Apple paid no UK corporation tax in 2012
June 30, 2013 7:18 pm
Apple paid no UK corporation tax in 2012
By Vanessa Houlder
Apple did not pay UK corporation tax last year, according
to its latest filings, which are likely to underline the controversy over the
US tech giant’s tax planning.
In May, a US Senate committee highlighted Apple’s
overseas tax rate of less than 2 per cent, which it said reflected its ability
to shift profits into Ireland.
Tax deductions from share awards to employees helped wipe
out the corporate tax liabilities of the UK subsidiaries in the year to
September 2012. In the previous year, the tax reported by the UK subsidiaries
was £11.4m.
Apple’s tax affairs became the focus of global scrutiny
in May after the US Senate Committee accused Apple of avoiding $10bn of US tax
a year. It said the company “left very small earnings, and correspondingly
small tax liabilities, in countries around the world” because the economic
rights to the goods it sold were held in Ireland.
In 2011, 84 per cent of Apple’s non-US operating income
was booked by Apple Sales International, an Irish subsidiary that was not tax
resident anywhere and which paid tax at a rate of 0.05 per cent.
The main British subsidiaries – Apple (UK), Apple Europe
and Apple Retail UK – made pre-tax profits of £68m in the year to September
2012, according to reports filed at Companies House. The companies reported tax
deductions relating to share schemes of £27.7m.
Apple does not disclose how much profit it made from UK
consumers as the UK accounted for less than 10 per cent of its overall sales.
But its US filings reported it made $15bn of operating profit on $36.3bn of net
sales to European customers in 2012.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2013.
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