can ensure that most of their income is shown on the accounts and enjoy the lower tax rate in Ireland.
The above picture comes from 15. Please remember to exclude Britain. Britain left the European Union.
However, the EU authorities believe that the tax problem in Ireland may be far more serious than expected, similar to the tax transactions between Amazon and Luxembourg, Starbucks and the Dutch government. The above two transactions pose a challenge to the EU's tax policy.
The true story is that Apple and Ireland (or Amazon and Luxembourg, Starbucks and the Netherlands) have reached a tax arrangement. According to this arrangement, Apple agreed to pay a certain amount of money to Ireland, and Ireland will regard Apple as fulfilling its tax obligations in the EU. As a result, Ireland increased taxes, and Apple obviously paid more money, but did not have to pay taxes to other EU countries.
Why doesn't the Irish government want this money?
You know, low tax rates are more suitable for attracting investment. How many sophisticated enterprises will be willing to open branches here, and how much economy will it drive? The employment problem is guaranteed, everyone has money to spend, and the government is happy.
Although the country is small, the headquarters of those foreign companies actually don't employ too many Irish people, and the business volume in Ireland only accounts for a small part of the total business volume, but this money is not a small income for this small country.
You know, apples feed many people and are generous. In the 30 years since Apple entered China, it has created 5 million jobs for China, and the total income of 65.438+0.8 million China developers through the App Store is 65.438+0.65438+0.2 billion yuan, the highest in the world.
If every company has to pay less taxes like Apple, who will give priority to opening a company here in the future?
But in the end, Ireland still failed to twist the thigh of the EU.
Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe revealed today that Apple will pay overdue taxes from the first quarter of next year, which is about RMB 654.38+002 billion.
The minister said, "We have reached an agreement with Apple. It is expected that the funds will be transferred to an escrow account in the first quarter of next year. "
20 16 In August, the European Commission ruled that Apple illegally evaded taxes in Ireland153 billion US dollars, and Apple must return this part of the tax to the Irish government.
Apple should have paid back the tax to Ireland on June 5438+ 10 this year, but it has been delayed so far because both parties appealed the ruling and Ireland has no account for hosting this special tax.