Apple paid just $80.3 million in Australian tax last year, despite making more than $6 billion in local revenue, accounts filed with the corporate regulator show.
While a fraction of its overall income, Apple’s tax bill was more than double what it paid the previous year.
The tax-expense figure, disclosed in accounts filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, comes as a Senate inquiry prepares to grill the heads of Australian and multinational corporations over their tax affairs.
It also comes amid an investigation by the Australian Tax Office of tech companies suspected of shifting profits out of Australia.
While the actual amount of tax a company pays is confidential under Australian law, an expense figure is calculated for the purpose of annual accounts.
Professor Antony Ting, at the University of Sydney Business School, said Apple’s latest accounts suggested it was continuing to shift profits overseas.
“It appears that Apple is still able to shift most of its profits from Australia with its tax structure, which most likely is perfectly legal under the current tax law,” he said.
“That leaves little profits, after deducting sales and marketing costs in Australia, to be taxed in Australia.
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An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on whether the accounts reflected tax paid accurately.
Apple has been in the spotlight over its taxes in Australia, after an investigation by Fairfax Media last year showed it had shifted $8.9 billion in untaxed profits from its Australian operations to Ireland in the past decade.
It is one of the companies expected to be hauled in front of a Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance, with hearings due to start as soon as March.
It follows efforts by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to clamp down on profit shifting, as governments around the world become increasingly desperate to shore up revenue.
On Tuesday, shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh urged the government to take a lead in getting global agreement on the amount of tax that should be paid by a multinational to each country in which it operates.
He called on regulators to stop online companies such as Uber and Airbnb from dodging their tax obligations.
“It is neither efficient nor equitable to let revenue fall into some dead zone between countries,” he said in a speech to the McKell Institute in Sydney.
“One way to address this would be to establish international consensus on the corporate tax base, and then allow countries to compete on the rate.”
Apple’s Australian entity describes itself as a company that markets products and sells digital software and services. It is controlled by Irish holding company Apple Operations International.
While tax is calculated as a proportion of profit, not revenue, multinational companies including Apple have been criticised for booking revenue offshore, in low-taxing places like Ireland or Singapore, to minimise their reportable profit and therefore their taxes in places like Australia.
The company’s local revenue was down slightly from $6.1 billion a year earlier, when it paid just $36.4 million in tax.
It reported a profit after tax of $171 million, up from $52 million a year earlier.
This news story is reprinted from www.smh.com.au
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