Technology
Apple to pay France $571 million in taxes, report says
Apple has agreed to pay 500 million euros ($571 million) to France in back tax, Reuters reported Tuesday.
Apple confirmed the agreement, but would not disclose the exact amount.
“The French tax administration recently concluded a multi-year audit on the company’s French accounts, and those details will be published in our public accounts,” the company told Reuters.
French outlet L’Express reported Tuesday that the deal stems from Tim Cook’s visit to France back in October 2018. According to L’Express, France was especially interested in low revenue reported (and, subsequently, low taxes paid) by Apple France in the last ten years. A deal was finally reached in December last year, the outlet claims.
This is not the first time Apple has had to pay large amounts in back taxes in the European Union. In September last year, the company paid Ireland 14 billion euros, recovering what EU’s regulators called Ireland’s “illegal aid” to Apple.
And Apple’s not the only company to pursue aggressive tax avoidance strategies internationally. In February 2018, Amazon settled a similar dispute with the French government, which claimed the retail giant owed it 200 million euro ($249 million) in back taxes. In 2017, France asked Google to pay a 1.12 billion euro ($1.28 billion) tax bill, but in that case Google emerged victorious as a EU tribunal decided Google’s Irish subsidiary was not taxable in France.
In December 2018, France passed legislation to impose a special tax on Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon, after failing to convince the whole European Union to do so.
-
Entertainment7 days ago
NASA discovered bacteria that wouldn’t die. Now it’s boosting sunscreen.
-
Business6 days ago
Tesla drops prices, Meta confirms Llama 3 release, and Apple allows emulators in the App Store
-
Business5 days ago
TechCrunch Mobility: Cruise robotaxis return and Ford’s BlueCruise comes under scrutiny
-
Business4 days ago
Tesla layoffs hit high performers, some departments slashed, sources say
-
Entertainment6 days ago
‘The Sympathizer’ review: Park Chan-wook’s Vietnam War spy thriller is TV magic
-
Business5 days ago
Meta to close Threads in Turkey to comply with injunction prohibiting data-sharing with Instagram
-
Entertainment4 days ago
ChatGPT vs. Gemini: Which AI chatbot won our 5-round match?
-
Business3 days ago
Former top SpaceX exec Tom Ochinero sets up new VC firm, filings reveal