Apple has found itself in hot water in China, CNN Money reports, with the Chinese Ministry of Finance revealing that Apple had misreported sales and profits in the country. The company failed to report 8.8 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) in sales in 2013 while also overstating its profit by 5.4 billion yuan ($220 million) that same year.
Apple has been required to pay 452 million yuan ($71 million) in back taxes to the Chinese government, and a 65 million yuan ($10 million) fine has been levied against the company for the failure to report the 2013 taxes. A spokesperson for Apple claimed the error was discovered during an audit of the company’s 2013 operations, and resulted from “a difference in interpretation of a tax rule.” The Apple spokesman stated, “We pay all the taxes we owe wherever we do business and we will continue working closely with the Ministry of Finance.” China has reportedly been cracking down on unpaid taxes by U.S.
companies recently, with Microsoft also being charged with $140 million in unpaid taxes in November 2014.
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