Cook said Apple had paid $800 million in taxes in 2014 on profits, split roughly between Ireland and the U.S. It’s unclear also whether moving those profits back to the U.S. would reduce its Irish taxes.
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“When you’re accused of doing something that is so foreign to your worth, it brings out an indignation in you, and that’s how we feel”.
“I think that Apple was targeted here”, he said.
Regarding the tax rate of 0.005% that Europe’s competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager claims Apple pays, Cook said: “it’s a false number, I have no idea where it comes from”.
As for the assertion that Apple was offered a 0.005% tax rate by Ireland, Cook calls it “total political crap”. “They just picked that number from I don’t know where”, Cook said.
Ruling that Apple’s Irish tax deal constituted illegal state aid, the EU’s antitrust commission on Tuesday ordered Ireland to recover as much as 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) in taxes from the tech giant.
Ms Vestager said she believed the European Union and U.S. were “on the same page” when it came to the principles of tax avoidance, and would meet USA treasury secretary Jack Lew later this month in Washington.
“In 2014, our worldwide income tax rate was 26.1%.I personally think that’s a reasonable level”, Cook told RTE.
The European Commission this week ruled that Apple must pay €13bn in back taxes to Ireland for revenues booked through operations based in Ireland.
Tuesday’s finding against Apple was by far the largest ruling by the commission’s competition arm on a state aid matter related to tax.
Although both Apple and the Irish government are expected to appeal the ruling, the company will still have to deposit the money in an escrow account – something Cook confirmed in his interview.
He also criticized the retrospective nature of the order, which covers alleged unpaid taxes from 1993-2001.
The Irish cabinet will meet on Friday to decide whether to launch an appeal against the decision, having already failed to reach a consensus on Wednesday.
US companies are supposed to pay federal taxes on their global profits, but the tax on money made overseas is only due when it’s brought back to the U.S.
“Right now I would forecast that repatriation to occur next year”.
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“The EU, leading the way in the fight for tax justice, has shown that no one is above the law”. He said the decision was “maddening” and “not based on law or fact”, but that he was confident it would be overturned on appeal.
