Apple Inc has agreed to pay Italy 318 million euros (US$347 million) in taxes for the past several years, prosecutors said on Wednesday, part of a broader European effort to make multinationals pay what they owe in each nation where they do business.
Italy has already brought several cases against international technology companies that have headquarters in low-tax nations like Ireland to avoid paying higher taxes in other nations, like Italy.
The practice, called profit-shifting, has come under attack from the EU, which wants multinationals to pay tax where they earn their revenue, and not where they have their regional base.
The EU’s 28 states agreed in October to share details of tax deals they reach with big companies to make sure they are fair to other nations. The EU has already ordered Starbucks Corp and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV to pay millions in back taxes to Luxembourg and the Netherlands, respectively.
Milan prosecutors on Wednesday confirmed a report in daily La Repubblica that Apple agreed to pay the sum for the years spanning 2008 to 2013. The prosecutors said Apple’s tax liabilities for the five successive years will hinge on an international ruling on such cases. They declined to give details.
They also declined to discuss how payment of back taxes might affect a criminal probe, conducted by the prosecutors, into suspected tax evasion by three Apple employees. La Repubblica said two of the employees are executives based in Italy while the third is based in Ireland.
Apple offices in Milan, London and Ireland were closed on Wednesday. Messages seeking comment were not immediately answered.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has repeatedly rejected the notion that his company is trying to dodge taxes. In an interview with CBS TV program 60 Minutes aired Dec. 20, he said: “Apple pays every tax dollar we owe.” Independent tax expert Bob Willens said the fact that Apple settled with Italian tax authorities means they are conceding there was something a bit off in the company’s European tax arrangements.
“I don’t think Apple would have agreed to this sanction if they didn’t feel there was something at least questionable in what they were doing,” Willens said.
He said that while the sum was just a “nuisance” for Apple, the case did create a reputational problem: “It’s not a very positive public relations thing to be branded a serial tax avoider.”
Italian state television said the 318 million euros worked out in the agreement is far less than what Italian tax authorities contend should have been paid over those years.
Italian tax authorities have also examined Facebook Inc’s Milan offices’ books. In yet another investigation, Google has said it has been working with Italian tax authorities to determine what it might owe.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”