Apple tops new study’s list of U.S. tax avoiders

A new study from Citizens for Tax Justice claims that Apple tops the list of U.S. companies profiting from keeping its money in foreign countries. According to the study, Apple booked $214.9 billion in revenue offshore in 2015, revenue on which the company would have paid $65.4 billion if that money wasn’t kept outside the country. The report mentions a 2013 investigation into Apple’s two Irish subsidiaries that were structured to be “tax residents of neither the United States, where they are managed and controlled, nor Ireland, where they are incorporated.”
While Apple has enjoyed an estimated 0.005 percent tax rate on its European profits because of that arrangement, the European Union recently called foul, claiming Apple owes Ireland about $14.5 billion in back taxes. CEO Tim Cook has called the judgment “total political crap” and Apple is appealing that ruling. The company is far from alone in using more lenient tax deals in foreign countries to its benefit, with the CTJ finding 367 of the companies on the Fortune 500 operate foreign subsidiaries that prevented $717.8 billion in taxes from being collected by the U.S. in 2015 alone.