Today, a report in the Sydney Morning Herald indicates that Apple Australia has received a bill for $28.5 million in back taxes. This comes just days after executives from major global tech companies, like Amazon and Google, were questioned by U.K. regulators about claims of tax avoidance in European countries.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) gleaned almost $5 billion in revenue last year through its sales of iPhones, iPads and computers in Australia. This latest bill for back taxes increases the tech giant’s tax bill to almost $95 million.
ValueWalk has followed stories about claims of Apple sidestepping taxes recently. In our most recent coverage of this story earlier this month, we found that Apple only paid approximately 2 percent in taxes on its profits from overseas. The New York Times has also given this story extensive coverage. A report earlier this year investigated how the tech giant may have used tax havens like Luxembourg, Ireland, and Nevada to avoid paying taxes in Europe and the U.S.
Apple’s Australian arm is technically owned by Apple Operations International, a subsidiary of the larger company that’s located in Ireland. Many global companies have locations in Ireland, because the country has an exceptionally low tax rates on corporations.
Today’s tax bill from Australian regulators may be a sign that the country could start becoming stricter about foreign tax havens. It’s also not the first time this year that regulators from the country have gone after Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). They fined the company $2.3 million on charges related to advertisements for the Apple 4G LTE. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission believed that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s advertisements wrongly caused consumers to believe the device was compatible with Australia’s Long-Term Evolution networks.
