Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Tim Cook will testify about his company’s offshore tax practices at a Senate subcommittee later this month, according to two sources cited by Bloomberg. The tech giant has been in hot water over its practices for months in several countries, including Australia and the U.K.
It was revealed in November that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) paid less than 2 percent in taxes on its oversees profit. The company defended its practices in January before the release of a congressional report on the subject of corporate tax practices.
Apple’s Tax Hearing Set For May
This latest subcommittee hearing is set for May 21, according to Bloomberg’s sources. The committee has been looking into the practices large corporations like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) and others use to drastically lower their tax bills. For example, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has approximately $40.4 billion in offshore earnings on which it hasn’t paid U.S. taxes. If it were to pay taxes on all those earnings, it would have to pony up $13.8 billion.
Moody’s Investment Services has also pointed out that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) would rather borrow money to fund its new capital plan rather than bring its offshore money back into the U.S. Using debt to cover the plan was purported to save the tech giant $9.2 billion in taxes.
Apple’s Statement
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) released a statement saying that the company has been working with lawmakers and answering their questions about the company’s tax practices. It also said that it welcomes more questions and pointed out that it’s one of the biggest taxpayers in the U.S., having shelled out $6 billion in federal corporate income tax for its fiscal 2012 year.
Gordon Trowbridge, Michigan Democratic Senator Carl Levin’s spokesperson, said that a witness list for the hearing will be available on May 17.
