Apple says that it was the largest corporate citizen in Ireland in 2014.
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Speaking about the Apple Tax ruling he said Ireland has the right to decide it’s own tax affairs.
Mr Cook spoke as Independent members of Ireland’s fragile minority Government seek legal explanations of the 130-page ruling from Commissioner Margrethe Vestager and whether they should support Finance Minister Michael Noonan’s call for an immediate legal challenge.
These include hundreds of thousands of app developers who thrive on the App Store, and jobs with manufacturers and other suppliers. Asked at a news conference on Tuesday whether it was fair to penalise a company which “felt that they were abiding by the rules” in agreeing a tax regime for its profits with Irish government, the straight-talking Dane said some should listen to their feelings more. “We believe that makes us the highest taxpayer in Ireland that year”.
The chief executive dismissed an audit by a Brussels watchdog which found it only paid 0.005% tax in 2014, and claimed the global tech brand paid a worldwide rate of 26.1% on its earnings that year.
In the United States the decision has sent shockwaves through Congress with lawmakers said it could reduce the USA tax bill because companies would be eligible for foreign tax credits.
O’Reilly’s mother pays 10 euros tax on a monthly pension of 1,050 euros ($1,170), a higher rate than the European Union said Apple’s main Irish unit paid on its profits in 2014.
“No one did anything wrong here and we need to stand together”, Cook said to the Independent.
She also defended earlier statements on Apple’s low tax rate.
“The Commission’s move is unprecedented and it has serious, wide-reaching implications”, Apple CEO Cook (pictured above) said in an open letter to the Apple Community in Europe posted on the company’s Web site today. “We’re subject to the statutory rate in Ireland of 12.5pc, we paid $400m in taxes in 2014”.
“Companies must now more than ever carefully assess whether any agreements or rulings they receive from national tax authorities are compliant with state aid principles”. “Apple has always been about doing the right thing”, he added.
Cook told the newspaper that bias against multinationals from the United States may have been a factor in the decision to impose the bill.
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“We provisioned several billion dollars for the USA for payment as soon as we repatriate it and right now I forecast that repatriation to occur next year”, he told RTE.
