Apple, the big US Company who generates $8 Billion in revenue in Australia but pays just 1% in tax is currently under investigation for potential tax avoidance.
The big PC Company, who is known to dictate trading terms, threaten retailers and refuses to hold press conferences in Australia still wants to use Australian Government funded infrastructure to run their business but contributes very little in the form of taxes.
Late last year the Company who recently saw their shares crash was forced to pay an extra $11.6m in back taxes.
Last year Apple Australia CEO Tony King denied to a Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance that the company does not pay its fair share of tax.
In a statement to Fairfax Media an Apple spokesman said: “Apple Australia pays all taxes it owes in accordance with Australian law.”
The Company that is known to use extensive tax avoidance schemes via Apple owned Companies in Ireland and Singapore has refused to comment on the current Australian Tax Office Investigation.
“The Australian Taxation Office is currently auditing the company’s tax position for 2012,” it said. “As at the date of this report, the outcome of the tax audit cannot be predicted with certainty and reliably estimated, no adjustments have been recognised in the financial statements.”
Treasurer Scott Morrison told Fairfax Media the government was committed to “shutting down tax avoidance strategies used by multinationals, such as large IT companies, who have exploited gaps and mismatches in the international tax system”.
In a bid to stop multinational tax avoidance, the federal government last year passed legislation that boosts the ATO’s anti-avoidance powers. Labor had voted against it because the Coalition at the same time watered down adjoining tax transparency laws when it put forward the legislation.
“It is now harder than ever for companies to shift profit offshore by mispricing their dealings with foreign related entities,” Mr Morrison said.
South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon?, who was involved in questioning Apple executives during the Senate inquiry, said: “Australians on the average wage could only dream of paying the level of tax Apple is paying”.
“I find it hard to believe that this is all they have to pay; I hope that the ATO has a thorough and forensic look at what Apple are doing,” he said.
