Following an investigation by the Italian tax office, Apple has been fined €318 million ($347 million USD) for moving funds to Ireland in order to avoid paying tax.
According to a report from Italian Newspaper La Repubblica, the company has agreed to pay the sum after months of negotiation. The judges previously ruled that the company had dodged more than €880 million in corporate income tax between 2008 and 2013, when the investigation commenced.
The company was accused of transferring that €880 million ($962 million USD) of profit to its Irish subsidiary to benefit from the country’s lower tax rate.
The agreement to pay the fine sets a precedent for the company, which uses the same tactics across the world to pay lower taxes than it might be liable for in the countries it retails its products.
Apple is under pressure in the United States for keeping its cash offshore, which CEO Tim Cook labeled as “total political crap” in an interview this month.
The Italian tax probe was wrapped up in March, but no ruling was made available before today. Apple said that the company is “one of the largest tax payers in the world and paid every euro of tax it owed wherever it did business.”
➤ Apple agrees to pay €318 million to tax authorities [La Repubblica, in Italian]
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