Apple’s UK corporation tax last year amounted to £12.9 million, but with £12.9 billion in profits in the last three months of 2015 alone, the Daily Mail is questioning whether the company is paying its fair share. Apple’s tax bill for 2015 was actually up from £11.8 million the previous year, but with the company still under EU investigation for routing its European profits through Ireland, suspicion that Apple is cooking the books is rampant.
Based on filings showing that Apple amassed £37.5 billion in profits worldwide in the 12 months leading up to September 2015, accountants estimated that UK sales accounted for around £2 billion. That number puts the estimated UK tax bill at around £400 million, but Apple only paid £11.8 million. The difference likely stems from Apple’s ability to reroute its profits through Ireland, where it has negotiated a much lower tax rate than the British corporate rate of 20 percent. Apple has routinely denied receiving unfair tax breaks. A spokeswoman for Apple said, “We pay all that we owe according to the law,” but with the U.K. voting to leave the EU last week, those laws may be changing soon.